Whether you’re an athlete, entrepreneur, employee, executive, homemaker, artist, or fall into some other category, if you have dreams and ambitions, the “7 C’s” will help fuel your achievement.
- Clarity
True champions know their ‘end game,’ They are focused and have a deep sense of what they want to do and why. It’s a priority for them. It defines them and they organize their lives around their goal.
- Competence/Capability
They may have natural skills and abilities. But it’s also possible that they may have developed their skills out of a decision to do so. In other words, their skills have been cultivated from years of classes, practice, coaching, and hard work.
- Curiosity
Many of the things I’m good at now are the result of developing an interest and learning everything I could about them. People who excel in certain arenas may have just been curious in the beginning. They wanted to know how things worked. They studied and continue to wonder how to become even better, faster, stronger, and more adept in their chosen field.
- Centeredness
To experience peak performance, one must ignore distractions and stop listening to the naysayers. Can you imagine doing your best with hundreds, thousands, or millions of eyes staring at you? Of course not. Excellence arises from within. Focusing your attention on the quiet part of the Self that knows exactly what to do or say and how to do or say it is crucial. At some point, you have to shut out outside influences and simply trust that you know enough and are good enough to excel.
- Courageousness
Google defines courageous as ‘not deterred by danger or pain; brave.’ I didn’t know Google was in the dictionary business, but I liked this definition. Being undeterred by challenges or risk is what allows champions to move forward in the face of external obstacles and internal insecurities.
- Confidence
Many people believe self-confidence is a prerequisite for accomplishment. It’s not. It often only arises after you have overcome a significant professional or personal obstacle or confronted internal fears. From that experience comes a sense of personal growth and the self-confidence to prepare for the next big event on the horizon.
- Care
When watching sports I’m always moved by the celebrations of love and appreciation for team members as they watch each other succeed. Nothing bolsters a healthy, human ego like being able to empathize and care for someone else. Bullies may make apparent progress, but their accomplishments are hollow. As Theodore Roosevelt once said, “People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.”
By Loretta Love Huff
