Bingo

Before I left for Albuquerque I had a conversation with one of my trusted advisors. He started telling me about his Aunt Pat and her obsession with the game Bingo. She played the game all the time and one year she won $83,000 bucks. Now, that was only one year and there were a whole bunch of other years she didn't win nearly that much, and some years when she lost big. During the course of her life she definitely ended up losing more than she won. But she kept playing, certain that the next game she would win and that she would continue to win big. She was good at bingo and this was her game.

"What in the world did this have to do with long jumping and getting me pumped up and confident?'… I thought to myself.

But it had everything to do with long jumping and getting me pumped up and confident. It was about believing. You see, Aunt Pat kept playing her game relentlessly because she thoroughly believed that she didn't win big because of luck, but because she was good. She always played the next game certain that she would win again, regardless of how many times in a row she lost. In her mind, winning over $80,000 was not a stroke of luck but the exceptional playing of someone who was gifted and talented at what they were doing. She just believed. And no matter how many times things didn't go her way, it never shook that belief…all the way up until her last days.

Now, I have no idea if someone can actually be good at Bingo. My rationale tells me that it pretty much must involve some sort of luck. But I do know that I am a good long jumper. I know that I am talented. Even after multiple unfavorable competitions this indoor season, culminating with Indoor Nationals this past weekend, I must continue to play my game with the belief that the next one will be good. I've had my $80,000 jumps in the past and there is no way I just got lucky and jumped far because the stars were aligned a certain way that day. I am certain I know how to do that and even more. Much, much more.

I will jump well this outdoor season. And when I make the Olympic Team I won't be focused on the jumps this indoor season that didn't go well, or hoping to get lucky at the right time, I will stay focused on what I know to be true-- That I am good at what I do and I have what it takes to win big.