How to Do It All Joshua McAdams Olympic Success Story

How to Do It All - Joshua McAdams Olympic Success Story

Every Olympic athlete gives his or her all in their training and during competition.  I'll probably get busted for saying that XX is the toughest event in the world for several events, but seriously, the steeplechase is an incredibly tough event.  Imagine running almost 2 miles (3,000 meters) around a track as fast as you can.  That's pretty hard, we can all agree.  Yet thousands of athletes from all over the world run fast for a variety of distances.  Now, add 6" x 6" wooden barriers 36" high that you have to step or jump over.  They do not move.  A friend of mine in college shattered his knee trying to hurdle one of these barriers.  There are 5 of them dispersed around the track for every 400 meters for a total of 28 barriers.  OK, yes that sounds rough you say ... now add the fact that one of those barriers has a water pit 28" deep and 12 feet long!

Joshua McAdams was an incredible steeplechase athlete who went to the Olympics in 2008 and ran a personal best of 8:21:36.  That is a wonderful lifetime achievement.  What's so amazing about Josh is that he did this while raising a family, being highly active in his church and going to the Southern College of Optometry.  After interviewing Joshua, I will never again let a client tell me they can't accomplish something because they are too busy!

Josh was kid number 5 of 8 growing up.  His parents were loving and supportive (tough love - they would wake him up at 5:30 am for his morning paper route in high school.  His routine then took him to church, and then school.  In Cleveland, OH he would run from door to door delivering the papers, even in the snow (again, no excuses).

His coach Ed Eyestone was not only the 5000m NCAA champ but is also only one of two or three to accomplish the triple crown in NCAA distance running.  He won cross country in the fall, then the 10K and 5K in track. He is also a 2x Olympian in the marathon and 10K. Coach Eyestone, while Josh was an undergraduate student at Brigham Young University, gave some interesting advice and told him to keep his brain busy.  That he did with everything going on in his life.  He may have been the best part-time runner ever.  Most Olympic athletes spend 4-6 hours a day working out, stretching, massage, physical therapy, visualization, etc... and need more than average rest time on top of that.

His coach, Ed, passed along tips for dealing with fear of failure or the stress of big races.   Ed ended up up in the 1984 Olympic trials in the 10,000 meters looking up at the jumbo screen to see a look of terror on his face.  He ended up collapsing with 600 meters to go.  A tough lesson.  According to Joshua, the key to dealing with fear is to let it go.  Have a positive attitude.  Look forward to the big races - this is what it's all about.  Look for friends and family in the stands, soak up the energy!  The track is a stage.  The "hay is in the barn" means that you've done all you can to prepare.  The alchemy of gold is turning fear into excitement!  Enjoy the moment.  FEAR is really a sign of being unprepared, so do everything you can to succeed - intervals, speed work, stretching, drills, diet, rest, weights ...

Joshua's faith is with the Mormon religion.  Most of the young men in the church travel and work abroad on a two-year mission.  Before his mission to Thailand, Josh's running was everything.  It defined him.  His priority was running and his moods would reflect his performance.  He would be in a bad mood if injured or ran a bad race.  After serving God and seeing people living in huts, his perspective and priorities broadened.  During those two years, he only ran about 8 times (where he often ran twice a day before) and ballooned from 148 pounds to 194.  He was certainly not in shape for the Olympics upon returning, but had learned more than one valuable life lesson.

He still had desire to compete as well as he could, but it no longer defined him.  Attitude is what defines running and life.  Running now was for him to enjoy, listen to music and enjoy the scenery.  It certainly wasn't about the money.  His agent, Bob Wood, was able to get him a contract for $10,000 with New Balance to support his running.  I don't know anyone that can live on that.  So he had to balance work, school, family, church and serious training.  From this perspective, he learned to focus and to only work on things that are significant.  His motto was "good to great".  Day to day consistency and doing his best was the key.  His keys to success:  Focus, goals, hard work and technique.  The devil is in the details - at work, with family, and of course, hurdling barriers built from massive beams of wood!  Practicing technique until you can't get it wrong leads to efficiency and confidence.

In order to go from good to great, Josh had to change something.  He basically did the same workouts as in college only a little faster, and added steeple chase technique drills and more core work.  This didn't take more time out of his day, he just fit it in.  These small details made all the difference.  What small yet important things can you do in your business to go to the next level?

Of any of the people I know, Josh could have made many excuses.  You can choose either excuses or success, not both.  He made his workouts and success formula non-negotiable, and that's exactly what we need to do in our life and business.

Today, he still has to balance and prioritize his family, kids sports, his business, and church.  He says his secret is to make it quality time, worthwhile and significant and be focused where he is at that moment.  Even with all that going on he loves to swim with his kids, play with family and occasionally enjoy a run in the woods.

Congratulations Joshua McAdams and thank you for being an inspiration to us all.

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