Lessons on Achievement From Sally Gunnell

I remember watching her race in the Olympics. Like most of the country I believed she would get a medal – she’d done it before – but ???? was probably out of her reach.

She had a different plan.

• She was one of the first athletes to bring in a sports psychologist to work on her mindset. She always started her day with “What do I want to achieve today?”. This works in every walk of life.

• Mindset – the more you believe in your own ability to succeed the more likely it is that you WILL succeed.

• Challenge yourself – it’s the only path which leads to growth.

• Dealing with setbacks – learn from them, take the positives and learn to move forward.

• Have the confidence in your own ability.

• Keep challenging yourself but know that your challenges do not always have to be big.

• Always have clarity of your vision and know your WHY.

• The core pillars to living well always include exercise, sleep and nutrition.

• We cannot choose what goes on around us but we can choose how we respond.

• Find 5 minutes every day to visualise what you want to achieve. This way if you “hit a hurdle”, you know what to do; if you get drawn in Lane 1, you know what to do.

• The people who control their mindset are always the winners.

• Force feed your confidence – “I deserve this”. You have to find that confidence in yourself – no one can find it for you.

After all this incredible brain juice, this is a race her great rival, Sandra Farmer-Patrick, was never going to win. Go Sally!