Success Advice
13 Lessons You Can Learn From An Olympic Champion – Kieren Perkins
So before interviewing Olympic champion, Kieren Perkins, I was not sure what to expect. Would he be washed up? Would he be old and burnt out? The answer is neither. Next to Tony Robbins I believe he is one of the most inspiring, motivational geniuses of our time.
He is not someone you want to underestimate. He has success oozing from every part of his being, and he knows every form of motivation and personal development skill you could imagine. If you want to know what it takes to be successful, and you have been looking for the answer, then the only thing you need to do is listen to Kieren’s advice!
This interview will stay with me for a very long time. There were so many a-ha moments, and so many quotes (thank god I recorded the audio). I almost had to make the entire article just quotes because there was no filler to anything he said. Everything he learnt by being an Olympian he still uses today, except he does it in the corporate world, not the pool.
For Kieren, he was attracted to swimming and not team sports like Football and Soccer, because his whole life was about beating himself and improving every day, it was not about looking good or trying to be what everyone else wanted him to be.
Below are the thirteen lessons you can learn from Kieren’s life and Olympic success.
1. You know you will win before you even start
If you stand up on the blocks in an Olympic games, and you think you can’t win, you won’t. If you do win, it’s because you knew you would, you prepared, trained, practised, stressed and pushed yourself to your absolute breaking point.
You repeated this process again and again until you got to that moment in your preparation, which aligned with your strategy, that meant that when you stood on the blocks you were ready to go.
2. Develop the mental toughness ingredients
Kieren never worried too much about his competitors. One of the things he got taught when he was very young was that if someone tries to psych you out before a race, that’s great because there worried about you, you need to ignore them and worry about your race.
This thinking was part of the manifestation of the mental toughness that evolved in him. You need all the ingredients such as:
– Being able to stay calm and rational
– Understand what matters and what doesn’t
– Have clarity around what you’re trying to achieve
– Being willing to deal with the issue, not the circumstance so you don’t get caught up in the emotion of a problem
These destructive emotions are usually not particularly real or helpful; they’re just perceptions that are your reality for that moment in time. If you don’t let that reality dominate you, and you can control it, your chances of being successful are much higher and the resilience you have in moments of stress will be greater.
3. No matter how you’re feeling just get started
No one wakes up every day of their life jumping out of their skin saying, “my life is fabulous, I’m so excited, I can’t wait to get to the pool and swim.” No sane human being is like that. We all have days where we think we’re tired, it’s cold, we can’t be bothered, or we want to just stay in bed.
Inevitably Kieren says, you get to the pool, and you start the activity of training. Within five minutes of starting you are engrossed, engaged, you’re there doing it, and all of that negativity or self-talk that was undermining your reasons for starting the process, disappears, and you get it done.
Next time you feel like you can’t do something, imagine what Kieren went through swimming in a pool every morning, and then just get started on whatever it is that you need to complete. You will be surprised how quickly you can push through any type of negative feeling.
4. Find something more engaging in what you’re doing than just the end
When Kieren used to train, he would see people that were only motivated by competition and winning at all costs. He would think to himself, “how do you drag yourself out of bed every day when your competition is four years away? You have got a lot of training to do between now and that competition. How do you wake up every day absolutely engaged in a sustainable performance mindset when the end goal is so distant?”
To Kieren, you want to have something that’s tangible, every single day that you can grasp, feel, touch, and taste that’s pushing you and motivating you to try and continue to improve, to be better, and get you to wherever you’re going.
Kieren has a view that if you want to be sustainable in your performance, if you want to have long-term out-performance and success in your career, you have to find something in what you’re doing that’s far more engaging and motivating than just the end.
If it’s only about the end, if it’s only about the competition, if it’s only about the opportunity to win an Olympic gold medal, the next time you have to start that process again and you stand on the line of day one, of the next four years of work, to get to the opportunity to try and win the next gold medal, Kieren says “Mount Everest looks pretty bloody big from there and pretty much unattainable.”
Kieren has seen it many times before (athletes who have treated the Olympics like a mountain) and when they have to climb the mountain for the second time or fourth time, they just can’t comprehend pushing themselves through the struggle ever again.
If you have a bit more of a sustainable mindset about those smaller chunks, (eat an elephant one bite at a time kind of an attitude) your chances of being sustainably successful are a lot higher.
5. Dealing with extreme pressure is a skill, unlike fitness
Throughout the interview, I wanted to know how Kieren’s mentors had influenced his success. The lesson Kieren told me that had a profound effect on him was from his swimming coach Mr Carew.
Mr Carew was very technically focused and believed that what made a great athlete was firstly the human being, the values, beliefs and attitudes, but then secondly, their technical ability. His view was that anyone could be fit, and that fitness was not mysterious or difficult.
His coach believed that to be technically perfect, under immense pressure, in an extremely hostile environment, and to challenge yourself and push yourself to do something extraordinary, was where the real skill lied.
This lesson doesn’t just apply to athletes; it also applies to life in general. Most skills and professions can be learned, but the one thing that will determine your success is the way you think and your psychology. Luckily all of this can be learned, and your brain has the ability to evolve.
“Every human being you interact with has got something to teach you and that they know something that you don’t know. The challenge about whether or not you learn anything from them is your capacity to actually listen and ask the right questions”
6. Let someone else show you what’s possible
A lesson we can all learn from Kieren is that often we have no idea what is possible until we see someone else achieve what we think is impossible. These experiences are invaluable and provide us with a blueprint for success.
The moment for Kieren, which showed him what was possible, was seeing Glen Houseman swimming in the 1989 Commonwealth Games Heats, in the 1500m freestyle. As Kieren was talking to his coach in the stands after his own event, he began to hear this amazing noise building from the swim centre which was uncommon for a 1500m swimming race at the time.
800m into the race, the commentator worked out that Glen was under world record pace. Back then, half a dozen records would be broken globally a year, on average. To see a world record at this time was just incredible, and it barely ever happened.
The 1500m race was one that nobody believed a world record could be broken because it was set by an extraordinary Russian athlete that was five generations ahead of his time in terms of what he achieved in the pool.
As Glen touched the wall and broke the world record, it shattered all the beliefs of what Kieran thought was possible, and broke down all the things that he took for granted about what could and couldn’t be done.
It really opened his eyes to the fact that if you think differently, give yourself a chance and dream high, who knows what you might be able to deliver.
7. Your state of mind shouldn’t change no matter how big the event is
For Kieren, one of the things he learned in his sporting career was that when that moment of truth comes, and you’ve got to stand on the blocks and deliver your performance, your capacity at that moment in time is physically set.
At that moment, you’re not getting fitter, stronger or more technically proficient. The struggle for anybody in that moment, when the questions being asked, “how good are you?” is to have the capacity to be realistic about the challenge that’s in front of you and control the emotions that inevitably come with it.
When you’re ten years old, the consequence of failure is nothing. Being able to balance out the reality of the situation versus the emotion of the perceptions that can be created, versus your experience, is really where the skill comes in.
The nerves and the emotion that you feel standing on the blocks, racing in your first school carnival, shouldn’t be any different to the state of mind you’re in when you’re standing on the blocks defending your third Olympic title.
If there is a big variance in your state, then the chances are that variance is going to lead to mistakes and bad performance.
8. In moments of unease, get some perspective and do your best
One of the hardest parts of being a champion is dealing with the huge expectations that are placed on you. These expectations can sometimes create unease and a feeling of sickness. The irony is it’s not about pushing through the sickness it’s about stepping back and getting some perspective.
In the lead up to the swim at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics (the final), Kieren started to panic and get incredibly nervous. There was a moment in time where he recognised that the physical state he was in was going to lead to a guaranteed bad performance.
He was smart enough in that moment, to recognise the reason he was in that physical state was because of his emotions, but he recognised that if he stayed in that physical state he wouldn’t be able to perform well.
It shocked him into stepping back and saying to himself well “you never used to get this nervous as a ten year old, what did you used to do, what was the process, what were the skills you utilised to put yourself in a position as a ten-year-old where you were far more in control and relaxed than you are right now?”
Just breaking it down into chunks and thinking about the things he had control over, and controlling them in the way he had learned over all those years, brought him back to a space where he was really able to get some perspective and unburden himself from the consequence of failure, and of not winning an Olympic gold medal.
It enabled him to bring it back to the thing that had always been the most important view in his life which was saying to himself “if I do my best, it doesn’t matter whether I win, lose or draw as long as I know I have done my best, and I couldn’t do any better, I will be proud and satisfied with my performance.”
9. Allow the adrenalin to dissipate during stressful moments
For Kieren, the main skill that he learned about controlling his emotional state during stressful moments was being able to distract himself. When he felt it getting out of control, he would distract himself and allow the physiological impacts to dissipate, which is essentially the adrenalin.
When you get stressed, adrenalin is produced by your body. Your body needs to first stop producing more adrenalin, and then secondly process the adrenalin that’s in your system, and once that’s been processed, you will be calm and rational again.
What helped Kieren was to distract himself and be able to step away from the pressure of the moment to allow himself to calm down, to allow himself to process that adrenalin, to then build some rational perspective – mentally that was the key. While training for the Olympics, Kieren would experience this phenomenon throughout the entire process.
It might happen while eating, doing stretches or in the middle of a warm up. What helped Kieren greatly was to work hard to focus on the here and now, and focusing on what the most important thing that had to be done, at that moment in time.
10. You’re always in control; there are no lucky charms
One concept Kieren says to drop is the idea of lucky charms. Some athletes have lucky charms like wearing red undies on the day of competition, and they believe that if they don’t, they will lose. When an athlete says “I ate a certain meal on the day of an event, so I knew I was going to win,” Kieren says that’s feeble-mindedness.
If you really think that your success is predicated on what you’re wearing, or what you’re eating, or other external circumstances, then you aren’t in control of what you’re trying to achieve, and that’s madness.
The real skill in being able to deliver your potential is always being in control so that when things go wrong, when you wake up in the morning arrive at the pool, and realise that you didn’t bring your favourite red undies your response isn’t hysteria, or “oh my god I am not going to win.”
Your response needs to be “who cares, it’s not going to make any difference, I am going to do what I need to do today.” You don’t actually control, the whole process; there will always be stuff that goes wrong.
11. The ultimate feeling of success is pride – replicate these moments
During my time with Kieren, I wanted to know what it was like to achieve the impossible Olympic gold medal dream, what feeling came from it, and what lesson I could learn – I got a great lesson. The lesson he gave me was an analogy that is his blueprint for success and can be used as a winning strategy for anybody’s life.
The analogy Kieren gave is, think back to being in primary school when you got the first assignment that you actually cared about. It was a subject or a topic that you really loved, were curious about, interested you and intrigued you.
When you got that assignment, you were excited. The thought or possibility of what you could achieve was real, and it was tangible because it mattered to you. Then you went through this process of working hard to get the result.
You focused, concentrated, and put in effort to deliver that assignment better than any assignment you’ve done before because you cared about it, and you engaged with it. When you got to the end of that process, and you had finished your assignment – after you had put in more work than you had ever put into anything you had done before in your life – there is a moment of huge anticipation when you hand it to the teacher.
You think to yourself “is it good enough, is it the best I could have done?” You know you couldn’t have worked any harder, and you wait with bated breath for the result to come through. Inevitably, the mark you get is fabulous. It’s a better mark than you could have anticipated.
In that moment, when you receive that mark, you get a swelling in your chest where you feel your heart pushing on your rib cage, and there is a buzz that goes through your core at that moment in time.
That sense of pride, in knowing that you set yourself a task, you were engaged, motivated and committed to achieving it, you were focused on delivering the result, you worked as hard as you possibly could to get it done, and you have received the rewards for your effort.
That moment of pride is exactly what it’s like winning an Olympic gold medal. If you can find an experience like this in your own life, and break down the components to the things you did that enabled you to deliver that result, you can apply this strategy to anything you want.
12. Understand how to come down from a major high
The only time Kieren had to come down was the day he retired. He describes it as horrific and awful, and it took him a decade to get it through it. It wasn’t about the buzz of victory or the thrill of competing in the Olympics; it was about the lifestyle, a sense of value, belonging and being, that had disappeared overnight.
Kieren knew he would never have access to that again because the reality of sport at the highest level is that you are surrounded every day by people who have the same level of commitment, motivation, positivity, self-focus, determination, and attitude around what it means to be successful, and an understanding of excellence and what it looks like.
“You have to be able to pick and choose the bits you allow to infect you and the stuff you want to engage with. Try and hold onto those things that make you happy and engage you, and not let other people’s perceptions, values and beliefs drag you down”
Unfortunately, these things just don’t exist in a broad environment. You can’t expect to work in a large organisation with thousands of people, and have everybody turn up knowing with complete clarity, focus and an unwavering spirit to deliver success at their absolute edge of potential and excellence every single day. It’s unnatural, it’s not normal, and it isn’t replicable.
13. Step back from the emotion of not achieving a goal
During Kieren’s career, he admits that there was no doubt he didn’t achieve all of his goals. There were times when the performance was not at all what he wanted to achieve. He says the skill in those moments is to be able to step back from the emotion of it and say, “what worked, what didn’t and what am I going to do better next time?”
If you have got that sense of hope and possibility that it can be done, you can reassert yourself, you can focus, you can adjust, adapt and act, and keep pushing yourself forward to deliver the result.
***Final Thought***
At the end of the interview with Kieren, I only had one last question for him, which was, “what is the one quote that you have lived your entire life by?” Kieren replied by reciting a poem his father gave him when he was young that really resonated with him.
To Kieren, it was one of the things that enabled him to think beyond what everybody else told him was possible; it enabled him to step outside of the norm. IF YOU EVER WANT TO KNOW WHAT THE ONE INFLUENCE WAS THAT MADE KIEREN A WORLDWIDE HERO, THAT WILL NEVER BE FORGOTTEN, THEN HERE IT IS!
The Man Who Thinks He Can – Walter D Wintle
If the advice Kieren gave was beneficial to you, then I encourage you support his passion for helping others, by visiting the Starlight Foundation’s website and getting involved anyway you can.
Success Advice
Microlearning: The Journey from Brief Knowledge to Enormous Learning Results
In contemporary society, traditional learning formats are being complemented by microlearning. Many people struggle to maintain their attention during long lectures, courses, or webinars. As a result, many individuals are moving towards microlearning formats. This new, modern approach is based on short, concise chunks of knowledge. These chunks can be absorbed in just a few minutes and effectively applied in practice.
This new learning model is applicable in all areas, from corporate training to self-improvement. The main goals of microlearning are quick, relevant learning at a convenient time.
The Concept of Microlearning
Microlearning is a recent approach that consists of breaking material into small and self-contained units of knowledge (modules). Each unit is no longer than 10 minutes, solves a specific problem, or teaches a single skill.
Examples include:
- Short video instructions
- Flashcards with quizzes or tests
- Mini-guides in chat format
- Interactive simulators
- An AI assistant that explains a single concept
In many cases, students and learners do not need to read everything or reread a whole book or document, but rather can use a book summarizer, or an AI tool to extract important information in that chapter, and receive everything they need to know within 5 minutes.
Microlearning is not meant to replace education. Its primary goal is to facilitate integrating education into our everyday lives.
Why Microlearning Is Popular
This format’s popularity is growing rapidly. New micro learning apps are appearing, AI assistants and tools for quickly summarizing large volumes of information are being developed, and so on.
This rapid popularization of microlearning is due to several factors:
- Information overload
- Decreased attention span
- The need to learn on the go
- The digitalization of work
- Mobile learning
- AI development
- Modernization of learning automation
Modern people value not just knowing a lot, but knowing exactly what’s useful right now. Microlearning fits this philosophy perfectly. You can learn accurately, quickly, and with practical application thanks to a modern microlearning solution accessible to everyone.
The Scientific Basis of Microlearning Principles
Microlearning isn’t just a passing fad. It’s the result of rigorous research in cognitive psychology and learning theory. Scientists claim that the human brain processes and remembers information better and more effectively if it is:
- Broken down into small, logical chunks
- Repeated at regular intervals
- Accompanied by practice
- Reinforced with feedback
A modern approach to learning not only improves the retention of material but also increases a person’s motivation to learn. Seeing how learning produces quick results creates the effect of small victories. And so, you want to move forward, master new material, and reach new heights.
The Combination of Microlearning and Modern Technologies
When studying microlearning examples, it’s important to emphasize that this method is perfectly combined with modern technologies. Thanks to AI platforms, this format has become not just trendy but extremely effective.
First, artificial intelligence allows for adapting learning material to a person’s current level of knowledge. Second, AI assistants analyze current progress and generate personalized recommendations. Third, AI can transform large texts into short learning units to create microlearning content and utilize it most effectively.
The example of the AI book chapter summarizer confirms that this tool creates concise and structured summaries from book chapters. This is the ideal and most optimal data format for microlearning. AI is gradually becoming an increasingly effective learning partner. These platforms don’t simply provide necessary information; they help transform it into action and improve understanding.
Microlearning Use Cases
In practice, microlearning already touches many areas of human activity. We can highlight the most popular ones.
- Corporate training. Microlearning is in high demand in companies due to accelerated onboarding, upskilling, and training of employees in new technologies. Using short and interactive lessons, staff can complete courses without interrupting their workflow or current tasks.
- Online courses and EdTech. Specialized platforms allow microlearning as a primary format. This allows users to learn sequentially, gradually, and without being overwhelmed.
- Co-learning. Microlearning is an ideal tool for personal development. It can be used to learn new languages, develop writing skills, do data analysis, and much more. Even watching 5-minute tutorials every day can quickly create a learning habit.
Therefore, micro learning is rapidly gaining popularity and can serve as an effective alternative to traditional teaching methods.
Key Benefits of Microlearning
There are several key advantages of this new learning format:
- Rapid information acquisition. Our brains absorb new information better in short blocks than in longer lectures.
- Higher motivation. Each mini-lesson represents a small goal or task to be accomplished. Quickly hitting a goal spikes motivation.
- Easier access and flexibility. Each learner gets to choose when and how to experience their training — in the morning with a cup of coffee, on the way to work, before bed, etc.
- Customization. AI tools can help make content personalized in a way that accounts for a person’s rate, interests, and current level of knowledge.
- Better productivity. The knowledge gained from mini-lessons can be put into practice faster and with minimal effort.
Clearly, the modern microlearning format offers significant advantages and opens up excellent prospects for self-development and the rapid acquisition of new skills.
Common Mistakes in Implementing Microlearning
Although this teaching method appears simple, a carefully thought-out structure is crucial. People often make the same mistakes.
First, topics are too superficial without context. Second, there are no connections between lessons. This results in lost learning. A third common mistake is overloading content without systematic repetition. And a fourth problem is undervaluing feedback. It’s important for people to see results.
Final Thoughts
Microlearning provides us with a chance to completely restructure our concept of conventional learning. This is because learning is much more natural, flexible, and tailored than ever. However, most importantly, we have an opportunity to learn new facts and information in the fast-paced world of modernity. The level of AI and analytics has resulted in microlearning being more personalized and accessible to everyone.
Success Advice
What to do when you have already made it and feel stuck
Life often feels finished. That is usually when it starts costing you.
Last week I spoke with a man who seems to have it figured out. A nice business, a team that does not need him in every meeting, the house sorted, a wife who still likes him, which is more than a lot of the men I talk to can say. Halfway through he went quiet and admitted he feels like he is managing a life he signed up for ten years ago. Not miserable. Done growing. A little embarrassed to say it, because what is he supposed to complain about.
The scoreboard does not notice
I knew the feeling before he finished the sentence. Addicted2Success started as a blog in Perth when I was young enough to think the answer to everything was more output. It worked. The site grew, the audience grew, the coaching grew, and for a long time the scoreboard was kind enough to tell me I was on the right track. What it never does is send a note when you have started hiding. You can be posting, closing, travelling, and saying true things on the internet while becoming a slightly smaller man than you were two years ago. Nobody around you is going to flag it. They are responding to the results, and results only show what you already pulled off, not what the last year has been doing to you.
The men in these conversations are not stuck at the starting line. They have the income, the title, the reputation. Under it, a low-grade sense that they have been repeating themselves. The advice they grew up on does not touch that. Wake up earlier. Want it more. Outwork the room. I gave a version of that advice for years, and some of it was fair when someone had not started. It is useless once the room already knows your name. Past a certain point, more effort just maintains the life you have already outgrown.
It looks like leadership
When they are honest, it is ordinary. They are carrying the whole thing alone, not because nobody would help, but because letting someone close enough to challenge them would mean admitting a few decisions have gone soft. So they stay the smartest person in their own week. That feels like leadership. It functions like a closed loop. I did a long stretch of this. If someone disagreed with me I could usually out-talk them, and I mistook that for being right. The business did not collapse, which is what makes it hard to catch. Things can be working while you remain basically unaccountable. A lot of the signs people read as failure are the early version of this.
Home gets what is left
Work got the sharp hours. My wife got the man who had already spent the best of himself on a laptop. You can narrate that as provision for a long time. Tell yourself you are building something for them. Some days that is even true. It still does not change what they receive, which is a tired person who needs the room to be quiet. It holds until you have a kid who does not care what you shipped, or until you lose someone and realise the hours were never coming back. After Harper I stopped being able to treat time like something I could earn more of. Fatherhood finished whatever argument I had left. My son does not experience my ambition. He experiences whether I was in the room. He cannot tell the difference between a father who is building a legacy and a father who is on his phone. Neither can yours.
Reasonable is how it gets boring
Then there is the comfort, which everyone dresses up as wisdom. You postpone the move. You keep the offer that is fine. You say you are being strategic when you are mostly avoiding the feeling of being a beginner again. The edge does not vanish in a week. It goes over a year of reasonable decisions, and reasonable is how a lot of good lives get boring. I have watched men research a change for a year and a half. A new model, a new city, a new standard at home. The research becomes the thing they do instead of the change. It feels responsible. It has notes.
I used to have a clean system for this. It looked good in a carousel. What actually changed things was smaller and more annoying, and it only worked when I got specific.
Write the sentence you would not post
Not “I need better balance.” That is a sentence you can hide in. One line, the way you would say it if nobody was going to screenshot it. I am building in public and going missing at home. I have known this offer is done and I keep running it because the cash is easy. I have not let anyone challenge me since the last person who did, and I pushed them out. Put it where you will see it. The point is to stop negotiating with a foggy version of the problem. You cannot fix a foggy version. You will just buy another course about it.
Look at that sentence when you are not already fried. I wasted years making big calls late, after a full day of other people’s needs, then wondering why I always chose the option that protected the current setup. You are not wise when you are depleted. You are conservative. Pick a pocket of time this week when you still have a brain, phone in another room, and ask what you are protecting by leaving it as it is, and what it costs the people who do not get a vote in your calendar. If you catch yourself performing the answer, like you are drafting a caption, delete it and start again.
Take back one hour that has a name
Not a new morning routine. Men at this stage love a routine, because a routine feels like progress and does not threaten the life. Pick a repeatable hour that is already losing and give it a job. Dinner with the phone in a drawer. A walk with your wife where you do not steer it back to the business. Time with your kid before the laptop opens. The tactic is the boundary, not the activity. Tell one person what the hour is. If you miss it, you tell them the same day, without a story. The story is how it dies. A client emergency three weeks in a row is the old life collecting its rent. Being the person who agrees is how that hour gets given away before you notice.
Have the conversation, then date the move
There is almost always a conversation you have been drafting. A spouse you have been managing instead of talking to. A partner you have been working around. A number you have not said out loud, because saying it makes the next move real. Do not workshop it into a speech. Two sentences of what you have been avoiding, then stop talking long enough for them to answer. The men who stay stuck are usually eloquent about the problem and silent in the room where it could change. Eloquence is a delay tactic I have used plenty.
Then date the move that makes the current income nervous, and put it sooner than feels comfortable. One move. Kill the offer, raise the price, hire the person, have the hard no, book the conversation you have been waiting on the right week for. If it needs more than a couple of weeks of preparation, you are probably preparing past the point of usefulness. Let it be clumsy. The old identity will have a very reasonable case for why this stretch is not the one. It always does. It has been getting paid to keep things as they are.
You need one person who is not impressed
None of that works alone, which is inconvenient, since alone is the setup that got you here. You need one person who is not impressed by you. Not a mastermind. Not an audience. Not a coach you are performing progress for. Someone who can ask whether the phone actually stayed in the drawer, and who will not clap if the answer is no. Most of the men I know have plenty of people who benefit from them staying impressive. Employees, followers, friends who like the version that has it together. Almost nobody who is allowed to interrupt it. Ask someone specific if you can send them one sentence about whether you did the thing. If you do not send it, they chase you. That is the whole agreement. If you cannot think of a person, that is not a small detail. That is the closed loop, and finding the person is the first move.
I am not interested in telling you to burn the life down. A lot of what you built is worth keeping. The business can stay. The standard has to change, or you will spend the next ten years maintaining a life you already know you are done growing inside. What I care about is whether the man who benefits from it can still sit at the table with the people who paid for it. Your wife. Your kids. Whatever you say you believe when the content needs a spine. If those do not survive the win, the win was just a very well-paid way of leaving.
You already know which of these you have been talking yourself out of. Start with the sentence. The rest gets easier to see once you stop describing the problem in a way that lets you keep it.
In this video I speak about how you may be keeping yourself stuck in high achiever patterns and what you can do to change it:
Success Advice
Icarus Syndrome: How to Catch Yourself When Success Comes Crashing Down
You know the story. A guy gets wings made of feathers and wax, dad tells him not to fly too close to the sun, guy ignores dad, wings melt, guy falls into the sea. Classic.
But here’s the thing about Icarus. He didn’t crash because he failed. He crashed because he was doing so well.
That’s the part we don’t talk about enough.
What Icarus Syndrome Actually Looks Like
Icarus Syndrome isn’t some official diagnosis you’ll find in a medical textbook. It’s more of a pattern. And once you spot it, you start seeing it everywhere.
Picture this: someone lands the promotion they’ve been chasing for years. Suddenly they’re saying yes to everything. More projects, more travel, more risk. The confidence that got them there starts to tip over into something else. Overreach, maybe. A bit of arrogance. That quiet voice that used to say “hang on, is this a good idea?” goes strangely silent.
And then it all comes tumbling down.
The tricky bit is that success and self-destruction can look almost identical from the outside. Both involve ambition. Both involve pushing hard. The difference is usually invisible until it’s too late.
Why Winning Can Set You Up to Lose
Ever noticed how a winning streak makes people a little reckless? There’s actually a reason for that.
When things go well, our brains get a hit of confidence that doesn’t always match reality. We start believing our own hype. The wins feel like proof that we can’t lose, which is exactly the moment we’re most likely to.
Turns out, success shrinks your awareness. You stop questioning yourself. You stop listening to feedback because, well, look at all this evidence that you’re right. The people who used to challenge your thinking? You might start tuning them out.
The other day someone told me they’d made their worst decisions not when they were struggling, but when everything was going great. That stuck with me. Because it makes a weird kind of sense.
Struggle keeps you humble. Success can make you forget.
The Warning Signs Worth Watching For
So how do you catch yourself before the wax starts dripping?
It usually starts small. You notice you’re brushing off advice you’d normally take seriously. You’re taking on more than you can realistically handle, but telling yourself you’ve got it. You feel a bit untouchable, like the normal rules don’t apply to you anymore.
Sleep goes out the window. You’re running on adrenaline and calling it drive.
And maybe the biggest one: you stop asking for help because asking for help feels like admitting you’re not as on top of things as everyone thinks.
This part’s a bit uncomfortable, but the very traits that fuel success, the ambition, the drive, the refusal to quit, are the same ones that can quietly steer you off a cliff. Same wings, different outcome.
Pulling Yourself Back From the Sun
Okay, so what do you actually do about it?
First, get honest about the story you’re telling yourself. Are you flying high because things are genuinely solid, or because you’ve stopped checking? There’s a difference, and only you can tell which one it is.
Keep people around who’ll tell you the truth. Not the yes-people who clap at everything, but the ones who’ll gently say “mate, are you sure about this?” Those people are worth their weight in gold, and they get rarer the more successful you become.
Slow down enough to notice how you’re actually feeling. Success can mask burnout for a surprisingly long time. You feel great right up until you don’t.
And look, sometimes catching yourself isn’t something you can do alone. If you’re feeling stretched thin, if the pressure of keeping it all up is starting to weigh on you, talking to someone helps more than people expect. Getting proper psychological support in Western Sydney or wherever you are isn’t a sign you’re falling apart. It’s usually a sign you’re paying attention.
Flying Smart Instead of Flying High
Here’s the thing Icarus never got told. The problem was never the flying. It was the ignoring.
His dad gave him a middle path. Not too high, not too low. He just got carried away.
You can enjoy your success without letting it make you stupid. You can keep climbing without pretending you’re invincible. The trick is staying awake to yourself, especially when everything looks like it’s going right.
Because that’s exactly when the sun feels closest.
Success Advice
Quick and Meaningful Ways to Do Charity
Finding time to give back can feel overwhelming. Many people want to help others but think it takes a lot of time and planning. The truth is, simple, effective ways to support charity fit into busy lives. Whether you have a few minutes or a couple of hours, you can make a positive impact in your community. Helping others benefits those in need and gives you a sense of fulfilment and connection.
First, understand that charitable efforts can be quick and meaningful. You don’t need to organize a big event or donate a lot of money to make a difference. Small actions can make significant changes in others’ lives. Here are some ways to show generosity today.
Food Bank Donations
One of the simplest ways to help is by donating to a food bank. A food bank donation helps people facing food insecurity by redistributing surplus food and providing healthy meals. When you donate, you nourish someone’s day and ease their burden.
Local food banks often rely on donations from individuals and businesses. You can donate non-perishable items or fresh produce from your garden. If that’s not possible, consider making a monetary donation, which food banks can use to buy the needed food items. Every contribution counts and helps ensure families receive meals.
Volunteering your time at a local food bank is another great way to get involved. Many food donation organizations need help sorting donations, packing food boxes, or distributing meals. This hands-on work lets you see the positive impact of your efforts. You can also build friendships with staff and other volunteers as you work toward shared goals.
No-Cost Options
Charity doesn’t always have to cost money. You can donate your skills or time. If you’re good at graphic design or enjoy writing, your expertise can support local nonprofits’ outreach efforts. You might create promotional materials, manage social media, or offer training sessions.
Another no-cost option is to share charitable organizations on your social media. Inform friends and family about the causes you care about. Increased visibility can lead to more donations and volunteers. Sometimes, raising awareness matters as much as giving money.
Used Goods Donations
Decluttering your home is a great way to support charity. Look around. What items do you no longer use? Clothing, household goods, and toys can help someone in need. Local shelters, thrift stores, and nonprofits often welcome gently used items. By clearing out what you don’t need, you can provide useful items to those who can’t afford them.
You can enhance this experience by organizing a donation drive in your community. Involve friends and neighbours to gather more items together. This can become a fun community event that promotes giving.
Random Acts of Kindness
Doing random acts of kindness each day is an easy way to help others. Simple actions, like buying someone a coffee, leaving a nice note, or helping a neighbour carry groceries, can spread goodwill. These acts not only brighten someone’s day but also promote kindness in your community.
Try setting a goal to do a certain number of kind acts each week. This can become a good habit that changes how you interact with others. It doesn’t matter how big or small the act is. What matters is the intention behind it.
Skill-Based Volunteering
Using your professional skills to help a charity can foster personal growth while supporting those in need. Whether you are a teacher, marketer, lawyer, or accountant, your skills can greatly benefit nonprofits. Many nonprofits need help in areas where they can’t afford to hire professionals.
Some food donation organizations specifically seek volunteers with certain skills, so look for a nonprofit that matches your background. You can create change by using your expertise and meet others who share your interests.
Getting involved in charitable activities allows you to help create a better world. The good news is you don’t need much time or money to make a difference. Whether you volunteer at a local food bank, donate items, or do random acts of kindness, your efforts can lead to real change. These small actions can bring great fulfillment, improving not just the lives of those you help but your own, too.
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