GreatLIFE Community,
I LOVE the Olympics! In fact, I am an Olympics NUT! Between the emotional ups and downs of barely pulling out a win or losing at the last second, yelling at the TV as if yelling a little louder will get them to the finish line quicker and staying up late into the night, I love it all! I’m not sure if it’s because of where I’m at in life right now or that the broadcasts are focused more on it, but the stories behind the athletes’ journey to get to Paris has been as impactful to me as the events themselves. The stories of the physical, mental and emotional fortitude that it has taken each of the athletes to have a place on the biggest stage in the world is incredible an inspiring to me. I find myself FULLY engaged with each of the athletes rooting for them to have the greatest performance of their careers and let the best come out on top. There are literally countless stories and lessons I’ve learned while watching the 2024 games but I will spare you a novel and stick to 3 that have resonated the most for me so far:
- Our US Women gymnasts taking Gold and Bronze in the All-Around – After Simone Biles had to step away from gymnastics all together DURING the last Olympics and returning to reclaim the Gold was incredible. Incredible in her own right, Suni Lee stepped up to hit her best floor routine on the last event to leap frog two other athletes and earn her spot on the podium as well. Ice in her veins!
- Michael Phelps cheering on the Australian swimmer as he broke one of his records – I have seen athletes from all around the world as they watch their records being broken with varied reactions. Watching Michael Phelps jumping up and down and CHEERING for the French swimmer to beat his record and celebrating as if HE just won the event was awe inspiring to me.
- Athletes from North and South Korea taking a selfie together – This is what it’s all about. This is why I love athletics so much. Athletes from two countries who literally HATE each other were seen with their arms around each other to pose for a selfie together. If only for a moment, they were able to forget about their differences and focus what they were FOR. Only at the Olympics…
I am looking forward to watching the remainder of the Olympics and supporting them through the ups and the downs of what comes with competition. Along with the Olympics, we have had a busy summer at GreatLIFE as well. As many of you may know, we play host to several tournaments that raise money for both local and national non-profits. The 3rd Monday in July, we take a turn to host our own golf tournament, Challenge for Change. The team at Willow Run, the GreatLIFE Cares Foundation and several local non-profits who we support throughout the year partnered up to host over 200 golfers in an effort to raise money and awareness for the community and all of these amazing organizations. This year, we were able to have our largest turnout and biggest impact for our partners yet! Typically, our PLAYEverything program takes a break during the summer as it has predominately been done within the Sioux Falls school system. This summer, our Team was able to continue impacting the youth in our community during the summer care program at the schools where we had over 200 kids participate in our programming over the past two months! The other school-based program we support is the TeamMates mentoring program. July was a time of planning and preparing to continue to grow our impact with the youth in the communities we’re in. As I was going through my personal reflections for July, I felt a tug to give you all an update on one of the ways YOU have allowed us to give back to our community. THANK YOU for entrusting us with your time and resources!
BOOK CLUB:
This month’s book, Change Your Paradigm, Change Your Life by Bob Proctor, was from a suggestion from a Member from the newsletter. I hadn’t heard of it but have already recommended it to a few others since I’ve finished it. I really enjoyed how many practical things I was able to take out of the book and apply in my everyday life immediately. Here were some of my favorite takeaways:
- Stop working on building in your current model. Instead, work to create a model that will make your current way obsolete. As a visionary, I love this thought process so naturally gravitate to anything I can point to that will allow me to dream! 😊
- IF I WANT TO BE FREE, I’VE GOT TO BE ME!! I loved this simple, yet powerful statement. Realizing that I can never be you and you can never be me, and being 100% ok with it has been a very freeing feeling. I have used what others have done in the past to justify why I haven’t stepped out in faith to do something I feel called to do. I think there is TREMENDOUS value in learning from those things in the past. However, utilizing others failures to find another way to make something work is a powerful tool that we all have at the tip of our fingers.
- When you’re interested in something, you’ll do it when it’s convenient. When you’re committed to something you’ll do it regardless of circumstances. I can say with 100% confidence that this is certainly the case for myself. Changing my mindset from being interested, to being committed, has been one of the main reasons why I have been able to stick with the piano this year. The slight mindset shift has made instrumental changes on my behavior when I’m not motivated to do it!
NEXT MONTH’S BOOK:
High Road Leadership by John Maxwell
POSITIVE THOUGHT:
“Your effort level is a direct reflection of your interest level. You don’t need to tell everyone how invest you are, your actions will do that.”