Motivation from Noah Lyles

Motivation from Noah Lyles

Noah Lyles won gold and bronze medals at the Paris Olympics. Last week, he withdrew from the remainder of the games when he required medical attention after winning a bronze medal in the 200 meters. Noah later revealed that he had tested positive for COVID 2 days prior to winning the bronze medal, which came after his gold medal winning performance in the 100 meters. 

Whether or not you watched Noah run, here are 3 ways to use him as inspiration:

The past can be a powerful motivator: At the 2021 Olympic Games in Tokyo, Noah won a bronze medal in the 200 meters. As the gold medal favorite, Noah was disappointed by the outcome so he kept the bronze medal and brought it with him to Paris to serve as a reminder that he came up short in Tokyo. Similar to Noah, we can all use our past as motivation to help us perform at our best.

A thousandth of a second matters: Noah’s 100 meter time (9.784 seconds) edged out second place finisher Kishane Johnson’s time (9.789 seconds) by 0.005 seconds. Noah and Kishane both trained intensely, competed to win and it came down to a fraction of a second - serving as a good reminder that details matter.

There is always room for improvement: Noah leaves the Olympics with 1 gold and 1 bronze medal. While an impressive accomplishment, Noah was not able to accomplish his ambitious goal of winning 4 gold medals. Additionally, his winning time of 9.79 seconds in the 100 meters is more than 2 tenths of a second slower than Usain’s world record of 9.58 seconds in 2009. Similar to Noah, we can all benefit from realizing there is still still room for improvement, even when we win.

Thank you Noah for inspiring us. Let’s have a great week!