If you’re like me, you’ve been captivated by the PyeongChang Winter Olympics over the past two weeks. And like me, you were surely touched by the victories of Mikael Kingsbury, Max Parrot, Kim Boutin, Tessa Virtue, Scott Moir and many others. There were medals. Twenty-nine, of all kinds. A record for Canada. There were also many smiles and emotions. In the faces of the athletes, their families, the spectators and even the journalists present.

When you think of the Olympic Games, you think of victories, defeats, lots of happiness and lots of tears too.

As there are always two sides to a medal, all the ones that have been won, and the ones that have not, are the result of lots and lots and LOTS of work.

I was listening to gold medallists Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir being interviewed and you could feel in their words the enormous effort they had to invest over four years to get where they are. Not to mention the sacrifices in their personal lives, the long absences from their families, the physical pain and injuries inflicted on their bodies and the incredible pressure they had to endure to get that famous medal. Which, by the way, would have been the same even if they had not won the gold medal.

This is the other side of the coin!

There’s no such thing as free and easy success. There’s no such thing as a lucky win. Since I’ve been trying to popularize the mechanisms that lead to success, I’m always flabbergasted when I see people who “think” that success is easy.

It is never easy and it never will be! That’s what makes success or a medal so valuable.

No matter what you do, to be successful in your field or to stay at the TOP (if you already are), you will have to put in countless hours of effort, doubts, new ideas and sleepless nights to get there.

You think it’s too expensive? Think again. Ask any of these medal winners. As soon as they touch victory, all the sacrifices and efforts made are magically forgotten.

Life is good after all. Humans always remember the good side of the coin.