How YOU can win by not coming first!

How you can still win by not coming first…

Inspired by watching  the men’s 100 metre final in the world championships.  It was fascinating  to observe how Justin Gatlin won the race but the real winner was Usain Bolt. Undefeated in the last 4 years and holder of 3 world records, and 19 Olympic and World Championship gold medals, Bolt has owned athletics for the last 10 years. Last night Bolt came 3rd. The crowd made their winner known by booing Justin with all the TV cameras trained on Bolt. An electric moment…. This made me think.

Justin Gatlin, for those not guilty of watching men’s 100 metre races, was disgracefully suspended from the athletics arena not once but twice for failing drugs tests.

Usain Bolt.  The people’s champion of Jamaica with a hairs breadth escape of the wrong tracks in society, successfully crafted through grit, determination and perhaps most important of all .. the rare gift of charisma .. to enchant the general populous.

The collegiate US All-star against the people’s champion. Who won? This is why  I’m writing this. Not the winner of the race – Justin Gatlin. The true winner was Bolt.

Why?

Because he personifies grace, honesty, good humour and sheer hard graft in equal measure to show that anyone can be a world champion or at least be the best they can be without guile. Without dishonesty. Without cheating.

Not all of us can be a world champion. BUT what if each and every one of us just tried to be the very best version of who we can be? That’s the mark of a true winner and how each of us can be truly great.