Gratitude Beats Fear Grace Upshaw Olympic Success Story

Gratitude Beats Fear Every Time - an Olympic Success Story - Grace Upshaw

Sometimes you meet someone and instantly know that they are a blessing to the planet.  Grace Upshaw is one of those people.  She is a two-time Olympian in 2004 and 2008 in the long jump with a personal best of 22'7".  During our hour-long interview, I learned several big life lessons and I'm excited to share them here with you.

If you want to learn more about what she's doing now to help others train their mind and harnesses raw power into a focused tool to accomplish whatever goal they set, visit www.trainwithgrace.com and more all her incredible athletic accomplishments, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grace_Upshaw
or http://www.usatf.org/athletes/bios/TrackAndFieldArchive/2009/Upshaw_Grace.asp

The first life lesson is to focus on the details, one at a time.  Grace coaches her sister Joy - masters track world champion - in the long jump.  Joy still helps Grace as well, with wonderful advice on being a great mom.  Grace sees the greatness Joy has instilled in her children and learns from that.  They both know the value of a good coach, and to listen and be humble enough to learn from each other.  As human beings, we're not great at seeing ourselves clearly.  She would focus on one small detail at at time and repeat it over and over until it was perfect.  Multi-tasking or trying to improve too much at once doesn't work.  She worked on mental focus, awareness, technique, lifting, plyometrics, speed intervals, various types of speed and strength work, hill repeats (she didn't like these), etc... one at a time.

Speaking of things we don't like (hill repeats) ... guess what?   Those are most likely the things we need to work on the most.  She learned that by working on her weaknesses, she brought her game from 95% to 99%.  Another big key.  Also her sister holds her accountable for doing what she doesn't want to do yet knows she should to reach her goals.  She also helps encourage her to stay outside her comfort zone.  Now, that's a great coach!

It's a great idea to try new things that we're not good at to train our body and brain to consistently be ready to learn and grow.  Recently, Grace took up Ju Jitsu just to give it a try.  At first, she admitted it was uncomfortable and definitely a challenge, now after many workouts, she really enjoys the team aspect and focusing on technique to get better ... and is even more comfortable with the contact element!

One of the similar success principles that Olympic medalists share is the importance of awareness, mindfulness and training their brain.  At one point, Grace did intensive inner yoga training for 13 months.  As fast as these athletes run and jump, they must also focus and have a quiet mind.  Every athlete trains to their full capacity.  I've heard many times that success is 90% mental.  One way to do this is to start by setting your goal and then break it down into the individual tasks it takes to get there (your plan).  It's not easy, but takes a lot less mental energy to just follow a well laid-out plan.  She regularly practices visualization, mindfulness and meditation to train her mind for more focus and quiet.

She also learned that to truly excel at anything we have to be willing to give up something else.  At first glance, this sounds like bad news.  "I want it all" you might say.  Focus and commitment combined with giving up what doesn't serve you in reaching your goals is very powerful.  If you want your business to thrive, and you are committed and excited about your goals, it will be much easier to focus on the right things to do and give up things like TV, checking emails too often, etc...

The other common element is fire.  The inner spirit that burns strong.  It's what picks us up when things go wrong.  It's what drives us to do what it takes when we're tired or don't feel like it.  This fire burns brightly in elite athletes and highly successful business leaders to be the best they can be and make the biggest contribution.  Follow your passion and purpose and you'll ignite and fan your own flame.  Grace also advises to be sure to surround yourself with people that support you and your dreams.

Grace's father, Monte Upshaw, was one of America's most promising young athletes.  He broke Jesse Owen's high school long jump record by jumping over 25'.   Grace (and many others I've talked to) said that everyone loved him.  He also went to Cal Berkeley and unfortunately suffered an injury and was never able to regain his full jumping potential.  He was able to do running events quite well, as a senior in 1958, Upshaw, along with teammates Jack Yerman, Willie White and Don Bowden, set a world record in the sprint medley relay when they finished in 3:18.8. He also established a national collegiate freshman record in the sprint relay (3:20.9) in 1955 with Leamon King, John Merchant and Bowden..  He supported the U. C. Berkeley track team morally and via fundraising for decades after.

Monte taught Grace the value of gratitude and humility.  This lesson got re-enforced in 2004, her first Olympics.  She was the underdog and was thrown into the limelight and wasn't prepared for that.   She learned to not let success go to her head and not to brag.  This even works in business.  Let your best customers brag about you and give referrals, reviews and testimonials - it works much better than if it came from you.

I've saved my favorite and the most valuable life lesson of all for last.

She says that the greatest gift of all is time and meaningful connection with friends, team and loved ones.

I asked her how she was able to handle all the stress and perhaps fear of these huge athletic events.  I absolutely love her answer.  Sometimes the best practices are the last ones we think of.  Imagine the night before the Olympics, you've dedicated your whole life to this one competition.  Pressure, stress, what if's ... brain spinning ...

Grace (in alignment with her name) would write letters of gratitude to her best friends, coach, family, special team members and spell out how special they were to her and specifically what she was thankful for.  She also kept a journal of her affirmations - what she was proud of, great workouts, what made her feel good and would read it before big events.  After that, she was ready and knew she was prepared both mentally and physically.

Thank you Grace for your life lessons and inspiration.

If you enjoyed this article and want to see more inspirational life and small business marketing lessons, please check out my book:  Gold Medal Business Marketing.