This article is taken our upcoming issue 8 (February) of our magazine. To view other great articles from Great Health Guide:

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Being A High Achiever written by Loudy Wiggins

Success is all about perception and more often than not we are wired to be quite critical of ourselves. When you are a passionate, driven individual, there is the tendency to put too much pressure on yourself. Most people are driven intrinsically; we strive to satisfy our ego, for our family and sometimes strive for success because of how we want to be perceived by the outside world.

Whether you’re a high achiever in your job and are always motivated to perform at your best or you run an efficient household, juggling multiple projects at once, it’s really important to have gratitude and take a step back. This is especially true when your dreams are big, ambitions are high and you want to be good at what you do. Ultimately it’s about the journey and most of us have some great things in our life that we should be grateful for.

In this series of articles, I’m going to take a look at what being a high achiever has meant for me in my past life as an Olympian, as a mum and as a passionate business owner. The lessons I have learnt along the way have defined who I am now. I want to show you how implementing a few small processes can completely change the direction your life takes. By having this knowledge and perspective, it can allow you to not only strive for bigger and better things, but make the most out of what you have now.

Dealing with Perceived Failure

When we talk about success, the notion of failure also comes to mind. My biggest hurdle in terms of ‘feelings of failure’, has been overcoming the loss of an Olympic Gold medal.

Close to 11 years ago in Athens Olympic Games I was a 25-year-old, 3 time Olympian at the peak of my career. The year before I was ranked number 1 in the world in the FINA Grand Prix ranking system and had won 6 international events in a row. I had also medaled at every international event since 2001.

A fateful moment in the final of the Olympic Games cost me a gold medal after placing 2nd in prelims and going into the 3rd round of the final in 1st place. I’ve racked my brain to try to figure out what happened – was I not mentally tough enough? Was I too aware? Was I too nervous? Was I poorly prepared? Do things just sometimes happen? Maybe I did not deserve a gold medal? Was I bad person?

I still cringe when I think about it and in some ways it has defined me. I am sure we can all relate to this – whether it’s a business that couldn’t quite take off, a job promotion that slipped through your fingers or perhaps you couldn’t quite reach your fitness goals in time for an event.  

Sometimes, we just don’t have control of the outcome and have to accept that. I still won a bronze medal but ultimately I ‘lost’ the gold medal and this is something that I have tried to come to grips with ever since, but it wouldn’t have stopped me from trying even if I had known the outcome prior.

Do I think my life would be different or complete with a gold medal rather than 2 bronzes? Honestly? No. Life is the way it was meant to be, but I still get tinges of regret when I am reminded of what it’s like, not to have lived up to potential or not to have a dream 100 percent realized.

Just because we fall though, doesn’t mean we can’t shake ourselves off and keep going. This is when goal setting can be highly effective. It’s about being systematic rather than having a passive or emotional approach and in the next series I am going to show you some really simple steps to achieving to your heart’s desire. These can be related to Health, Fitness, Life or Career – you may even be doing some of these steps unintentionally, but it’s about bringing them all together and really aim for the sky!

Author of this article:

Loudy Wiggins is a Dual Olympic Medalist and a three times Commonwealth Games Champion in the sport of Diving. The Melbourne-based mother of two is a Personal Trainer, Nutrition and Wellness coach for her own business, Loudy Wiggins Fitness. She is also the program manager for the Victorian Institute of Sport Diving Program and on the Australian Olympic Committee Athletes Commission. She has recently launched an online training program Mind and Body Blitz to help women achieve their health and fitness goals with a holistic approach – mindbodyblitz.com. Loudy can be contacted through her website. 

This article is taken our upcoming issue 8 (February) of our magazine. To view other great articles from Great Health Guide:

1. PC / Lap top  – quick view click http://www.pressreader.com/australia/great-health-guide

OR

2. Tablet / Mobile / PC / Lap top

3. CLICK– preferred device 

4. DOWNLOAD– PressReader App

5. SEARCH– Great Health Guide