Essential Business Lessons From a Gold Medal Wrestler (Me!)
Why am I so passionately driven to focus on consistent, ongoing effort in pursuit of a goal? I know it works. How? Because it worked for me at a crucial, formative juncture early in my life.
Yes, you read that correctly: after an . . . ignominious beginning . . . I focused and became a world-class wrestler.
As promised in our first newsletter, I’ll be helping make 2025 your best year yet. Today, I’ll share coaching, business, and life tips learned from my wrestling career, which has been a part of my life from high school to now.
Let’s begin at the beginning; high school.
Never Give Up - Lessons From a Freshman Wrestling (Near) Dropout
Freshman year, I tried out for my high school wrestling team. I had never wrestled before and thought this would be fun. The try outs were easy. They took everyone. So far, so good!
Then the practices and work began. Wrestling is a lot of work between conditioning and learning the techniques. While a bit more than I had bargained for, I was taught that if you make a team, you don’t quit – you commit; you finish.
First match. A loss. Not only a loss, I was pinned within 30 seconds. For context, a full match (unless pinned) lasts for six minutes.
Second week, same result.
By the end of the season, I had been pinned 12 out of 12 matches. I never won a match, much less wrestled the full six minutes. My coach told me after the season, “Michael, wrestling is not for you. You will never be a wrestler. You should never step back into a wrestling room.“
His final point, “You should quit this sport.”
I told my parents. They asked me what I thought. I responded, “I think I can become a wrestler. Most people started wrestling before high school. They had a head start on me. I had eight months before the start of next year’s wrestling season. So, if I make a plan and work the plan for the next eight months, I should be better at this sport.” My parents were very supportive. They said that if that is what I want to do, then do it.
Coaching tip: Most of us, at some point in our lives, have been told to quit; never come back; you will never be good or successful; you aren’t good enough You have a choice then: a) listen to a person who isn’t good for us, or, b) look at the total picture then talk with people who support us and want to see us succeed.
You then weigh your options and choose. My choice was influenced by a quote I had just seen: “A winner never quits, and a quitter never wins.” I made a sign on a piece of cardboard with this quote and hung it up in my bedroom. I saw this every day. I didn’t quit.
The coach asked me what I was doing there when I showed up for wrestling tryouts my sophomore year.
Coaching tip: In Business, we have all hit some tough, challenging times. Remember, “A winner never quits and a quitter never wins.
Learn From the Best - The Secret Sauce to Success
I found out Terry McCann, an Olympic gold medalist in wrestling, worked out at the Mayor Daley Gym on Monday nights (yes, I’m originally from Chicago). I went there every Monday night and asked to wrestle with Coach McCann.
At first, he asked, “WHY?!” Here I was, a kid who had never won a match and I wanted to wrestle with the Olympic Gold medalist.
I doubled-down on this secret sauce by asking Ken Kraft, the wrestling coach at Northwestern University, If I could work out with their college wrestling team during their special Thursday night practices. Coach Kraft opened his door to me. I would wrestle there every Thursday night for several years.
Coaching tip: Want to be good at anything? Find the best teachers and/or coaches, push yourself to be with the best, and compete and learn from the best. Another saying that I heard then (and continue to use as a navigational beacon) was, “The difference between good and great is that little extra effort.”
This was the second sign I hung up in my bedroom. Relating to you, your business and your life, when you are tired and feel like stopping, remember that “The difference between good and great is that little extra effort”. Do you want to become just good enough or do you want to become great?
Putting In the Reps, Improving, and WINNING!
I started to become a good wrestler. I started to win. A lot.
Junior year I won every award the school gave. I placed trophies under those signs in my bedroom.
Coaching tip: Celebrate your wins. Small wins. Big wins. ANY win is worth a celebration. Feel good about your success!. Enjoy it!. It is OK to be successful. You can still be humble (that’s a good thing). But you can be both humble and successful – they aren’t exclusive concepts!
I also started convincing other wrestlers on my team to come with me to wrestle all over Chicago – Navy Pier, Northwestern University, and the Park Districts in Chicago’s inner city on Sundays. In the summer, we went to Coach Kruempelstaedter’s summer programs. While me and my teammates went to New Trier West, he was the Coach at New Trier East. Even so, he welcomed us to those summer camps. I didn’t know this at the time, but I was developing my leadership skills by encouraging and motivating other wrestlers to come with me to the extra practice sessions.
Coaching tip: Give. Give to others. Leadership is about leading by example.
Be the first to arrive at practice. Be the last to leave. Run that extra lap. Lift those extra weights. Then, once you set an example, help, motivate, and encourage others to become their best version of themselves. Leaders develop people who will become leaders. These leaders will develop others into leaders. An excellent leader will have others wanting to do that extra effort. Looking forward to doing that extra effort because they see the results.
Leaders encourage others to become their best.
What impact did this effort have on my life?
I went to college on a wrestling scholarship.
I won the United States National Championship in Freestyle Wrestling.
I then won my second National Championship when I won the United States Greco-Roman National Championship.
I then became a member of The USA Junior World Wrestling Team. No United States wrestling team had ever beaten Russia in the World Championships. Our team was The First USA World Wrestling Team to beat Russia (and Bulgaria) to win the World Wrestling Championships. First in the History of United States Wrestling.
Coaching tip: You might be the worst at something when starting out. BUT if you want something bad enough, are willing to put in the work, and will push yourself to find the best coaches and teachers, you can become extremely successful.
One Last Ingredient to the Secret Sauce – Grinding Effort
Our Coach, Bill Weick, told us the Russians were basically professional athletes who had been wrestling since they were walking. They were paid to wrestle and were treated like royalty. They knew moves and techniques that we hadn’t even dreamt of.
Coach Weick knew we wouldn’t be able to match their skill, but he was determined that we would be better conditioned than our opponents. They might have been more skilled, but we were determined to not be outworked.
He had us running 10 miles in the morning. Then wrestling practice in the afternoon. International competition was nine-minute matches. The goal was for us to be able to wrestle full speed for the entire match.
We wore out the Russians.
At the end of the World tournament the final team score was USA 51, Russia 50. We won by one team point. Remember that sign that said the difference between good and great was that little extra effort? Coach Weick knew the competition and had us put in that little extra effort.
Coaching tip: Put in that small extra effort. Over-deliver to your clients. Go that extra mile. Be the best you can possibly be for your clients.
The Harder I Work, The Luckier I Get
It’s funny how life sometimes feels like it comes full circle.
I am a volunteer wrestling coach at Watertown High School in Watertown, MA. This past weekend at the sectional tournament, four individual wrestlers qualified for the state tournement, plus two alternates.
We’re looking forward to the state tournament this coming weekend!
Wish us luck!
But the third sign in my bedroom was, “Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity”
And our wrestlers are feeling very “lucky.”
Coaching tip: Make your own luck. Prepare, Prepare, Prepare. Then when the opportunity comes up, you will become the “luckiest” person.
What do you think? What lessons have you taken from your past (initial) failures? I’d love to hear them! Share them in the comments and see if we can find more coaching tips together!
A Personal Invitation to Transform Your Goals
You don’t have to embark on this journey alone. Whether you’re defining your goals for the first time or refining your process, I’m here to help. Together, we can create a customized plan that sets you on the path to success.
I am beyond thrilled that the work I’ve done with my coaching clients led to me being named Management Consulting & Coaching CEO of the Year for 2024 (USA). Let’s get started making this year your best yet, book a free coaching session today at The Business Coach - Michael Kaye - Coaching - Marketing - Sales.
Or, email me directly at Michael@TheBusinessCoach.com to share your goals and discuss how I can support you.
Let’s make this year your most productive and fulfilling yet!
In my view, you made a few very good decisions that led to your success.
1) Not giving up after having such difficulties in the beginning
2) Instead of just "practice" you went to the best teachers you could find and learned from them.
Number 2 led to everything else. Few people would have had the guts to try learning from the best. And I bet that one habit is responsible for much of your success.
Hey Michael, I love what you said about delivering the most for your clients and going that extra mile. That extra mile can be the difference between just a mile and 1,000 miles. Just being an awesome person goes a long way in life. Thank you so much for sharing this.💪💪