Premature Conclusions
| "That's it. I'm done."
How often have you thought that at critical points in your career? Perhaps those words went through your mind after you failed to achieve a major goal. Maybe you felt that way after you missed a much-anticipated promotion. Possibly those words have lingered in your subconscious since your last employer informed you that the future of the company wouldn't include you. 
Those four words were foremost in the mind of a 21 year-old gymnast in Athens in
the summer of 2004, after a fall on his vault landing sent Paul Hamm stumbling
into the judge's table and sliding to 12th place in the all-around men's
gymnastics finals. Depressed, dazed, and visibly disappointed, Hamm walked away
from the podium with a low score, and a point deficit that appeared impossible
to overcome.But in gymnastics - as in careers, failures may challenge you, but they don't have to stop you. Hamm threw himself into his final event - the high bar - with heroic zeal and a determination to turn a painful defeat into whatever kind of medal he could craft from it. His near-perfect performance and slight mistakes by his competition helped Paul Hamm write a golden chapter in Olympic history we will remember for years to come. A story like Paul Hamm's is inspiring. Even after fighting with everything he had, Hamm didn't expect to win gold. "The last guy, the last event, a perfect routine, and then he sticks the landing. It's fairy-tale stuff," said USA Gymnastics president Bob Colarossi. Colarossi knows better than that. We do too. Dramatic moments like Paul Hamm's win in Athens don't look quite as magical when you remember that champions don't appear out of a mist - they grow from the hard soil of difficult practice, stubborn determination, and a repeated refusal to accept a momentary defeat as the final word on the outcome. Wherever you are in your career journey - it's too early to draw a conclusion. You may be down, but you're not done. Today's defeat could be tomorrow's gold. |
About Us
Products & Services
Successes
Assessment
Valued Partners
|
