Yes, it's cliched, but you can do it! (Also Katie Ledecky is awesome)

Every 4 years, people around the world obsess over the incredible levels of skill and physical ability at the Summer Olympic Games. I often get the feeling that people think that the athletes are untouchable, and they tend to depreciate themselves and say things like “I wish I was that good” or “I could never do that”. What separates us from the Olympians? Now talent does have something to do with their success. But the real reason why they are in Rio is because of their hard work. One person who exemplifies the diligence necessary to become the best is the unstoppable Katie Ledecky.

For those of you who do not know her, Katie Ledecky is a U.S. freestyle swimmer who has never lost a major international race. She was pegged as a long distance swimmer last Olympics in London when she won the 800 freestyle as a 15 year-old. Then, she surprised us by winning the 200 and 400 freestyle in Rio.

^the top times for the 800 LCM free Belong to Katie.

And what does she say when a reporter asked her what her secret was? There is none. You just have to work hard. That’s it. If you want to be the best, you have to be single-minded in your approach to life. For Katie, she had her goals, and she did whatever she had to do to achieve them. When she was younger, after she broke her arm, she put a bag over her cast and kept swimming. She NEVER quit. We all know the sayings “Winners never quit and quitters never win” and “You can do one thing great, or many things poor”. But we often don’t have the will to actually listen to them. Katie Ledecky listened, and now she is an unstoppable force in the swimming world. She wasn’t born with a perfect stroke, but after all of her years of laser-focused work, her stroke is a close to perfect as the world has seen.

So what can we learn from her? She has no great secrets. She gives her all for the sport she loves. Instead of letting laziness distract her, she took the sport to new levels. She gives a realistic hope to aspiring athletes, as long as they work hard and have their mind pointed in one direction. It is not a question of who is born with a certain body type, as Ledecky herself has relatively small hands and feet herself. It is about how much you are willing to sacrifice for the gold.

So YOU could have done that, and YOU can still do that. To make your dream a reality, focus on one goal at a time, and work until you win.