With the 2012 Olympic Games almost upon us, it is only fitting to blog about commitment.  It takes a lot of commitment to be an Olympian; it also takes commitment to be a leader.

The summer Olympics take place every four years. During this four year window, athletes take the time to train themselves for the event that they wish to participate in. Four years of training for an event that may take a couple of minutes to complete seems crazy to some people. Most Olympians train for way more than four years. They train their whole lives. Although this seems unfathomable to most of us, this is the dedication and commitment that is necessary to be successful as an Olympian. It is also what is needed to be a leader.

Mia Hamm, a former female Olympic soccer player who helped lead the 2004 women’s soccer team to a gold medal victory, once said, “I’ve worked too hard and too long to let anything stand in the way of my goals. I will not let my teammates down and I will not let myself down.”

SOS Leadership encourages you to continually keep educating yourself and developing your skills in order to be the leader that you are called to become. It is not easy, and sometimes you may come up short of the goal you are trying to obtain, but the only way to succeed is to keep working at it, recognizing that leadership is a journey, not a destination. 

Dara Torres, a 12 time Olympic medalist and swimmer, who recently competed in the 2012 Olympic trials at the age of 45 against many women half her age, said: “Never put an age limit on your dreams.” We are never too young or old to set goals. Likewise, we will never be too young or too old to answer the call to leadership.

Whether you realize it or not, every action you have made in your life has been your training to become a leader. How committed are you to leadership? How about your company? Are you as committed as the Olympians? Will you do whatever it takes? Are you prepared to get in the game?