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This week I heard Olympic Gold medallist, Steven Bradbury speak about how he came to win his Gold medal at the 2002 Winter Olympic Games.
He won the first ever Gold for Australia at a Winter Olympic Games, after 12 years of dedication and hard work. He talked about his gruelling physical training program, the times he felt like giving up and the accidents that nearly killed him. In one accidents he lost 4 litres of blood and broke his neck in 2 places. But he kept going…
What I learnt from Steven about writing and being an author:
- You can become an overnight success after many years of hard work. Steven was not known outside the world of speed skating until he won that Gold medal. Since then, he has created a successful business and is a worldwide public speaker. He worked hard in the background for 12 years before he was recognised for his work. Writing is a lot like this. You may have been writing all your life. Maybe you have a number of books already, and maybe it will take a few of them before you make money or receive the rewards you hope for. But hang in there! You will make it!
- Passion and drive has to keep you going through the hard times. Steven had a number of accidents when people wrote him off and said he would not get back on the ice. But he had a passion for speed skating. He loved the speed! So he kept getting back up and on the ice. After accidents, he built his strength up again – physical strength, mental strength. As authors, we need to keep that passion and drive for what we do. Writing is a solitary life and it takes persistence to make it through. After setbacks and rejections, we have to keep going.
- The harder you work, the luckier you get. Steven is known as the “Last Man Standing” because he won Gold after all the other contestants crashed out in the last lap – you can watch the video at the bottom of this post. Some would say it was luck that got him the Gold – but after hearing his story, I know he worked extremely hard for that luck. After 12 years of hard work, he was in the right place at the right time, and used the right tactics to hang back and then take it out at the end. He was only in that Olympic final because of the years he put in, and only lucky because of that hard work. Authors need to work hard for their luck too. We must keep writing, keep submitting, and being available for luck and opportunity to see us.
- What is your definition of success? Steven talks about how he reached the pinnacle of his career during the run up to the final of that Olympics. He had aimed to skate the very best he could and give his all to win. He felt he did that in the race prior to the final. Winning the Gold was therefore not his definition of success in terms of skating. It was not his best skating highlight, but it was when all his hard work was recognised. What is your definition of writing success? Is it seeing your book as an Amazon bestseller? Is it winning a brilliant literary prize? Is it when you are working fulltime as an author? Is it when you're on Oprah's couch? You need to set these goals and then pursue them with passion and determination. You may be surprised by what you end up achieving!
You can watch the short video below to see how amazing Steven's Gold win is. He had hung back in the semi-final and won after a crash, so saw no reason to change his tactics. It's only a minute long – speed skating is actually pretty exciting!
You can find out more about Steven at his website here http://www.stevenbradbury.com/
He also has a book about his story available at the website
View Comments (2)
Sports have so much to teach writers! Have you read 'The Art of Learning' by chess prodigy and Tai Chi champ Josh Waitzkin? It's full of great advice like yours. I'm surprised writers don't have coaches like athletes do! Great post!
Writing professionally has much in common with professional sport and we, as writers, would do well to draw encouragement as well as inspiration from the way most professionals in sport go about their business. We both try to perform at our best, we both seek to entertain or play to our audiences and we both are incredibly passionate about what we do. I think it is this passion that characterises us both. We do what we do because we love it and would be doing it anyway, even if we couldn't earn money doing it.