I’m currently on holiday in the beautiful north east of England, and it turns out I picked the perfect fortnight to be away from work. My life is now subsumed by time in the sea and time in front of the TV watching the Tokyo Olympics. I am fully committed to both activities, but one in particular is really giving me food for thought – this week, I’m reflecting on success.
Team GB are just marvellous, and I never fail to be amazed at their tenacity and determination to succeed in such a wide range of sports (recently I’ve been transfixed by the BMX racing and the trampolining, and those women in the Rugby 7s are phenomenal). Yesterday, Dan Walker on the BBC was interviewing the amazing Helen Glover, just after she and her partner had come fourth in the women’s coxless pairs final. Dan was asking Helen about her feelings on the subject of medals, given that she has previously won gold in the Olympics, and Helen said this:
‘What does success look like to you? Success looks different for different people’.
She was making the point that being an Olympian in the first place is a remarkable achievement, and sometimes it’s about the journey as much as it’s about the medals. We’ve all seen the headlines referring to Helen as ‘supermum’ and ‘mother of three’, but it’s worth remembering that every person arriving in Tokyo has had their own mountain to climb.
I love that – medals, medals, medals are the focus of all commentary at the Olympics, naturally, but I love hearing about the back stories and adventures of Olympians, whether they end with a medal or not. Apart from anything else, anyone who’s had to spend a year working at home has had periods of frustration and demotivation – imagine being a team player but not being able to work with your team while preparing for an Olympic games.
I’ve often spoken about the importance of understanding what success might look like to ourselves as individuals, rather than measuring success according to some (perceived) societal, professional or organisational norm. In midwifery, I remember part of the path that led me to undertaking a doctorate was my awareness that formal leadership and managerial roles might not be my personal measure of career success – at that point in my career, at least. It didn’t mean I respected midwives holding those roles any less, it just meant I understood my own strengths and weaknesses, and career preferences.
In my workshops and one-to-one coaching sessions, I encourage midwives to really think deeply about what success might look like to them. It may be that they aspire to a Head of Midwifery position, but equally they may want to be the best band 6 midwife they can be, or move into education or research. The point is, it really doesn’t matter: as Helen Glover says, success to you is going to look different from success using someone else’s perspective.
This week, success for me is getting into the sea every day (with wetsuit, obviously – I’m not mad!) and also continuing to learn about many sports I’ve never previously encountered. And anyone who knows me, knows there’s my devotion to Love Island to add into the mix as well. It’s going to be a busy week!
