Olympic Athletics and Effective Family LeadershipAs a student of leadership, I've always admired the commitment level of both professional and Olympic athletes but I've never spent much time watching the events on television. But ever since last summer's games in China, my interest level in professional and Olympic athletics has skyrocketed. Almost every night, Michael Phelps captured my imagination as he swam more like a fish than a man. It was both amazing and inspirational! The night he came from behind and took the gold medal in the 100-meter butterfly - I yelled until my voice was completely gone. The silver winner - Milorad Cavic was ahead until the very last second. For some reason he decided to let up and simply glide to the final touch. Michael Phelps gave that race everything he had. Regardless of his position, his commitment was to do nothing but swim until his fingers touched the wall. There's a lesson here for those of us who are fighting to strengthen our family leadership capabilities in the face of enormous competition. Occasionally, we find ourselves in last place behind television, friends, schooling, church, an anti-family society, the economy and sometimes our families themselves. For me, it's tempting to cave under the pressure and simply glide through life towards a silver finish. What I learned from Michael Phelps' performance was to develop a commitment to personal growth and relationship development that will overcome any and all competition. What would happen if we faced the challenges of life by giving the development of our families a major burst of energy? Why do we immediately choose to give up at the first sign of difficulty? Why not fight even harder? Do we really believe that "raising a strong family is an impossible goal in today's society"? Success requires that we firmly say NO! We've got to put every ounce of physical, mental, and spiritual strength behind the goal of creating a winning family. Those who do this will not be defeated. I may not have the perfect family in the end, but I will have given everything that I am in the pursuit of trying. What more could anyone ask? It's amazing to me how few people really give 100% effort towards anything - They live life with the commitment level of a tarp in a hurricane tied down with thread. The secret to success in growing a solid family tree is kamikaze dedication to the goal of doing so. It's aligning mind, body, emotion, and spirit in a way that other families can't… Or won't. When the tarp of family is tied down with the commitment level of rope, not thread, - and the hurricane winds of change are blowing hard, there's nothing to do but to hold on and give your family everything that you are. This is life with a goal. A goal you think about constantly. A goal that becomes fact through both talking and acting. Watch the gold medal winners in any area of life - there are lessons to be learned and applied with a dedication and a focus that will result in hyper-effective family leadership.  P.S. If you're intrigued by this family leadership blog, why not subcribe? A daily update is available via  RSS reader or E-mail. If you'd prefer a monthly summary of the updates just subscribe to our newsletter.Other articles on Leadership & Commitment
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