A lot can change in 9 days
A lot can change in 9 days
It is the first day of Spring! What a joyous occasion. If you live anywhere near Cape Town you wouldn’t know it, but we have started to see the first signs of warmer and longer days.
That’s the thing about seasons, they never stick around forever. Whether this be the weather or a season of life, every one of us goes through periods of winter. These periods seem dark, and lifeless, without growth or new opportunities and can feel like they drag on forever. Until something starts to change…
I promise this will be the last time (maybe) we say anything about the Athletics World Championships that finished this past Sunday in Budapest. But these championships gave us an excellent example of how much things can change in a short time if we refuse to give up.
Femke Bol is a sprinter from the Netherlands who specializes in the 400m hurdles. She is one of the top three athletes in the world at this event, although she is still young and rather inexperienced. On the first day of the championships, she ran the anchor leg (the last lap) on the mixed 4x400m mixed relay team (two guys and two ladies per team) for the Netherlands. With 50 meters to go, she was cruising towards the gold medal and a world record for her team until this happened:
Within the last 10 meters she starts to feel the pressure from the American athlete, stumbles, falls and drops the baton meters from the line. Within the space of 5 meters, team Netherlands goes from winning gold in a world record time to being disqualified for not crossing the line with the baton in hand. Imagine Bol’s and her team’s absolute disappointment. This definitely feels like a pretty terrible season.
But the story doesn’t end here…
Four days later Bol goes on to win the gold medal in the 400m hurdles, her main event. She redeems herself and proves that she can perform under pressure. BUT, there is still the nagging thought of “I let my team down”, I’m sure of it. Fast forward another four days, to the very final event of the championships. The 4x400m women’s relay, an event in which the Netherlands has never won a global medal…
Once again Femke Bol will run the anchor leg, but this time the outcome is the complete opposite. When she gets the baton with 400 meters to go, her team is in third place, trailing Jamaica and the US. With 70 meters to go, she starts to close the gap. With 50m, 40m, 30m, 20m, 10m, 5m to go, she is still in third place. Literally on the exact same spot she fell in the first race, she overtakes the two athletes in front of her to take the gold medal!
You could not make this stuff up! If you haven’t seen it yet, go find it on YouTube. It is absolutely incredible.
Our message this week is simple: Refuse to give up!
We have been around the sun enough times to know that seasons don’t last forever. They might drag on for months or even years and decades, but they don’t last forever. Change your tactics, ask for help, or take a different route if needed, but do not give up. Spring always seems to bring a new sense of hope, energy and enthusiasm with it – and although we don’t know what you might be facing in your life or business, we hope that this example encourages you to keep going.
If you would like some perspective or require some new tactics we would love to help. You can reach us at info@purposeworks.co.za.
At PurposeWorks we are all about Making You and Your Work Rock. Our focus is on Organisational Health and Design, Employee Centered Culture, Leadership Development and Performance Coaching. For more information on how we can help you create a work environment that rocks, develop a great team, become an inspiring leader or unlock your personal excellence talk to us at info@purposeworks.co.za.
