Usain St. Leo Bolt, (born 21 August 1986) is a retired Jamaican sprinter, widely considered to be the greatest sprinter of all time. He is the world record holder in the 100 metres, 200 metres and 4 x 100 metres relay.
An eight-time Olympic gold medallist, Bolt is the only sprinter to win Olympic 100 m and 200 m titles at three consecutive Olympics (2008, 2012 and 2016). He also won two 4 x 100 relay gold medals. He gained worldwide fame for his double sprint victory in world record times at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, which made him the first person to hold both records since fully automatic time became mandatory.
Usain Bolt’s Success Lessons:
Here are some of Usain Bolt’s success lessons
1. It’s never about how you start, but how you finish
That’s how he ran his 100m races.
His reaction time wasn’t great, and hence always a stumbling block, but he always finished ahead.
He made sure to recover and finish the race in style.
Every time.
2. You MUST Want it More than the Competition
In terms of a 100M sprint, everybody is in the same position. They start at zero, and finish at one hundred. Your level of want will determine how hard you train, and how hard you run on the day.
Therefore, to beat everybody else, the only way to do it is to want it more than they do, and therefore to work harder for it.
In other aspects of life, we don’t all automatically get the same starting positions as you do on the track. We often start behind the people who have the same goals as us. The only way to get ahead is to use your desire to drive you further.
3. Know when to peak
Cometh the hour, cometh the man!
Bolt is a big game man. He knows when to perform.
He gave an on-field lesson to Canada’s Andre De Grasse during the Rio Olympics semi-finals.
When Bolt started slowing down at the finish line, De Grasse ran full speed.
Bolt wagged his finger at De Grasse hinting it is not the final.
Bolt, however, was not happy about being pushed, reportedly saying after the race, ‘I don’t know why he did that. You don’t need to run that fast.’
Needless to say, Bolt raced ahead in the final.
4. Don’t Be Afraid of Anybody Else
It can be easy to become intimidated by other people. This could be for a bunch of different reasons. Maybe they’re already #1 and you’re after their spot. Perhaps they’re hating you from the sidelines.
Whatever it is, if you let people instill fear in you, it’ll have a negative effect on your overall performance. When you let people get to you, it changes the way you think about yourself, how hard you work for something, and ultimately the level of success you achieve with it.
Usain Bolt said he never dodged anybody, no matter who they were. It didn’t stopping him from focusing completely on his goals.
5. Have crazy goals, have realistic goals
Crazy and realistic rarely go hand-in-hand, but Bolt had the audacity to pair them up.
He declared before the Rio Olympics that he would bow out as the greatest athlete.
Many questioned his fitness, but Bolt proved to be a man of his word.
He completed a rare double — won both the 100m and 200m — and was the first to seal the triple-triple (three gold medals in a row across three different Olympic track events)!
6. Regardless of Whether You Improve, the World Around You Will
This lesson is seriously powerful…
What we have to understand is that even if we stop moving, and improving, the world still turns. If you start to slow down, don’t expect the world to slow down for you.
People will still be out there working hard, training, improving and getting ready to take your place.
Bolt said that every year he kept training and trying to improve in order to keep winning, because his competition are doing the exact same thing. If he stops training, they’ll soon overtake him. No question about it.
