If You Only Watch One Video This Week, Make It This One

KEYPOINTS

• 01

  Excellence starts with a decision to leave average behind

  Shelly-Ann grew up in Waterhouse, Kingston, sharing one room with her mother (who had her at 17) and two brothers. There, she says, 'dreaming is a luxury.' Her first instruction is to decide who you want to be and where you want to be in 5–10 years. Then, every morning, put one foot in front of the other. A champion mindset isn't just winning; it's 'trusting the promise you've already made to yourself.'

• 02

  Your own voice must be the loudest voice in the room

  Stop asking permission to be great from people who don't know your gifts or what you're chasing. Outside voices, including 'too old,' 'too young' or 'you've had enough,' are white noise. Mel's version: maybe the problem is listening to the announcers calling the play. Shelly-Ann's line: those people 'are at the ceiling of their imagination, not yours.'

• 03

  A lot can change in a year, if you're consistent at small things

  She went from relay reserve at the 2007 World Championships in Osaka to Olympic 100m champion in 2008. What changed was consistency: being at 5 a.m. practice at 5, not 5:30, and changing how she ate. 'For the person chasing mediocrity, one year is small. For the person chasing greatness, one year is a lot.'

• 04

  Owning your own outcome changes how you compete

  In Osaka she cried when told she would run, terrified of failing three relay teammates. She ran the heats but not the final. She went home wanting to stand on the line where 'anything I lose, it's mine to lose; anything I win, it's mine to win.' In Beijing her dream was only to make the final, yet she had already told a teammate how she would scream if she won.

• 05

  Visualization is free preparation, and elite sprinters train it weekly

  Fridays are mental training, not running. She rehearses races months ahead, down to the smell of the stadium and the starter's 'on your marks,' so on race day her body knows it's 'go time.' She claims the mind can't fully tell imagined from real, which is a loose summary of the research, so treat it as her experience. It wanders at first (she drifted to KFC and the beach), so she uses a cue to return: 'Greater is he that is in me than he that is in the world.' Rehearse a presentation or hard conversation the same way.

• 06

  Watching your competitors helps them win

  'When you focus on them, you're helping them win,' and they are probably focused on you. At the line she ignores every lane: 'I've never seen anybody win going backwards.' To learn from people you envy or resent, use the Jamaican saying 'eat the meat, leave the bone': take what's useful and drop the rest.

• 07

  Motivation changes; standards are who you are

  Usain Bolt has said her longevity makes him feel like an underachiever. She credits standards, not feelings: motivation tied to a person or grudge disappears when they do. Some days she doesn't want to train; she goes anyway. 'Show up in spite of.'

• 08

  Build standards in small, personal steps, not New Year's resolutions

  For someone who feels knocked down, start with one thing, like getting up, making your bed, having coffee and visualizing for 20 minutes. Write it down, add something a week later, and let it become routine. Undoing years of habits takes time. Your standards must be yours. Resolutions made because everyone else makes them are forgotten 'by the second of January.'

• 09

  Failure shows you how; losing only becomes final when you quit

  She calls herself 'an expert at losing.' Wins can make you think you've got it all figured out, while failure shows you what needs work. Her coach told her that crossing the line, even in a loss, gives you something to evaluate, like switching routes after 20 minutes in traffic. Champions say 'back to the drawing board,' never 'I quit.'

• 10

  Pressure is a privilege, and it grows when you live in the past and future at once

  'Nobody stones green mangoes': pressure means someone, including you, sees more in you. It swells when you replay old mistakes while fearing what's next. 'Compete where your feet are': breathe, return to your why and prepare for what's coming.

• 11

  Stop negotiating your mornings

  Don't bargain with yourself ('maybe next week'). Decide and commit, because 'everything changes downstream when upstream is done right.' The only dream that hasn't been met is the one you haven't started.