Macintosh and Pixar Steve Jobs Speech

Its not very often that we hear great speeches anymore. Throughout my life, in sport and outside it, I have greatly enjoyed reading the stirring words of some of history's greatest men: Churchill, Reagan, Roosevelt, King, Benson, Mandela, Wayne, and so forth. Whether or not you agree with what they said, the courage it took to voice their opinions, even when it was unpopular to do so, leaves each of us with a very important responsibility: do likewise.

Before training sessions or races, whenever possible, I try to follow the habit of watching a personally motivating movie or video that helps get my mind focused and my "heart" fired up for the ice. One of my favorite's is "The Legend of Bagger Vance" with Will Smith and Matt Damon. In the film, Smith's character, Bagger, says something that has stuck with me ever since I first heard it. He says:

"Yep... Inside each and every one of us is one true authentic swing... Somethin' we was born with... Somethin' that's ours and ours alone... Somethin' that can't be taught to ya or learned... Somethin' that got to be remembered... Over time the world can, rob us of that swing... It get buried inside us under all our wouldas and couldas and shouldas... Some folk even forget what their swing was like..."

I've been bobsledding since 1997 and I've seen quite possibly over a hundred athletes come and go from the sport. They come for fame, for glory, for money, for popularity, for thrills, over for any of a dozen other reasons. But the ones who stay do so because they truly love the sport just for the sake of the sport. It isn't about money or seeing their name in print or even so much for the sake of a gold medal. True bobsledders, I've found, have a couple things in common, and this quote and Mr. Jobs' speech pretty much lay it out.

But it goes beyond sport. In fact, I think it rolls over into every aspect of our lives. If you're willing to still dream, no matter how old you are, and then if you're willing to work for it and not let society or the expectations of others get in the way, and just be yourself, then you really can be anything you want.

From what I've seen, I think that is what really inspires people about the Olympics. For those two weeks, every two years the world watches their athletes and believes. They start to believe in their own dreams, the ones they started to forget when "the real world" stepped in. You know, the goals that they started to let slip away when the bills started to come in or the injuries happened or the first few times they "failed." But during the Olympics, that spark reappears, that "What if?" mentality.

I hope that as you watch this speech you'll take a moment to think about your own "What if's?" and then act on them.

As Walt Disney once said:

"We keep moving forward, opening new doors, and doing new things, because we're curious and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths"

My friends, don't let the hard knocks of life keep you from moving forward.