The success story of the Jamaican sprinter, Usain Bolt, regarded as the fastest human on earth is very inspiring.
His birth 30 years ago may have come unnoticed to many as he was not born into royalty or into a wealthy family, but he has risen from obscurity into the limelight, and his achievements are now lauded and applauded around the world.
As a child, Bolt began showing his sprinting potential running in the annual national primary school competitions in his home country. By age twenty, he became the world under-18 and world under-20 champion over 100m and 200m events.
He is currently the reigning world and Olympic champion with nine Olympic and eleven world titles, and having made over $100m at age 30. Bolt is considered the greatest sprinter of all time and the most successful athlete of the world championships having broken his own records in the 100m and 200m events and his unprecedented dominance and achievements in the athletic field.
His awards include: IAAF World Athlete of the year, Track & Field Athlete of the year, and Laureus World sportsman of the year (three times).
Upon reflecting on the life and the achievements of this great sportsman, his exploits taught me many valuable lessons. Here are three of my favourites:
1. Follow Your Passion
Usain Bolt followed his passion and this has now brought him to global attention. As a child, he spent his time playing cricket and football in the streets of Jamaica. He was reported to have said, “When I was young, I didn’t really think about anything other than sports”.
Right from his childhood, Bolt discovered his gift and talent on earth, and he bent his powers to its development. He did not abandon his talent to pursue a course in journalism or go to study medicine to become a medical doctor. He focused on his strengths.
Success in life and business is a journey that starts with having the courage to follow your intuition and passion and do what you love as you follow your heart.
We all came into this world with gifts and talents wired into our beings by God. There is no single individual who came into this world empty. However, it is the responsibility of each and every one of us to discover their talent and follow after to do what they love.
The world is full of people who are doing what they were not wired for, and what they do not love. Your rising in life comes from doing what you love. Except you are “wired-up” for the things you are doing, you will not find fulfilment; you will not get results there, because you are not created for that assignment.
I read recently about a young lady who graduated from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) with a first class honours but who is now a proud shoe maker, producing her own brand of shoes for sale because that is where her passion is.
Lionel Messi was born to play football; Usain Bolt was born to run; Michael Jordan was born to play basketball; Tiger Woods was born to play golf; Bill Gates was born to do business; Kofi Annan was born to be a diplomat; Michael Jackson was born to be a singer; and Bishop TD Jakes was born to be a preacher.
What were you born to do? Follow your passion and do what you love and your rising will break forth.
2. Self-Discipline
The making of Bolt into a superstar is as a result of his self-discipline to train. This is a man who trains an average of 8-hours a day whether rain or shine and irrespective of whether he feels like it or not.
Self-discipline is the number one trait to success and it is at the heart of any successful person. Self-discipline means learning how to focus your mind and energies on your goals and persevering until they are accomplished. It is the ability to do what needs to be done and refusing to do what you want to do in favour of some greater gain. It involves sacrificing the pleasure and thrill of the moment for what matters most in life. It is self-discipline that drives you to wake up early to work on yourself when all you want to do is sleep or watch TV. It helps you to overcome procrastination and laziness and to follow through with whatever you do. With self-discipline you will have the ability to resist distractions and focus on your goal and dream.
There are many people who do not have the ability to make themselves do things that should be done, therefore they easily get sidetracked and do not achieve success. If you desire to reach the top and become accomplished, then you must learn to discipline yourself in order to bring your dream into reality.
Achieving success requires spending effort and time. Life puts challenges and problems on the path of success and achievement, and in order to rise above them, you have to act with perseverance and persistence which requires self-discipline.
Without self-discipline, it will be hard for you to get far in life. Bolt got this far in life because he has the quality of self-discipline to do things he must do and also stop himself from doing things he wants to do but which may not be in his best interest. Unsurprisingly, he is celebrated today and on the front pages of magazines and on television screens around the world. Self-discipline is your sure and solid stairway to the summit.
3. Mentor
Bolt was able to develop to his fullest potential because he had a coach who guided and offered him expert advice.
Upon his entry to William Knibb Memorial High School in Jamaica, Bolt continued to focus on other sports, but his cricket coach noticed his speed on the pitch and urged him to try track and field events. Pablo McNeil, a former Olympic sprint athlete and Dwayne Jarrette coached Bolt encouraging him to focus his energy on improving his athletic abilities.
Most successful people when questioned about their career trajectories, credit a mentor or mentors. The biggest benefit of having a mentor is having someone you can ask questions and get advice from. Your mentor will help you become more of who you already are and find further paths that lead to success.
You need the help of a mentor in order to get to the top. A mentor offers the expertise, experience, training, and wisdom that can help you succeed faster and quicker in your career, business or professional development. The guidance from your mentor will help build your talent and give you the opportunity to develop. A mentor shows you new ways to think and teaches you new ways to do things or bring about changes to increase your efficiency, ability, and productivity.
Your mentor becomes a source of encouragement to you. As you go through struggles to get to the top, hearing from your mentor about his experiences will help you realise that the struggles you are going through now will prepare you to be a better person in the future.
A mentor is someone who is already in the trade or profession you are entering therefore knows the trends, important changes, and the new practices that you should know to stay at the top of your career. He will introduce you to key and important people that you should know. He has also made all the mistakes you are ever going to make and has worked out solutions to several possible problems you will encounter. So look around you and see who is an expert that you can learn from. It will prove an important decision in your journey to become successful.