It’s always fun to watch Olympic fever take hold. For a few weeks every two years, people become transfixed. Suddenly everyone has an opinion about the way figure skating is judged, or is obsessed with a gymnast they’d never heard of before. (How about that Stephen Nedoroscik on pommel horse?) Your time management priorities might even change for the Olympics; if you’re going to catch all your favorite events, you’re going to need to free up a lot of hours to sit in front of the TV.
Even if you’re not someone who gets invested in the Olympics, you can probably understand the appeal. There’s incredible scenery and human interest stories and patriotism, sure, but mostly…
…It’s fun watching people who are incredible at what they do, and love doing it.
Watching people perform feats of incredible skill and strength, especially when they make it look easy, is truly enjoyable. Seeing them break records adds to the excitement. And it’s really fun watching them celebrate when all the work and sacrifice pays off with an Olympic medal.
During the 2024 Olympics season, there have been a lot of high-profile stories of American athletes overcoming obstacles to get to the games. Simone Biles struggled with mental blocks after pulling out of the Tokyo Olympics, while her teammate Suni Lee battled two kidney diseases that threatened to end her gymnastics career. Sha’Carri Richardson qualified for the Tokyo games, only to be disqualified before they began. All three fought through those challenges to return strong in 2024, and all three are bringing medals home from Paris.
They’re all inspirational. But I’m also inspired by a different sort of Olympic athlete: the ones who also have full-time careers. The athletes who don’t have sponsorships and endorsements to pay their bills. They train hard enough to qualify for the Olympics while putting in 40+ hours a week at work, and still maintain some kind of personal life.
If only there were medals for time management skills, full-time working Olympians would make the pedestal every time.
Before the 2024 Olympic fever fades away, I thought it would be interesting to look more closely at a few of the athletes from Team USA who balance demanding careers with their sports. They’re from different backgrounds, different sports and different industries, but they all have one thing in common: they wouldn’t have gotten to the Paris 2024 games without some really good time management strategies in place. There’s something from each of their stories that can be applied to any professional’s life.
Ellen Geddes, wheelchair fencing
Ellen Geddes was a competitive equestrian before breaking her back in 2011. She pivoted to fencing as a competitive outlet, but stayed heavily involved in the horse world that she loved. Today she manages horse breeding facilities and co-owns a breeding company in South Carolina. “I definitely struggle with balance,” she told the Lexington County Chronicle just before the Olympics began, admitting that she was focusing more on fencing than she was on horses at that time. She’s hoping to win her first medal in the 2024 Paralympics, and told the paper that medaling “feels a bit like a stretch goal, but I am definitely on a good path to at least think of that as a potential outcome.”
What’s the time management takeaway?
Give yourself permission to devote time, energy and other resources to stretch goals, as long as they’re things you have real passion for. Use your calendar and other planning strategies to prioritize those stretch goals, so you have a clear step-by-step plan for achieving them and can carve out the time you need to make that plan a reality.
Liana Mutia, judo
Without her good time management skills, Liana Mutia probably wouldn’t be competing in the upcoming Paralympic Games. She doesn’t have coaches and analysts who can help her scout her opponents for her judo matches. So in the lead-up to the games, she got up at 6 a.m. every day to do that scouting work herself, or to exercise. Then she would work from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. as a software analyst, followed by two hours of judo training.
She told Team USA that she doesn’t have the luxury of time, and she doesn’t have the strength and aggression that some athletes have. So, she has to rely on her intelligence and information analysis skills to make the most of her limited training time.
What’s the time management takeaway?
Play to your strengths. Notice the things that you do better than your competitors, and lean into activities that let you use and sharpen those skills.
Nic Fink, swimming
At 31, Nic Fink is older than most of his competitors. And while many of his fellow Olympic swimmers are still in college, he balances his training schedule with a full-time job in engineering. He credits both his swimming community and his workplace for allowing him the flexibility to shift his schedule as needed.
Earlier this year he told AP News: “My hours may be a little different than other people’s. I’ve definitely answered texts like, ‘Hey, can I get this back to you in like an hour or so?’ And they are like, ‘No rush, you do you.’ They let me know when things need to get done by and I work around that schedule.” Clearly whatever he’s doing is working. He’s bringing home gold and silver medals from Paris!
What’s the time management takeaway?
Be upfront about your scheduling and flexibility needs to everyone on your team so they can give you space to focus without worrying that you’re dropping balls. Use strategies like creating a public Google calendar so professional and personal contacts can check whether you’re totally available, only available for urgent questions or totally unavailable.
Kat Holmes, fencing
Kat Holmes has gotten used to managing an impossible workload, between her career as a professional fencer and her role as a full-time medical student. The time management challenges are so intense that she recently told CNBC: “I would not recommend it, really, to anybody.” The training process leading up to the 2024 Olympics probably left her even more exhausted than a typical med student, since she would spend her limited down time practicing and flying to international fencing events.
Kat says the punishing schedule is worthwhile for now because of how deeply she loves both fencing and medicine. And she shared some insight into the time management system she uses to get everything done. This is what she told CNBC: “I actually still buy a paper planner every year and I write everything I need to do for the week in there. I sit down and I write every single due date as far into the future as I can. When I’m done, I cross it off and I know I don’t have to deal with it.”
What’s the time management takeaway?
Kat’s a bit of a cautionary tale. Her exhausting workload puts her at constant risk of burnout. But she says she can tell when the physical symptoms of burnout are coming on so she can adjust her schedule and build in more rest. That’s a helpful practice for anyone who’s at risk of burning out. And, her long-established dedication to a paper planner is a reminder that old-school methods of time management can still be effective today.
Ready to build time management and productivity skills worthy of a gold medal?
Here’s one last takeaway from working Olympic athletes: no one achieves success alone. World-class athletes build villages of support, including professional support from coaches, trainers, consultants, therapists and anyone else who can help them do things better.
If time management and productivity are areas where you want to see improvement, I’m here to offer my support. The easiest first step is to schedule a no-cost Strategy Session with me. We’ll talk one-on-one about what’s possible for you, what’s holding you back and what the next best steps are for you to take control of your time.
Click here to request your free Strategy Session!
Be well,
Sarah
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