Goal Achievement- What Next For The 100 Metres?

August 5th 2012, and Usain Bolt defends his 100 metres title at the London Olympics. Looking at Bolt, and the way the event has developed, has me revisiting a tip on goal achievement and self improvement that is an evergreen…
The Great Gordino Goal Achievement
In a previous article I wrote about the innovative approaches that have pushed the event forwards, going right back to the winner in the 1896 games being the only runner using the full crouch starting position!

It had been thought that there was a height limit for the runners, that athletes the size of Bolt were simply too big. Of course he has blown that theory out of the water with his world records and 2 Olympic golds, and you can bet that coaches are now looking at to develop the taller runners!

He is so successful because he can turn his legs over so fast for a tall man. That means that with the same 42 strides that the shorter athletes take, Bolt’s huge stride will get him 100 metres down the track sooner than the others.

As for how the sport will develop? Well, here’s my idea, bearing in mind that my athletics coaching knowledge goes no further than the sofa..!

With Bolt, everyone including himself says he always starts badly because of his height. Well, that’s an improvement opportunity right there, and coaches will be looking for tall people that *can* start better! That’s about technique, and technique can always be developed.

Secondly, the established theory in 100 metres is that the runners cross the line slowing down. After the start they get up to full speed, but can only maintain that for maybe 40 metres, and then they all start to slow down.

Now, my theory is that the distance on the track at top speed can be increased, which means the athletes will be slowing down *later* in the race, and that should add up to a quicker time.

So, how does this relate to your own goal?

Well, for a lot of goals you may need to innovate to make headway, and I’m sure we’ll see a sub 9 second 100 metres in due course.

For most goals though, someone else has already done the innovation! That means you can look at what they did, and how they did it, and apply it your own efforts.

The idea of reverse engineering other people’s success is a hugely powerful one for goal achievement and self improvement, and overlooked by so many.

If your goal is to win the 100 metres, then good luck, but whatever your individual goal is, think to Bolt in the 100, and ask if you have properly studied the success stories in your field.

You can read my other article ‘Goal Achievement – Would You Start The 100 Metres Standing Up?’

I’d love your feedback on today’s post- leave a comment below of on facebook.

‘Til Next Time,
Health & Happiness,
Gordon
P.S. Why not check out my motivational book on Kindle – ‘Transform Your Life in 21 Days!’

Do leave a comment!

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6 Comments

  • Makes complete sense to me, Gordon. And I like your analogy! It’s one that most of us can relate to at this particular point in time.

    How often do we try to re-invent the wheel, to make things harder than we need it. Your post is a wonderful reminder to us that all we need do is look at those around us who are already enjoying success and work backwards through their goals to figure out how they did it.

    So many of the first products of some of the successful i.m.ers in our field were very simple ones. It was only later in their careers that those products were enhanced…and sold with a new price tag. And it was later that they moved toward developing higher end products.

    Sometimes it’s hard to see the simplicity of what should be obvious, because “the obvious” are those who have already arrived. Thanks for the reminder and for triggering a new line of thought!

    • Thanks Linda! That reverse engineering technique is so powerful, and there are plenty of successful people that are not only happy for us to do it, they reverse engineer their own success for us! (often with a charge, which is a great product creation technique too!) Cheers, Gordon

  • I didn’t know about the “slowing down” after 40 metres rule. I watched Bolt win at the Olympics (didn’t know who he was until the games) and it looked like he was just hitting his stride at the end.

    Great example and fine way to use something very NOW to get more eyeballs reading and learning from you!

    Great posts from KABN today!

    • Thanks Julia! It does look like he is powering away, but in fact he is just slowing down slower than the others! I was amazed when I found that out. I love using current events to prompt my content, and with the odd tweak it can then be used again later in compilations, etc! I’m also enjoying thr KABN posts! Cheers, Gordon

    • Hi Amy,
      Thanks for stopping by and taking the time to comment. This reverse engineering trick is so powerful I’m amazed more people don’t use it! Cheers, Gordon