The Makeup of Becoming a Champion

The parallels of traits between successful business entrepreneurs and championship athletes are always present. And as a two-time national soccer champion on two different collegiate levels, I am a believer that there are certain characteristics that separate an athlete from a championship athlete.

How many of these traits listed apply to you, your athletes, your employees, or your co-workers? Do you have a champion in your office? Caution: These traits are sometimes best handled in small doses and not all at one time.

“Everyone tells me that the Italian championship is the toughest in the world, but I’m not afraid. In my career, I’ve always scored goals, wherever I’ve been.” – Ronaldo Luís Nazário de Lima

“Everybody on a championship team doesn’t get publicity, but everyone can say he’s a champion.” – Magic Johnson

“More than anything, I have learned a great deal about the amount of hard work and dedication that it takes to be a champion.” – Nadia Comaneci


Here are the 10 Degrees of Separation listed in no particular order:


Dedication


Definition: wholly committed to something, as to an ideal, political cause, or personal goal

Not every day on the field is pretty. Not every day on the field is pain free. Not every day on that field is going to be flawless. But you have to stick through it every day through both the good and bad times to reach your end result.


Passion


Definition: having, compelled by, or ruled by intense emotion or strong feeling.

Having passion for the game that you are playing is crucial to your success. It’s not just something you do 9-5 or only 40 hours a week.  You not only do it every day because you have to, but because you want to.


Confidence


Definition: belief in oneself and one’s powers or abilities; self-confidence; self-reliance; assurance.

This is the belief that you CAN do it.


Arrogance


Definition: making claims or pretensions to superior importance or rights; overbearingly assuming; insolently proud

This is the belief that no one else can do it, but you! This term receives such a negative implication, but sometimes a very necessary quality for successful athletes.


Drive

Definition: being under compulsion, as to succeed or excel.

What drives you to succeed?  The actual element that drives a champion can be different for each person, but that ingredient is always present. Every now and then this drive is a reflection of a rough childhood, maybe proving others wrong, or simply a competitive drive to win.

Selfishness

Definition: devoted to or caring only for oneself; concerned primarily with one’s own interests, benefits, welfare, etc., regardless of others.

An intelligent call has to be made on behalf of an athlete about when to be selfish in the moment of the game; this includes when to take the ball themselves, not pass to a teammate, and just shoot for the goal.

Fear

Definition: a distressing emotion aroused by impending danger, evil, pain, etc., whether the threat is real or imagined; the feeling or condition of being afraid.

This includes: the fear of a coach, the fear of losing, the fear of an opponent, and the looming fear of failure. These can become incredible driving forces for achievement.

Vision

Definition: the act or power of anticipating that which will or may come to be.

There are just some athletes you watch in awe as you enjoy their ability to have amazing vision of the field. You also have to know what you want, your own vision for yourself before you can make it a reality.

Selflessness

Definition: having little or no concern for oneself, especially with regard to fame, position, money, etc.

While it is important to be selfish, the opposite is also true. Despite the fact that finding balance might be difficult, this is where ultimate success may lie.

Respect

Definition: esteem for or a sense of the worth or excellence of a person, a personal quality or ability, or something considered as a manifestation of a personal quality or ability.

Holds true for respect for yourself as well as respect for others.

10 traits actually make for a very short list of characteristics. What traits do you feel are missing from this list that should have been included and why?

written by Kristen Sonsma

Relationships Have Tremendous Impact Upon Expression (Part 111 "It's Not What YOU Eat but What's Eating YOU")

Relationships have a tremendous impact upon expression. For many, their relationships oppress them because, in spite of their belief systems, there is an undeniable knowingness within them which says, "I have not become what I needed." It eats at them.This is why many suffer hypertension, heart disease, and stomach and intestinal problems. Ask them why they do not change their situation and they say, "Well, I have a family to support and bills to pay, so I have to work. I have to behave." And it is true that once relationships are established, they can be hard to leave.


How can you work with a stifling relationship? One way is to allow your partner to develop his or her potentials too. It is not always necessary to break up relationships in order for people to develop. Learn to give each other the freedom to be and to become. Support each other on your paths of discovery. At one point you might be the one who needs to become. At another point it might be your mate who needs to become. Or you may need to become simultaneously, and you can support each other in your individual quests. This can be a stimulating model for your children. They can observe and experience how you, their parents, are both exploring and expanding your potentials and consciousness, yet still maintaining a sharing, caring relationship with each other. The children may come to realize they can explore their potentials too, for you have not made them dependent upon set beliefs. You are not holding onto beliefs any longer. You and your children will have a much greater freedom and will be healthier because of it.

So for those who feel oppressed by family relationships, I would say that getting away from one another will not necessarily make you happy if you do not learn to activate your potentials. Before you look outside the family life or look for someone who seems to share your beliefs and ideas, you might first look for ways to express yourself as an individual within the family. You may discover that involvement with your partners, your mate and children, will lead to your evolvement. The key is to create a family which is mutually supportive. Continuously create a dynamic family environment which reflects and enhances your state of consciousness and health. Do not fear change. Do not use your family and your job as excuses or distractions to avoid personal expression. Do not explode -- expand! Otherwise, you will limit the expression of your partner and children as well.

How sad that many people actually plan to wait forty years and agree to spend their energy fulfilling someone else's desires before they set out on that path of self-discovery. For forty years they work to fulfill someone else's expectations of what is best for them. They wait until they retire and the children are gone before they really begin to live for themselves.

Forty years of waiting will not leave the mind and body in a very good state of health, one capable of allowing a person to develop her potentials. Often that person's "golden years" become merely a fulfillment of a new set of beliefs, an escape rather than an exploration.