Charlie White and Meryl Davis Didn’t Do It Alone
Posted on April 14, 2014 by Debra Burdick
This is the 4th installment in the Unlock Your Potential series. The first step was to improve your self-care and stress management. The second was to define what success looks like to you and to set your goals. The third was to identify the blocks that get in your way of success. This fourth step involves asking for help.
I had the honor and privilege of watching Charlie White and Meryl Davis skate with Stars on Ice 6 weeks after they won the Olympic Gold medal for ice dancing in Sochi. They have been skating together since they were kids and have worked relentlessly for 17 years to achieve such perfection in their skating.
But they didn’t do it alone. At every step of the way they had instructors, coaches, financial sponsors, advisors, family backing, marketing and public relations support. They needed funds for gear, ice time, coaches, travel as well as for daily living expenses. Enlisting the aid of top notch skating coaches was an essential component of their success.
Are you trying to do it alone? Whether you are working on issues in your personal life, family, at work or in your own business I encourage you to ask yourself how you might benefit from some help in your life.
No matter what you are trying to do, find an expert who already knows more about what you need to know than you do. 
If you are trying to improve your mood, relationships, parenting, mental health, or need help with problem solving you might consult with a psychotherapist who can teach you the skills you need. If you are in business a coach or mentor can teach, guide and encourage you along your journey to success. A life coach can help with getting your life on track. A parenting coach can help you improve your parenting skills. Would Davis and White have won the Olympic gold medal if they had not had a top level coach or if they had to teach themselves how to skate and ice dance?
Are you trying to do everything yourself? No matter if you are a parent, stay at home mom, or the CEO of a major corporation no one can successfully do everything themselves. If you try to do so you will soon become exhausted and lose your effectiveness. Would Davis and White have been able to practice as many hours if they had to groom the ice themselves before they practiced?
Identify the things that you are passionate about, love to do, and are the most important factors in achieving your goals. Then arrange your life so those are the things you do the most and find ways to delegate or hire others to do the rest for you. Davis and White focused on what their goal was – to win Olympic gold. All their efforts were directed at achieving that goal. They had to let others take care of some tasks that were not directly related to their skating but were necessary on their journey to the Olympics. This made is possible for them to concentrate on perfecting their skating, their goal.
If you have a business, concentrate on providing your service or product and on building your business. Hire experienced staff and delegate tasks that are not directly related to these two tasks. Let a bookkeeper balance the accounts and pay the bills. Hire a marketing expert to create your brand and help you create your marketing and social media plan. If you manage people at work, help them identify their goals and then give them work that helps them achieve their goals while freeing you to concentrate on the essential facets of your work.
If you want to spend more time with your kids, hire a bi-weekly cleaning person to free up some time that is better spent doing something with the kids than scrubbing the floor. Or, if the kids are old enough, give them chores and clean the house as a family. Then do something fun together when you are all done cleaning. Wouldn’t it be great if we could all have a housekeeping robot like this one?
If you struggle with doing your taxes, hire an accountant. They might be able to get you a higher refund if you did the taxes yourself which would offset their fee.
Now take some action and move one step closer to unlocking your potential.
ACTION
- Think about your goals and identify the main tasks that only you can do and then surround yourself with a team that can take care of the rest.
- Make a list of potential coaches, mentors, and/or teachers to increase your success in your personal and professional life. Then hire one.
I would love to hear your personal experiences with this topic.
Categories: Articles
Tags: achieve goals, ask for help, business building, Business coach, Charlie White, delegate tasks, life coach, mentor, Meryl Davis, Success, Unlock your potential
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