Olympic Spirit of Success

I think you'd have to have a heart of stone NOT to be inspired by the Olympic spirit. My husband is an Olympics fanatic -- every two years, he pretty much glues himself to the couch to watch the Olympics. He is also an Olympic pin collector and has a massive array of Olympic pins, dating as far back to Nagano. Winter sports are his favorite, to be sure.

Thank goodness for TiVo is all I have to say. I've skimmed through my "preferred" sports and I don't thkn I've spent more than 2 hours watching the sports (and that includes whatever ice skating competition preceded the Olympics).

But every twoyears as we begin this Olympic marathon-viewing stint, I find myself completely inspired by these athletes (well, not so much the snowboarders, but the rest of 'em for sure). What they put themselves through -- many of them for a decade or more -- just at a SHOT at the gold medal is truly inspiring.

There are days when I don't even feel like getting dressed, and I finally get around to putting some real clothing on around 3 or 4 in teh afternoon, usually only because I gotta go somewhere. To think about intensely practicing at a sport for longer than most people are "conscious" at work simply blows my mind. But the look on their face when the chips are down tells you it was all worth it to them. Every pain they pushed through, every fun time they passed up in lieu of practice, everything they sacrificed to get where they are is worth it when they stand atop that podium with the heavy weight of that medal around their neck adn their patriotic pride is evident as many are moved to tears to hear their own country's national anthem played for all to hear.

So what is it exactly that separates Olympic athletes from everyone else?

Is is their drive and relentless pursuit of the ultimate athletic achievement?
Is it their mindset?
Is it their desire?
Is it visualization?
Is it clarity of purpose and clarity of their goal or desired outcome?
Is it their upbringing?

What is it exactly?

The answer to that question isn't nearly as important as hte answer to this one:

What qualities do YOU possess that ensure you will achieve ANY goal you set and take action to get? What are your Olympic qualities (and I'm not talking about athletics here!)?