Why did it take a 20-year-old Gold Medalist to show us it can be done differently?
One of the events I looked forward to the most this Winter Olympics was the Women’s Figure Skating, not only because I always marvel at the beauty & speed of the sport, but to be there for the moment of how a gold medal can be won, by doing it differently.
If you haven’t followed the story of Alysa Liu, the US Women’s Ice Skating Gold Medalist, it’s one every leader needs to know. Alysa left her sport at the age of 16, as the US Women’s Champion – not because she couldn’t keep up, but because she wanted to live a life outside of the rink.
She stepped away at a time when most skaters would double down and repeat the workouts, the hours, the measuring of every calorie, minute, moment, and wonder if this really is worth it, but not having the courage or will to question or stop the grind.
What she reminded all of us is that it’s in the stepping away that gives us the space, time, and freedom we all deeply crave and actually gets us to the next level.
For a couple of years, she got to be a teenager – hanging out with friends on her own time, eating what she wanted, and just being a teenager with unstructured time. In stepping away, she was also reminded of her own inner strength to claim the way that it will work for her vs subscribing to the same way winning had previously been done in “building the next gold medal Olympian”.
I couldn’t help but wonder, how many of us know that we need to step away and can’t, won’t, don’t dare. What is being sacrificed by pushing forward? What is so automatic that we forget the meaning of our work, our energy, our focus.
Alysa took the step, and we watched what is possible when you say no to the predetermined path and say yes to how we know to succeed, by doing it differently, in a way that expands & feeds us.
Her level of ease, joy & pure passion for the sport was at the other end of the pressure, nerves and perfection you could clearly see in other skaters, when all of it is about the winning, not the journey to get there. She embodied a multi-faceted human, not just a human with one goal.
Where are we subscribing to dated ways of leading, or to the belief that this is how it’s always been done? What would it look like if you honored what your heart is asking of you? If you said yes to your inner knowing and gave yourself a break to gain clarity, a renewed energy of self-confidence and evidence that stepping away is the obvious deep breath you need to be more of who you are.
What still moves me is seeing how unstoppable she was in her pursuit to come back with the renewed strength, determination, and heart to do it her own way, to reach even higher levels of excellence.
No one needs another worn-down, exhausted, doubting leader. We all benefit when stepping away is reframed as bringing more of who we are designed to be for our team.
What would it look like if we gave our heart, soul & inner knowing the permission to when to say it’s time, to step into fully becoming the best version of ourselves?
Thank you, Alysa Liu for reminding us what courage in action is all about & for bringing home the Gold!
See Alysa Liu’s 60 Minutes Interview >>
👉 Download our reflection guide on The Power of Stepping Away
