Win The Moment (The Friday Ficks S6 E8)

The XXV Olympic Winter Games are winding down - two weeks that remind us of a simple truth: medals are won in moments most people never see. And every moment of your life can be medal-worthy...if you embrace failure, build resilience, and control the controllable.

Olympian Elana Meyers Taylor brought that lesson to life in her speech at my daughter’s George Washington University commencement in 2022. A standout athlete at GW, Meyers Taylor failed to make the 2008 Olympic softball team. That disappointment redirected her to bobsledding. Without that failure, there is no Olympic podium.

Later, as an established star, she pushed to open the four-man bobsled competition to women.

She endured resistance and ridicule. On race days, she blocked out the noise by blasting “Shake It Off” in her headphones.

Control the controllable.

This week at the Milan Cortina Games, she captured gold - her sixth Olympic medal - becoming the most decorated Black athlete in Winter Olympic history and the oldest American woman to win Winter Olympic gold.

Failure. Resilience. Control.

That trilogy isn’t reserved for Olympians. You and I face our own qualifying rounds every day - in courtrooms, classrooms, boardrooms, long runs, and hard conversations.

I am decidedly not an Olympian. But I have failed. I have been doubted. I have had to tune out noise and focus on what was mine to control.

That’s where victories are forged. Not on podiums. Not in applause. But in private decisions.

So when the setback comes - and it will - ask yourself: What can I control right now? How will I respond in this moment?

Because that’s where winning lives.

Win the moment.

Own the day. Own the weekend.

Carl