Winning Like Michael Phelps
We all want to be a champion in our own lives, winning like #winning. Micheal Phelps knows a thing or two about winning so we will look at his behavior and mindset to become a champion of our own lives.
In Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less, Greg McKeown narrates the race ritual of Micheal Phelps, the most decorated American Olympian of all time winning 22 Olympic medals. At the 2008 Olympics in Beijing China he set a record for most first place finishes by any athlete in a single Olympics, eight gold medals.
Two hours before a race Michael Phelps would conduct the exact same warmup swim every time, in the exact same order.
After the swim he would dry off, put on his headphones and sit on the massage table. Always sitting, never lying down.
From this point forward he would not speak to his coach or anyone else until after the race was over.
At 45 minutes before the race, he would get dressed for the race. At 30 minutes before, he would go to the warmup pool for a 600 meter swim.
At 10 minutes before the race he would walk to the ready room and find a place where he could sit alone. He would place his goggles on one side and his towel on the other.
When his race was called, he would walk to the blocks. He always approached the blocks from the left side. He would dry the block every time, perform the same two stretches in the exact same order always with the left leg first. Then he would remove the right earbud.
When his name was called he would remove the […]