The following post is courtesy of Diane Harrison who is principal and owner of Panegyric Marketing, a strategic marketing communications firm founded in 2002 specializing in alternative assets.
The 2024 Olympics will soon begin in Paris, and once again the world will be captivated by the sheer grandeur of so many athletes, nearly 15,000 anticipated this year, performing at their peak. An eternal hope of the Olympics, symbolized by its torch which burns throughout the two-week period of the Games, is to bring unity and joy to the countries celebrating the athletes who represent them.
This month, rather than dwell on all the issues and concerns present in this complicated world, let us take a moment to remind ourselves of the values these Games seek to illustrate to us all, and strive to apply them to our daily lives, both personal and in business.
Perseverance: Learning to power through even when it’s difficult, hard to accomplish, or see the positives through all the negatives. Sometimes, just the act of keeping it moving is a reward unto itself.
Goal Setting: Moving towards something, rather than just existing, helps provide structure and rationale to situations when it’s not so clear why you are doing something. Goals provide a means of measuring successes as well, and a way to keep challenging oneself to reach higher.
Sportsmanship: It’s better to lose with your integrity and reputation intact than to cheat your way to a win. Children know this inherently, though as we age, adults sometimes lose their way in a desire not to fall behind. Sports provide context to the higher power of winning or losing gracefully, which always has a place in this competitive world.
Respect: We all know that respect is a trait that must be earned, but sport gives us many examples of this to remind us of how important that lesson is in all walks of life. Those who believe they can command or buy respect from others are only fooling themselves.
Friendship: Giving and sharing of oneself with others is a quality that humans seek and indeed need. In a world where it’s easy to get lost in what separates us and drives us apart, reminding ourselves of commonalities provides for a global community and platform on which to work out differences.
So this summer, as you tune into and enjoy the 2024 summer Olympics, remember what these Games symbolize and after the last medal is awarded and the athletes return to their individual countries, let’s try to keep the spirit of kinship alive as we return to our daily lives.
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