How to Think Like a Winner, Secrets of a Three-Time Olympian
Author: Ruben Gonzalez

What would your life be like if failure was not an option? Would you like to perform at your peak more often? What would you do if you knew you could not fail?

In the next few minutes you will learn how I programed my mind to make my Olympic Dream come true three times! You will learn techniques that can change your life. So here we go…

Four years after making a decision to begin training for the Olympics, I had the honor of competing in the 1988 Calgary Winter Olympics in the luge. I went on to compete in the 1992 Albertville Olympics and I just competed in the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics at the age of 39.

How does someone who did not even take up the sport of luge until he was 22 become a Three-Time Olympian? As I tell thousands of people in my speeches, I’m not a big shot. I’m just a little shot that keeps on shooting. I’m proof that ordinary people can accomplish extraordinary things if they will just put the right things into their minds.

Olympic Athletes consistently and persistently use specialized techniques to program their minds to achieve peak performance. The following simple techniques performed consistently over a period of time will change your outlook in life and ultimately your outcomes.

Acquire the Mindset of Winners

If you adopt these beliefs, you will win much more often.

1 – Failure does Not Exist

Just because I crashed the last five times on the luge track does not mean I’ll crash the next time. Every time I come down that track I am a better racer because I have more experience than the time before.

When Thomas Edison was trying to find the right filament to make the light bulb work, a reporter asked him how it felt to have failed thousands of times. Edison said he hadn’t failed. He just discovered thousands of materials that didn’t work.

There is no such thing as failure. You either get the desired outcome, or you learn. No matter what the result, you win. The past does not equal the future.

By thinking this way, discouragement can’t get a foothold in your mind.

2 - If It Is To Be It Is Up To Me!

Every single one of the people in the biographies I read overcame some major challenge. Struggling through those challenges is what made them great. A piece of coal has to experience a huge amount of heat and pressure in order to become a diamond. We are no different. Every time we face a challenge we have a choice to make. Will we get bitter or better? Decide to get better. Face the challenge. It’s there to make you stronger. You will need that strength further up the road when you’ll be facing even bigger challenges.

Don’t ever make excuses. Whenever you make an excuse you are giving up control. Rationalizing is telling yourself "rational lies".

Believe that you are in charge of your life. You are totally responsible. You create your results. You are in control of your life. You have the power to change your circumstances.

3– Get Out of Your Comfort Zone!

When I decided to learn the luge I told everyone I was aiming for the Olympics. I wanted to put myself in a position where it would be very difficult to quit.

When I first went to Lake Placid, I honestly didn’t know what I was getting into. I took a leap of faith and believed the net would appear. I’ve taken a couple of thousand luge runs in my career and I’ve faced fear before every run. What kept me going? The Olympic Dream. The desire to become an Olympian gave me the courage to face my fears.

Commit to stretching. Put yourself on the line. Commit to do things beyond your current abilities. That’s how you grow. That’s how you get better and stronger.

4 – Just do it!

When the luge team went to a new track we would walk the track with the coach. We would make a game plan about the best way to drive the track. I then visualized and mentally rehearsed taking the run many times, and finally I had to hop on the sled and go down the mountain. The first few runs are always pretty brutal, but as we learn the track, our times improve dramatically.

Scary? Very. But it’s the price I paid to get to the Olympics.

Commit to act even if you don’t know everything. You don’t wait till all the lights are green before taking a road trip. If you wait until you know everything before acting, you’ll never do anything. Take a chance. Act on faith.

5 – Be True to Yourself

Always act from Personal Integrity. Be true to yourself. If it does not feel right in your gut, don’t do it. Don’t ever go against your personal values. No victory is worth not being able to look yourself in the mirror.

6 – There is Always a Way if You Don’t Quit!

Robert Schuller says, "Mental toughness is developed through consistency of effort."

On the road to the Olympics, many athletes much faster than me quit along the way. How do you think they felt when they watched the Olympics on TV? The price of getting your dream is big but the pain of regret is hundreds of times bigger.

Commitment is the glue that holds everything together. Commitment is the most powerful tool you have as a human being. Commit to practice until you are good. Even if you fear what it takes to get to your goal (as I feared the luge), do it anyways. Commitment will pull you through.

Commit to do whatever it takes (as long as it is moral, legal and ethical) to succeed.

The difference between people is there are those who are interested and there are those who are committed. The key to success in life is going from being interested to being committed. Once you are committed you will produce results. At the point of commitment, you mentally "burn all the bridges" and you do whatever it takes to make it happen. THAT’S when you become unstoppable!

Chase your dream, go for the gold, and never ever quit.








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A three-time Olympian and peak performance expert, Ruben Gonzalez speaks on the principles of success he followed on the road to the Olympics. Ruben inspires and equips his audiences to "Go for the Gold" in life. www.thelugeman.com

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