FE: Olympic insights
Date Published: 2/17/2022
The headlines have covered several insights on greatness and mental health that I wish to share with our readers.
Voila, three observations I've made about how the winter Olympics are similar to entrepreneurship:
Courage is crucial!
During the winter Olympics we’ve watched athletes psyching themselves up in starting gates before lunging down a hill or into the air so they could get out there and have their Olympic moment!
They’ve been laser-focused and completely in the moment, ready to give their all and trust in their gifts, strengths, and talents.
It only takes one exceptional athlete, with a mountain of courage, to completely raise the bar and change history. Like the Olympic athletes, we need to get out of our heads and raise the bar in our industries through our talents and training.
There is still bias to be dealt with.
American sprinter Sha'Carri Richardson has insinuated double standards in the handling of Russian Olympic Committee figure skater Kamila Valieva's failed drug test. Valieva, a 15-year-old who helped the ROC get a high score in the women's free skate team event, was cleared to continue competing despite testing positive for a prohibited medication called trimetazidine. Sha'Carri Richardson was not allowed to compete after a test showed marijuana in her system. The IOC stated that if Valieva earns a spot on the podium in any women's individual competition, a medal ceremony won't be held "in the interest of fairness to all athletes."
In conversations with female entrepreneurs, many feel they are not taken as seriously as male counterparts, even though 42 percent of all businesses are owned by women (women own only 2 percent of business revenue). Any woman entrepreneur will tell you that the primary way systemic sexism pops up is the issue of securing adequate funding to start a business.
We have to look out for our own mental health.
Simone Biles, Mikaela Shiffrin, Lindsey Jacobellis, and Naomi Osaka are proving that, in a world where self-care is not culturally accepted or guaranteed, you must occasionally be willing to put down some important work and take care of yourself. That can mean stepping away from interviews, cameras, or the playing field.
Meditation, massage, therapy, and other forms of self-care are good tools, but I need each person needs to pause and assess what they need to get to the next level.
Taking care of mental health enables me to reset, regroup and refresh resolve. Those moments of peace can bring peace of mind and refine your “whyâ€.
Any woman who wishes to start a business, and any athlete who wishes to become an Olympian, must know how to stand strong in the face of many challenges. The road is not always clear, and we also need to keep renewing our own energy to continue on the current/future entrepreneur path.
Here’s to your “Olympic momentâ€â€”when you get it right in the best way you imagined—at the ideal time.
Thank you for reading and welcome your comments below.
Akasha Lin
Akasha Garnier for #TheWishwall
Author, Brand Expert, Filmmaker
http://www.akashagarnier.com
#ShineThroughtheNoise
Content inspired by winter Olympics 2022, INC, and entrepreneur friends
Explore more gems:
https://thewishwallfoundation.org/future-entrepreneurs
Voila, three observations I've made about how the winter Olympics are similar to entrepreneurship:
Courage is crucial!
During the winter Olympics we’ve watched athletes psyching themselves up in starting gates before lunging down a hill or into the air so they could get out there and have their Olympic moment!
They’ve been laser-focused and completely in the moment, ready to give their all and trust in their gifts, strengths, and talents.
It only takes one exceptional athlete, with a mountain of courage, to completely raise the bar and change history. Like the Olympic athletes, we need to get out of our heads and raise the bar in our industries through our talents and training.
There is still bias to be dealt with.
American sprinter Sha'Carri Richardson has insinuated double standards in the handling of Russian Olympic Committee figure skater Kamila Valieva's failed drug test. Valieva, a 15-year-old who helped the ROC get a high score in the women's free skate team event, was cleared to continue competing despite testing positive for a prohibited medication called trimetazidine. Sha'Carri Richardson was not allowed to compete after a test showed marijuana in her system. The IOC stated that if Valieva earns a spot on the podium in any women's individual competition, a medal ceremony won't be held "in the interest of fairness to all athletes."
In conversations with female entrepreneurs, many feel they are not taken as seriously as male counterparts, even though 42 percent of all businesses are owned by women (women own only 2 percent of business revenue). Any woman entrepreneur will tell you that the primary way systemic sexism pops up is the issue of securing adequate funding to start a business.
We have to look out for our own mental health.
Simone Biles, Mikaela Shiffrin, Lindsey Jacobellis, and Naomi Osaka are proving that, in a world where self-care is not culturally accepted or guaranteed, you must occasionally be willing to put down some important work and take care of yourself. That can mean stepping away from interviews, cameras, or the playing field.
Meditation, massage, therapy, and other forms of self-care are good tools, but I need each person needs to pause and assess what they need to get to the next level.
Taking care of mental health enables me to reset, regroup and refresh resolve. Those moments of peace can bring peace of mind and refine your “whyâ€.
Any woman who wishes to start a business, and any athlete who wishes to become an Olympian, must know how to stand strong in the face of many challenges. The road is not always clear, and we also need to keep renewing our own energy to continue on the current/future entrepreneur path.
Here’s to your “Olympic momentâ€â€”when you get it right in the best way you imagined—at the ideal time.
Thank you for reading and welcome your comments below.
Akasha Lin
Akasha Garnier for #TheWishwall
Author, Brand Expert, Filmmaker
http://www.akashagarnier.com
#ShineThroughtheNoise
Content inspired by winter Olympics 2022, INC, and entrepreneur friends
Explore more gems:
https://thewishwallfoundation.org/future-entrepreneurs
