This Year You Should Decide to Become a World Champion

Once upon a time, there was a little boy who loved riding his bike. Very soon, it became obvious that he was a natural on the bike; he had a gift. When he turned six, he joined his first bicycle competition. The competition itself was not so hard, but the battle to overcome his fear of being alone at the start line among other kids was the toughest. He won the battle and started the race, finishing in third place. A couple of months later, he would celebrate his first victory.

He was happy, he had his bike and lots of friends, but change was knocking at his door. Autumn came, and his parents packed everything, took him and his little brother, and moved out of the big city.

He was starting over, a new city, a new home, first time going to school, a new teacher, new classmates, no friends. A lot of changes and challenges were set on his path. The only good news was that his parents signed him up for a mountain bike club, where he got the chance to learn and train for mountain bike competitions. Once he joined the club, he realized he was not the superstar anymore; a lot of children were riding the bike better or at least the same level as him. He went to each training session, shy and nervous, not having the courage to talk to anyone. But he was focused on what he had to do on his bike. It was hard, but he enjoyed it fully.

Two months later, he was in the car with his family, and a casual conversation started: “Hey son, what are you planning to do with your cycling thing?” “What do you mean, Dad? I will be world champion, or at least European champion”. His answer was confident and serious; it was a definite statement. The next year, his journey started focusing on training and improving. Nobody was pushing him to do anything; he wanted it, he loved it. His efforts paid off, and the coach promoted him to the advanced team, where new challenges awaited him. Training sessions were harder; he couldn’t keep up the pace with his peers, who had been doing this sport since they were 5. He asked at some point to go back to his initial group, but he changed his mind after some reflection, realizing that no improvement would come from that group. It was tough, but it was only the beginning.

The first real mountain bike competition was a brutal reality check for him. Real mountain bike competitions were tough, demanding, and scary. On top of that, he was bottom of his age group. Then the fears started to come in, that he was not good enough, terrified by other kids that were really good, terrified by technical sections on the race course. He continued to work and to love his sport, and his results were gradually and slowly getting better. He started from barely making the top 10, slowly moving towards the top 5, the podium, and finally victories. There is no world championship competition at his age, but he was one of the serious contenders in the national championship.

The story above is my son’s story, and you would see tears in my eyes if I told it to you face-to-face. I am so proud of him, but the reason I shared his tale it’s that this story is also about you and me.

There are three key messages in the story that speak to me and you.

The first key message is passion. I know, I know, not everyone gets so lucky to find passion, so powerful it becomes an obsession. We cannot all be Michael Jordan or Serena Williams; normal people don’t get this type of passion. I fully agree, as a matter of fact, I don’t have any passion that is so powerful, and I haven’t met anyone in my life who did. My son’s journey was guided and supported, but in that process, I ended up admiring him and learning from him. That’s why I thought a lot about this thing called passion and followed the conventional way of thinking up to the point where I asked myself: “Why not? Why should I not find my passion?” And now I am asking you: “Why shouldn’t you find your passion? Why shouldn’t you search for it?”

The second key message of this story is becoming a world champion. How many of us truly set out to be a world champion parent, a world champion partner, a world champion entrepreneur, a world champion at their job, a world champion in anything? I don’t mean the sterile “I want to be the best at something.” I am talking about setting your standards high enough, about working and putting in the effort, gradually improving, and focusing on the process of becoming a world champion. Championships, medals, matches, and competitions are not won on game day; they are won in the training sessions, the preparation, the recovery, the nutrition, and so on. All the titles and accolades come after you went through the process, through the challenges, the setbacks, the grinding. That is what makes you a champion, going through the journey of becoming the champion, not the title, the medal at the end. Go find your arena and decide to be a world champion.

The final key message of the story is around limiting beliefs. My son is truly confident that he will be a world champion someday, because nobody told him up until now that he can’t. He knows he needs to work hard, get better, and compete with himself, not the others. He doesn’t know it’s hard, it’s almost impossible, you need money and resources, you need luck, you need relationships, and so on. For me and many from my generation, life was built around all sorts of boundaries and limiting beliefs installed by the family, the school, and the environment. For us, not playing at our true potential was the cost that we paid. And the obvious question is, why not start doing something, believing truly that it is possible and you can do it?

I want to close this story about you and me, by asking you to deeply think, reflect, and ultimately take action on:

1. Find your passion! – Go out and try new things and see if something ignites. You may never find a true, burning passion for something, but if you keep searching and trying, you will end up living a rich life, full of experiences. No matter what, you win!

2. Set out to be a world champion! – Think of the important areas in your life and commit to becoming a world champion in each of them. Remember it’s not about the end, the title, the championship, the accolades, it is about the journey, the transformations, the sweat and effort. Do that, and you will be the world champion; do that consistently, and everyone will recognize you as a world champion. Title or no title, you win!

3. Drop limiting beliefs! – Getting rid of limiting beliefs is a very complex topic that sits with therapy and psychology, and I am no expert in either of them. However, I think approaching goals, challenges, and problems with a child’s mind, full of innocence, ignorance, and the belief that everything is possible, is the best way to do it. Will it work? I don’t know, but surely it will not slow you down or make it harder. More likely, it will support you to play at your full potential. Either way, you win!

Everyone on this planet is a world champion a something; everyone was born a champion. It all comes down to being willing to start the journey. Are you?