5 Life Lessons from the Big Man
- Lisa Camille Robinson
- Aug 28, 2016
- 5 min read
Although it could be self-confidence suicide to compare yourself to “The Big Man”, as Jamaicans respectfully call him, Bolt’s nine gold medals and domination of athletics over the past 12 years does stir reflection on your own potential. As a Jamaican who has immigrated to run my own arduous race of building a better life overseas, Bolt’s success set against a backdrop of setbacks and naysayers is particularly meaningful to me. It’s been five years since I migrated from Jamaica to Australia on my own. His iconic triumph comes at a time when I am struggling to win in the experience of being a solo immigrant, where financial strain, discrimination, and finding suitable work have caused to me feel like I’m running at the back of the pack.
Luckily, I was on a visit to Jamaica during the Rio Olympics: The unbridled screaming at the television screen, the fervent excitement at seeing our athletes beat a competitor is an experience best reveled in the energetic frenzy of the island. It was the perfect place to look more closely at Bolt’s story, where I found were key lessons that if applied, might mean my own going for gold in Australia.
1. “Without struggle there is no progress” The question has been posed: Would Bolt’s raw talent have lead to the same level of success, if he had been born or raised in another country? Or were the conditions of being raised in rural Jamaica, his choice to live in the roughneck city of Kingston (despite offers of scholarships in America) and the criticism he received from Jamaicans in his early years, the unique conditions that birthed his success? I heard said once that for a plant to grow it needed an exact combination of conditions and that if one was absent or not sustained, life would not propagate. My own theory is that, Bolt’s prowess has sprouted from those very hostile conditions - conditions that bring out fighting instincts and force evolution.
This understanding of Bolt’s story changes the colour of my lens in regards to how I view the challenges I faced as an immigrant during my first years: Perhaps been abruptly fired, languishing jobs that were painfully not a fit for me, having to move house several times and failed attempts to start my own business are actually the perfect conditions for something golden to grow.
2. Coming from Behind: Usain was identified as a star athlete as a youngster. But he wasn’t the favourite to win when he came onto the international stage. He made his first appearance on the world stage at the 2001 IAAF World Youth Championships in Hungary, where he failed to qualify for the finals. In the 2004 Athens Olympics, he was eliminated in the first round of the 200m with a disappointing time of 21.05s. All that now seems a distant memory with his ream of World and Olympic records. He failed and then moved on. He demonstrated that past failure does not determine the probability of future success.
Similarly in my young days, I was touted as the bright girl in my family, with academic distinctions, scholarships and an honors degree to my name. Since I’ve been in Australia, that kind of accomplishment has eluded me.
But if Usain went through a period of struggle in his first bout on the world circuit, then maybe I can give myself permission to falter a little bit. Maybe it’s ok. Maybe I’m just getting my head around the lay of this new land and that breakthrough is waiting for me just around the corner? Maybe, just maybe I can also come from behind.
3. Running your Race: Bolt’s Coach Glen Mills had his sights set on Bolt being a distance runner. He pushed him into the 400m event, although Usain yearned to run the 100m. Mills was sceptical of Bolt’s ability to do so, citing his difficulty in smoothly starting out of the blocks and habit of looking back at opponents in sprints. But Bolt knew that distance events were just not his thing, and that his lack of prowess in the 400m was due to his knowing that it was not the right fit for him. He proved that clarity equals power. He felt sure of where his strengths were: that the shorter races were tailor made for something inside him.
I too have struggled in my own unwilling 400m races. Since arriving in Australia, I have walked a track common well trod for immigrants: financial pressure forced me take jobs whatever jobs I could get, regardless of whether or not they were a fit for my skill-set. Discrimination also adds to an immigrant’s challenge of finding suitable work as is revealed in statistics like this: as much as 50% of immigrant engineers in Australia are not working in their field.
As for me, I always was knew that being a writer and a creative was my race.But unable to secure offers in that space, I resorted to taking positions in Sales and Finance.I failed again and again and beat myself up for it: confusing the experience of failure with being a failure. What I have learned is that I must choose my race with the clarity of self-knowledge: to know what my strengths are and make choices that aligns with that fully: to run my race.
4. The Power of a Fresh Start: After the disappointment of failing to qualify for the final at the Athens Olympics, Bolt made a change. Before, he had been a distracted athlete. Kingston’s nightlife, eating fast food and playing basketball had made him wobble in his discipline. But in 2005, he donned a new attitude and the conditions around him shifted to support him. It was in 2005 that his partnership, with his coach Glen Mills started. The coach that took him to 9 gold medals.
Sometimes a crisis is what we need to reflect and then get back in the blocks. I’ve just come out of one myself. I had taken up working in the maritime industry and took the leap to leave Australia to try to find work on boats in Europe. I never did. In the experience of processing that failure, I took the time to rethink my attitude and my approach to finding work. I’ve decided to make a new start as a Writer: pursuing work in that field with a fresh approach and a new attitude.
5. Keep it Light: In the animation of Bolt’s Story, “The Boy Learned How to Fly”, Bolt’s mother counsels Bolt to “Keep It Light” when the stress of winning of causes him to put his track shoes on the wrong feet before a big race. He takes his mother’s advice and decides to lose the seriousness and enjoy what he was doing. That decision marks the key differentiation between Bolt and every other track star that has come before him. The world started to see a man at play, enjoying what he does. We became addicted.
As immigrants we face choices in a similar vain. Most of us take the jobs we can get, rather than the ones that would bring us joy so that we can survive. Quite often these jobs are so an ill fitting to our personality that they bring us pain. After having done that for five years, it’s time for me to make take a page out of Usain’s book: To make my happiness my number one priority; To shed the seriousness and approach the whole immigrant experience with lightness; to choose and approach my work guided by joy and not fear.
Bolt’s story is made of the same matter of fairy tales: the hero battling nature, enemies and himself to come out victorious. Just as every fairy tale is embedded with life lessons, his story is rich with precious gems that can aid us on our personal conquests. As a Jamaican, I feel a particular resonance with these lessons, but they are applicable to anyone going for their own gold.
Comments