The Bobby Rock Quick Hit - 8-8-24 - Revisiting Your Gold Medal Moment
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Hey Everyone -
From time to time, when full editions of the Newsletter are delayed, I like to drop these shorter ones on you guys so we don't go too long without talking. And so... let's jump into it!
In the Here and Now:
Out here with Lita Ford and company—with a day off at a hotel in Rapid City, South Dakota—finishing up my daily Dragon Dirt smoothie. Just played the infamous Sturgis bike rally last night. It's the largest of its kind in the world, and this would have to be the seventh or eighth time I've played it with Lita. Always an adventure!
We typically play the big outdoor "festival" venue (Buffalo Chip), but sometimes, like last night, we play one of the smaller venues around town, and they are equally as fun to play in their own way.
Been spitting water out on the kit during my solo lately. Why? Why Not?!!
Onward we roll...
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Man, I fucking love the Olympics: Track and field, swimming, and especially gymnastics.... I am all about it. Of course, I'm a huge sports fan anyway (baseball, football, basketball, in that order), but there's something singularly enthralling about the one-and-done stakes of the Olympic games that creates such a massive stage for "the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat." Have a rough games? Well, you can try again in four years... if you can make the cut then. It's brutal!
I guess one of the reasons I'm so enamored with it all is not only because I'm an athlete, but because I'm a touring musician. The common thread? Peak performance. We, like the Olympians (although with WAY less at stake), have to show up at a particular place, at a particular time, and deliver a peak performance, without a net, and without any do-overs. I've studied the art and science of this phenomenon for years and remain obsessed with it: To deliver a peak performance every night, without exception, no matter the crowd, and no matter the stakes (or apparent lack thereof). And these Olympians? It involves world class skill, honed over an incalculable number of hours and untold amounts of toil and sacrifice, all directed to a single moment while millions around the globe are watching. It is the ultimate mind/body mind-fuck.
Through it all, it is, by my estimation, a specialized form of self-actualization... at least for the duration of that part of one's life. And since self-actualization is something that most of us are interested in, it calls to mind a contemplative Newsletter piece I wrote three years ago during the "2020" Olympics, which actually went down at year later in 2021.
Scope it out... and I will catch you guys with another full edition soon featuring, as promised, the Africa Adventure.
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Your Gold Medal Moment
With the 2020 Games now behind us, I have an interesting contemplation for you today.
I have always been fascinated with the Olympics… with this idea that an athlete would give an enormous amount of time and energy to a singular cause, enduring unprecedented levels of sacrifice and suffering—particularly in a four-year stretch—all to (hopefully) wind up at the top of a podium with a gold medal around their neck.
At the same time, the fundamental risk/reward mechanism of this journey used to strike me as untenable: Simply not worth the once-every-four-years shot. Too many variables involved… too much at stake… too much out of your control with regard to that outcome… even as hallowed a moment as it might be. (Of course, this “risk/reward mechanism” is also what makes the games so riveting to watch!)
But then, during the 2004 Olympics, a greater revelation struck me:
You don’t work all those years just so you can stand on the podium and bask in the magnitude of the achievement; you do it for who you will have to become to be able to stand on that podium.
Such a journey, I believe, is about self-actualization—becoming your best self. And it is precisely in the becoming of this highest expression of oneself that makes the journey worthwhile… medal or no medal, and no matter where you wind up in the standings.
Which leads us to today's mind-expanding reflection:
What is YOUR gold medal moment?
What singular moment in time might represent the grandest culmination of your best, most consistent work, coupled with that extraordinary set of skills and attributes that you have developed over many years?
A few considerations:
Obviously, this doesn’t have to be sports or even performance-related, per se. It’s tied more directly to YOUR calling… that thing that drives you the hardest. And it should be a long-term proposition.
Recipient or Facilitator? - Not everyone involved in a “gold medal endeavor" is the actual recipient. As the athlete (Recipient) enjoys their Gold Medal Moment, their coach (Facilitator) enjoys a similar moment of their own. Such is the case in most gold medal endeavors. The artist relishes the platinum record; the artist manager relishes their part in the process. You can be an employee, volunteer, significant other, or active supporter in someone else’s vision, and if your calling is centered around a particular benchmark in this collaboration, then that entity’s Gold Medal Moment would be yours, as well. (This also applies to those teachers and parents who have exerted an “Olympian’s” effort toward the development and support of another in achieving something truly grand.)
Your Gold Medal Moment cannot hinge around a singular, instantaneous, miracle-type occurrence like a forty-million dollar lotto ticket (although I’m sure it might feel like such a moment upon discovery in that 7-11 parking lot!). It has to be something specific, deliberate, and intentional that you’ve worked specifically towards for years.
So… one more time: What is Your Gold Medal Moment?
And perhaps more importantly... Are you currently on your way to it?
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Thanks again, everybody. Connect soon!
Until then,
BR
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