Success Advice

The 10 Golden Rules for Success According to Michael Phelps Swimming Coach

Published

6 years ago

May 30, 2018

Image Credit: Live Happy

Michael Phelps is a legendary swimmer who won 82 medals in his career, including 23 medals over the course of 3 Olympics. His coach, Bob Bowman, released a book in 2016 with many of the secrets to performance and excellence fueling the success of his many gold-medal winning athletes, including Phelps. He shares with us the method in his book, “The Golden Rules: 10 Steps to World Class Excellence in Your Life and Work”, a series of rules you can apply in your own life to achieve personal fulfillment and excellence.

Here are the 10 golden rules for success from Bob Bowman:

1. Have a vision

“You need a vision of where you want to go, what you want to do and who you want to be someday down the road. Think creatively about what it is you want out of life and where it is you want to go.”

Dream, fantasize and allow yourself to suspend your beliefs to envision the life you want. Put yours visions in writing. Dream creatively of the future you want and be open to lots of possibilities. Remember the vision should excite you and make you jump out of bed every morning to achieve it.

2. Be All-In

The right attitude matters which even Bob agrees. He says, “The right attitude, the All-In Attitude, can turn long shots into legends.” Use positive energy to go after your dreams. Double down on what it is you want, allowing no room for doubts or negativity. Bring enthusiasm to whatever you are pursuing. Be enthusiastic, take enthusiastic action and be enthusiastic about your vision. Be committed to forging ahead when you feel like getting out.

“We were not chasing medals…we were chasing excellence.” – Bob Bowman

3. Be a risk taker

According to Bob, “Risks provide the fuel needed to get on the road to… wherever you want to go.” Get out of your comfort zone and push yourself. When you don’t take risks and challenge yourself, you stagnate and get complacent. Turn risk-taking into a habit so you propel yourself forward to achieve your dreams.

The more risks you take, the bigger your achievements will be. When you have an all-in attitude, it will become easier to take risks in pursuit of your vision. Practice taking risks and build up your risk taking ability.

4. Have a game plan

Build yourself a foundation to achieve your vision. You do this by creating a game plan, or strategy on how to get there, for yourself. The extent of your game plan has to be how big your vision is. Make your game plan specific, well-thought out and ambitious. It’s a roadmap to help you get from where you are today to where you’d like to be. Work backwards from the grand plan that you have plotting out key dates, smaller goals and stepping stones to help you achieve your vision.

5. Live the vision daily

You have to incorporate the above qualities every day of your life and keep your mission at the top of your daily agenda. “Success becomes routine when you have a routine,” Bowman writes. Create daily habits that push you towards your life vision and mission.

Map out the day and try to stick to a daily schedule that pushes you forward. Go about the task at hand professionally, and set high standards for yourself. The more consistent to your daily goal work, the more likely you’ll succeed. Keep doing something daily but also ratchet up the pressure and challenge yourself to do a little more daily.

6. Have a team

Have a collection of personal coaches on your side. Bob says, “Look at the big picture and ask yourself, ‘Where can I be better and who can help me get better?’” Search for people who can help you, ask around, get referrals to help you build up a team of confidantes and supporters. Look for “like-minded” people who will be in the trenches with you when you face challenges and obstacles. Avoid people who will bring you down.

7. Stay motivated over time

For you to stick to things in the long run, you’ll need passion. You’ll need motivation to keep going day after day since you might lose sometimes. To stay passionate and motivated, you might have to “fake” your interest until the sparks reignites the fire in you.

Change up your routine to make things significant each day. Add exercises, outings, educational events, fun or celebrations to help yourself or your team feel more motivated. Use morale-boosting strategies to boost morale and encourage people to keep going.

“You see, achieving intermediary, progressive goals on a regular basis produces everyday excellence – and keeps your game plan aligned with your vision.” – Bob Bowman

8. Use adversity as an advantage

Do not let one failure get in the way of your dream. Instead, use that failure to help propel you forward. Nurture resilience. When roadblocks come up, find alternative solutions, find ways to get through or simply to cope in that moment.

Practice being in uncomfortable situations. Use tests, pressure, and rehearsals to practice putting yourself in uncertain and uncomfortable scenarios. Let go of disappointments and failures to move on to the next thing. As said from the coach himself, “Take something from failure and use it to move your vision along.”

9. Perform with confidence

As you pursue each progressive goal, you will have more experience and continue building your confidence. Use each experience you have as a learning experience so you get better and more proficient at what you do. Stay focused on the task at hand and only take on what’s in front of you, not what’s in the future.

Focusing on the task, not multitasking, is the key to success. As Bob says, “When you face a pressure situation, stay true to yourself and the plan. Remain in the present and do what you have worked weeks and months to perfect. If you follow this prescription, the desired results should come.”

10. Celebrate success

Use celebrations as a marker of your growth and how far you are progressing. It’s important to acknowledge your achievements on your path to achieving your vision. Even if you haven’t achieved the results you want, celebrate the results since the Method strategies which Bowman professes is about the process of growth, not the end achievement.

Along the way, you might have gaffes, blunders and setbacks as well. When they happen, you could feel disappointment and a sense that your dreams have disappeared. Coach Bowman’s advice to you is this, “Keep moving forward, like a swimmer with practiced strokes, and let the wisdom you’ve gained over time guide you. Your destination may be closer than you think.”

Which one of these principles will you implement and how? Let us know in the comments below!

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Vishnu Virtues

Vishnu Virtues is the writer behind the popular personal growth and spirituality blog for people starting over in life. You can find his weekly blog posts at www.vishnusvirtues.com and his Amazon books on love and relationships here.

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Success Advice

How to Ignite the Spark Within for Future Success

All of us come to this world with our own reserve of magic unfortunately, not everyone can unleash it

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3 hours ago

Dec 4, 2023

M.S. Rao

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Success Advice

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Your life is dictated by beliefs and biases that drive your thinking, behaviors, and decisions

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Nov 20, 2023

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Success Advice

How to Break the Cycles of Mediocrity and Manifest Your Greatness

There is no greatness without becoming and there is no becoming with authenticity

Published

3 weeks ago

Nov 16, 2023

Jamelle Sanders

Image Credit: Midjourney

In just a few weeks, we will be wrapping up 2023. Can you believe it? This year has been absolutely incredible for me.

I have seen amazing doors opened, new relationships formed and I am seeing dreams realized in my life. While this seems like the hallmarks of a great year, this has also been the most challenging year of my life. With all of the change happening in my life, I have been forced out of my comfort zone and challenged to grow in every area of my life.

I can truly say that I have made the most of my moments this year and I have used everything as a catalyst for maximizing my greatest potential.

As a revolutionary leader, I have the pleasure of consulting and advising leaders around the world to fulfill purpose, realize their greatest potential and make an impact.

I want to share some insights with you that will help you to break cycles of mediocrity and manifest your greatness.

Everything legal must come through the matrix

I am sure that some of you are wondering why I am using the term matrix. However, what you have to understand is that I am trying to make a highly complex spiritual principle practical to understand.

Regardless of your spiritual beliefs, every life has an origin and I believe that origin is divine and begins with eternity. You are birthed from eternity and into time to fulfill a unique purpose and assignment in your lifetime and generation.

The matrix is simply the portal or vehicle that brings something out of the invisible realm and into tangible form. The problem with much of the teaching today is that it excludes the matrix. We are told to believe that success is instantaneous and overnight.

Nobody talks about how a dream progresses through stages beginning with visualization and ultimately culminating in manifestation. Without a matrix or portal then everything that you attempt to birth and build will be illegal.

The matrix not only makes you legal but it gives you the authority and power to function as the greatest expression of who you were created to be.

Every matrix has an incubation process

While many people admire and respect me today, I remember a time when nobody knew who I was or the significance of my message. How did I get to where I am today? I got here through an incubation process.

In other words, everything that has been destined for your life is incubating and awaiting a set time of manifestation. The problem is that most people live their entire lives idle and never initiate the incubation process.

What do I meany by that? Most people are living reckless and very few people are living intentionally. I am amazed at the number of people I have conversations with that have no vision, goals or strategies for their lives. They show great promise and they have undeniable potential.

However, without development they will die with their dreams still in them.

Everything that has been destined for your life must be incubated and converted to become realities born to time.

“Visualize this thing that you want, see it, feel it, believe in it. Make your mental blueprint and begin to build.” – Robert Collier

You must give expression to that which is not yet born to time

When you think about a matrix or a prophetic incubation process, you have to understand that potential is often unrealized and untapped. In other words, your potential is in raw form and your potential cannot serve you as long as it is untapped.

The thing that makes me valuable is that I have the ability to convert potential into power. I have done it in my own life and I have empowered leaders around the world to do the same. How do you convert potential into power?

First, it is important to note that you have to perceive potential. If you cannot perceive your potential then you can never cultivate your potential. In addition, you must take the time to cultivate your potential. We often get excited about our capabilities; however, we never expand our capacity in order to realize our greatest potential.

In other words, the strength of your potential is only discovered through your willingness to stretch. The more we are challenged the more we are empowered to expand our capacity for greatness. Most of all, you must begin to express your potential. The expression of potential is different for every person.

For example, the expression of my potential is best demonstrated through the thoughts, ideas, products, services, books, etc.

For another person the expression of potential may look like a screenplay, artwork, sports, scientific discoveries, medical breakthroughs, etc.

Regardless of the form of expression, I know that you will live empty and unfulfilled until you make the decision to express your potential. The expression of your potential gives voice to your dreams, life to your vision, significance to your moments and activates your true power.

You must manifest your greatness

As a revolutionary thinker and leader, my work has impacted people around the world. I am grateful that my life is a source of empowerment to so many people. However, before anyone could ever benefit from my life, I had to make a non-negotiable decision to become who I was born to be.

I wish I could tell you that this journey is easy and that you will get there overnight. However, in a world that celebrates us for doing we are often criticized for being. As a result, I wasted a lot of time trying to be who other people wanted me to be instead of being who I was born to be.

There is no greatness without becoming and there is no becoming with authenticity. It is through our bravery to be vulnerable that we ultimately manifest our greatness. We do not bless the world by being a duplicate. We bless the world when we honor our difference. When you honor your difference you honor your potential.

Ultimately, your difference is how you manifest your greatness.

When you present anything but your authentic self to the world, you are playing small and you are robbing the world of your significance. Manifesting your greatness requires you to master your gifts.