I recently interviewed Olympic gold medalist Sanya Richards-Ross on my podcast, Thirty Minute Mentors. Here is a transcript of our interview:
Adam: Our guest today is the fastest American woman in history at 400 meters. Sanya Richard Ross is a four-time Olympic gold medalist and is one of the most decorated female Track and Field Olympians of all time. Sanya, thank you for joining us.
Sanya: Of course. Adam, thank you so much for having me. I’m excited for our conversation.
Adam: I’m excited too. You grew up in Kingston, Jamaica, before moving to Fort Lauderdale and going to college at the University of Texas, where you were a five-time NCAA champion, eleven-time All-American. Can you take listeners back to your early days? What early experiences and lessons shaped your worldview and shaped the trajectory of your success?
Sanya: That’s a great question. So I always say I kind of feel like I got the best of both worlds, because being born in Jamaica, track and field was the most popular sport, arguably, still is the most popular sport on the island. And so I remember at a very young age, knowing I wanted to be an Olympian, knowing I wanted to be a track and field athlete, and I was very fortunate that my parents, I come from a two-parent household, my parents are just absolutely wonderful, and they just completely followed my lead as far as my love and passion for sports. My dad was a great soccer player in his time. My mom ran track, and so I just feel like all the stars were kind of aligned for me to pursue this dream that I told my teacher when I was nine years old, I’d be an Olympic champion, to be able to actually do that.
I remember living in Jamaica, and during the Olympics, the entire country would shut down. Literally, no one went to work, no one did anything else but rooted on the Jamaican athletes that were competing. And so I feel like it was ingrained in me at a really young age that it was possible. Obviously, there was a lot of hard work. Thank God, great talent that I got from my parents that went into all of that. But I certainly believe that being born on that island and seeing the love for sportsmen and seeing the love for track and field certainly shaped my dreams and desire to be one myself and then migrating to the United States and continuing to have the success in track and field and the opportunities to work with some great coaches allowed me to live that dream.
Adam: I love that, and I love that at such an early age, you had the conviction that you were going to do this, you had the belief, and it’s really hard to be successful if you don’t believe that you can do it, and having the support system, both within your own family and then more broadly, your entire country, cultivating this belief that I can do this, I can become an Olympian, I can become an Olympic champion, then you have to put the work in, but it really starts with believing you can do it.
Sanya: There’s no doubt in my mind, Adam, that if you don’t see yourself achieving greatness, there’s no way it’s ever going to happen for you. That is the first step that you have to take. And so I didn’t realize that when I was nine that I had set this huge goal for my life, but ultimately I had, and you talk about all the other elements of great family support and the broader support of the country and my coaches and all of those things really having to align. But I think that that burning desire I had at such an early age fueled my success, because I wasn’t going to be denied. I just knew in my core, I felt like I was born to run. I felt like God gave me this beautiful gift, and if I did my part, He would do His. And so, yeah, it started with this incredible belief in myself, and then thank God I had the people around me to just continue to nurture that, and I was able to fulfill it.
Adam: You spoke about belief, you spoke about desire, and then ultimately converting that belief and converting that desire into greatness, into peak performance. What did you do? What were those steps that you took that allowed you to become one of the greatest in your sport, in history?
Sanya: So the first step we’ve already talked about, which is a belief, this vision of what I could achieve in my mind, and then it was followed up by a lot of hard work. I remember the critical turning point for me after obviously, nine years old. I’m young. I’m just having fun. Of course, I’m saying these things. When the teacher asked what we want to be and, you know, fireman, doctor, all this stuff, I say I want to be an Olympian. It wasn’t until I had gotten to my senior year in high school when I was doing real well. Up until that point, dominating, it was still coming naturally for me, but my junior season, right before my senior year, I pulled my hamstring, and it was my first time experiencing, wasn’t a season-ending injury, but it was pretty bad, and I wasn’t recovering well. And so it was the first time I went for the summer after my high school season had ended, and I didn’t run well in the summer circuit because I was coming off this injury.
And so I’ll never forget, my dad and I were riding in the car on our way to one of our practices, one of our final practices of my junior year, and he says, “Sam, do you want to be great?” And I was like, “Of course, I want to be great.” But I realized in that moment that being great was going to take intentionality. It wasn’t going to just happen because I was extremely talented. I needed to really put in the work in order to achieve that next level of greatness. And so my senior year, I started doing 1000 sit-ups every single day, and I was doing these longer runs prior to the season started, which I had never done before, to kind of build up a level of endurance that my body could go to the next level. During the season of training, I started watching film of the greats that ran before me. I started resting well and eating well. And it was those components that really, like my senior season, I had one of the best high school careers ever. I broke the 400-meter high school record that still stands today. I broke the 200 and 400-meter records. Those have been eclipsed, but they stood for a long time, and I realized, oh my goodness, hard work, focus, and dedication equals greatness, equals success, and so I just kept doubling down on that. I continued doing the abs. I continued resting and eating and doing all the things off the track as well. And those were the things that really paid off in me achieving all the records and medals that I did in my sport.
Adam: I love that you shared that hard work, focus, and dedication are the key ingredients to achieving meaningful success. But what you also shared is the little things that you did that weren’t really that little because they required a lot of work, but they added up to this unbelievable achievement, doing 1000 sit ups every day, doing the stadium stairs, taking care of your physical health and your mental health, resting well, eating well, you mentioned studying the greats, recognizing that in order to attain greatness, you don’t need to reinvent the wheel. You need to understand what have other people before me done that have allowed them to attain greatness. What can I learn from them, and how can I apply it in my own way that will allow me to get to where I want to be?
Sanya: I really think that that mostly encapsulates it. I think the one part, though, that I feel like are the things that you can control is dealing with disappointments. You said it perfectly. All these things I mentioned are the ingredients to success, but a big part of success is also learning from failures, being able to fail forward. And that was always a part of the recipe that a lot of people are afraid to mix into this formula, is you’re going to fail, you’re going to miss the mark, you’re going to lose a big race, and it’s all about how you rebound from that. And so that was the other part of what I had to do, was to really be resilient and endure. In 2008, I was favored to win gold. I had won every race that season. I had gone three seasons as the world number one at 400 and was heavily, heavily favored to win the gold medal. And on that night, I won the bronze. Took me a long time to say I won, Adam. I felt like I lost the gold, but now I can say I won a bronze medal. But it was crushing. It was absolutely crushing, because the moment you cross the finish line at the Olympics, you know you have to wait four more years to have the opportunity, if you get an opportunity, to do it again. And so that’s a part of the story that a lot of people don’t realize, is that road to gold is not paved in like yeses, yeses and wins and wins. There are a lot of no’s and some failures too. And you got to be strong enough to believe that if it didn’t happen on this day, it can still happen if you work hard and believe and do all of those things. So in 2012, I like to say I ran into my fairy tale ending when I finally won my individual gold medal. I had won three Olympic relay medals, but I truly wanted that individual medal, and so I would say that’s also the missing component, is you have to endure failures, and you have to be willing to fail forward.
Adam: How can anyone get to that place? How can anyone be able to encounter failure and handle it the way that you’ve been describing?
Sanya: I think it is about being intentional, understanding that every single great, and I don’t care what the arena is, what the field is, experience failures. If you set your mind around the fact that this is going to happen and it is meant to teach me something, then it doesn’t come as a shock or surprise, and it won’t be something that deters you from your ultimate goal. So the first thing is understanding that it is going to happen and it’s also okay to be disappointed. I remember like I didn’t sleep that night. I thought the world was going to end, like I was devastated. I cried for weeks, and that’s okay to have the human emotion, but what it needs to do is it needs to inspire you to continue to work hard. And if you go into it knowing, okay, my goal is to achieve something great, I’m going to have to learn along the way. They’re going to be challenges. If you go in with that mindset knowing that that’s going to happen, then you’re better prepared and equipped to deal with it. And I also think having really good people around you, accountability partners who see that greatness in you and when you fall short of it, can remind you that it’s still in there. I credit my coaches and my mom and dad so much for 2008 when I was so disappointed. I remember I had two days off, and the relay was going to start on the third day, and I told my coach, “I want to go home. I don’t want to run anymore, like I just need to go home and recover from this.”
And he told me that that would be the biggest mistake of my career. He said I needed to go out there, and I needed to leave Beijing with a positive memory. And to be honest, for those who are listening, who may never have seen me compete or never seen any of my races, that’s the race I would love for people to go back and watch, because in 2008 I actually got the stick behind the Russian team. In all of my relays, I kind of get the stick in front. It’s kind of more like a victory lap. And I was behind the woman from Russia, and I was able to dig deep and find something within me to surpass her in the final 50 meters and bring home gold for Team USA. And it’s one of my favorite memories, and I almost didn’t experience it because I would have let failure or disappointment not give me that opportunity. And so you have to have good people around you too. So when you falter, they kind of lift you up and hold you accountable and allow you to continue to pursue that dream that they believe that you can achieve as well.
Adam: What a great formula that you just shared. It starts with recognizing that failure is inevitable. If you are too afraid to try, you’re never going to achieve anything, and that’s the only scenario where you’re never going to fail. If you reach for anything of any substance, of any consequence, you’re going to fail along the way. So recognizing that failure is a part of the journey, a part of the process, and accepting failure when it comes, not living in a world where facts aren’t facts, where what is happening to you isn’t happening to you, accepting that this is difficult, this is challenging. I need to take a little bit of time to process this, to deal with the emotions that come with failure. It’s not easy, but giving yourself the grace to do that is an important part of the process. Using failure as a learning experience, using failure as a teachable moment. Is this something that I’m going to just try to eliminate from my memory and pretend like it never happened? Or is this something that I’m going to dissect and learn from and allow me to utilize to propel me to get even better, not looking at failure as a terminal moment? You spoke about the brutal injury you had in high school, and that could have been it. Really rough injury. All right, I’m done. I had a great high school career. Time for me to do something else with my life. But recognizing that failure isn’t the end of the road. It’s something that we come back from. And the last thing you shared, surrounding yourself with people who can help you get through it. You used the word accountability partners, and that is such a critical element, having the right support system to help you get to where you want to be. You also mentioned something really interesting, which is, as you were describing that race going against the Russians, you mentioned that you were able to dig deep and push yourself through, propel yourself to getting to the finish line before anyone else. Can you talk about your process as you’re in that moment? What are you actually doing to propel yourself to getting to where you want to be? How are you actually enabling yourself to perform at the highest level possible?
Sanya: Yeah, I would say that when you’re in those moments, especially when it’s in sports and it’s physical, like you’re calling your body to do something great, obviously your body’s prepared to do it. What does it take when you’re in that moment? It’s all about the mental. It’s the mindset. I always say that, especially when you get to the most elite level when you’re competing at the Olympics, where everybody is great, everyone on the field is the best from their country, the best in their city, the best in their state, these are the best of the best. It’s about the person who is mentally the toughest, who can pull out their best in that moment. And so I learned a lot about mental toughness on my journey and being present in the moment, to feel like when I’m in that moment, it’s not the first time that I’ve been there, because I’ve seen myself so many times. So it doesn’t feel big and scary, but it feels like my norm, like this is where I need to be. And then I remember vividly in that race in the final 50 meters, and the same thing in London, I kept telling myself, “I refuse to lose. I refuse to lose.” And it allowed me to find another gear, even though, in the 400, your body is literally in the highest level of fatigue. Your body is telling you to stop, stop, stop. What are we doing? You’re physically kind of breaking down in the final 50 meters. And so it’s all about what is going on between your ears. And so for me, I just kept saying to myself, “I refuse to lose. I refuse to lose.” And that allowed me to run my best in the final 50 meters. So I would say it’s partially your preparation prior, your mental preparation prior, and then in the moment, staying present and whatever mantra that is that you may say to yourself that really helps you to find that additional gear and to find that strength, to be able to pull through. Those are the ways that you do it in the moment.
Adam: And what you’re sharing, even though it’s your experience on the track, is universally applicable in that a huge component of winning is having a winning mindset.
Sanya: Yeah, there’s no doubt about it. There’s no doubt about it. So I’ll never forget my coach, who passed away in 2025, a phenomenal man, coached at Baylor for over 40 years, Baylor University. The mantra, or the way we set up our race, was the four P’s. It was push, pace, position, poise. We always had a fifth P, which was pray, because in the last 50 meters, hold on. But like you talked about, it’s applicable not just to the 400 but to life. And this is how I liken the strategy to life. So the push phase of the 400 was this idea of getting out as fast as you could, forgetting you were running 400 meters, because in the first 50 meters, no matter how fast you run, it’s not going to impact your body in the last part of the race. So the push phase is all about getting out as hard as you can. And I feel like that’s similar to how we look at when we’re starting a new project. You’re doing all the research. You’re all excited about it. You’re pushing out the blocks with this enthusiasm. You’re up doing the research, doing all the things. That’s the push phase.
And then in the 400, when you go down the back stretch, you’ve got to pace yourself, because if you keep that push phase going, you’re not going to make it in the final part of the race. So you got to pace yourself and find a nice rhythm that you can get into that will allow you to really execute the final 200. And the same thing in life, I feel like when you start on this new project, you got to find a rhythm in what you’re doing so that you don’t burn out, so that you don’t get exhausted and feel overwhelmed. And eventually, the same thing, you don’t get to your end goal. So you got to find that pace in the second part of the race.
And then the third part of the race is all about positioning. So when you think about the 400 in particular, this is the first time my coach would say, you start to look around and you see where your competition is, and you want to position yourself to win. And so if that means you got to speed up a little bit to get in front of your competition, or you feel like you’re in good position, you can kind of hold where you are. It’s all about being in position to strike and to win. Same thing in life. In the third phase of developing an idea, you got to position yourself for success, whether that means you may have to move to LA to get the movie role, or you need to go to university or whatever. You got to be in the right place to be able to be successful.
And then the final 100, which is the phase we’re talking about now, is all about remaining poised. And in the 400, that’s super important because if you start to panic or you start to flail, you’re going to be slowing down at a much higher rate than everyone else. And so if you can just stay poised, keep your form, you’re more likely to cross the finish line first than if you don’t. Same thing in life. You’ve done all the research. You’ve done everything you can. Now it’s time to give the presentation. Now it’s time to show up on the court or on the field, and that’s when you need to just be poised and composed because you’ve done all the work to be prepared for that moment.
And so that strategy is how I look at my life now, in those phases of pushing out really hard with the enthusiasm, finding a good rhythm that allows me to feel like I can be successful. Where do I need to be? What position do I need to be in to win? And then just really staying poised in the final phases to be able to cross that finish line first.
Adam: What great advice. What a great framework to approach not only competing in sports, but living life. And that second P, you were talking about pace, and you’ve lived that. You not only won four Olympic gold medals, but you won four Olympic gold medals over the course of three different Olympics. That’s an extremely difficult thing to do. What were the keys to achieving sustained greatness? How did you stay motivated over such a long period of time? How did you motivate yourself on those days you didn’t feel motivated?
Sanya: That’s a great question, Adam. Very few people ever ask that because real legacy and greatness is sustained. It’s not the one-hit wonder, the one fast race. It’s about how do you maintain a level of excellence in performance, but also staying driven and mentally being able to lock in. And for me, every season was different. Obviously, when you’re on the climb to be great, you have a picture of someone on the wall that you’re aiming to be. Then you have these time goals. And then, of course, it shifts once you become the target and people are aiming for you every single year. You kind of have to change your mindset as to like, okay, they’re coming for me, but here’s where I want to move the bar so that they can’t reach that bar.
And so for me, every year was different. Some years I was chasing records and time. Some years I’m chasing medals. Some years you’re kind of tricking yourself that you’re still the underdog and you’re aiming at other people that you want to be. But I credit my team for helping to keep me motivated and inspired. Every year, at the start of the season, I would sit with my coaches, sit with my team, and we would set goals for the year, and then I would create a vision board. I would create a vision board every single year with my time goals. I would show myself crossing the finish line first in the stadium that was hosting the World Championships or the Olympics. And I think a vision board is so valuable because after you make this vision board and it’s this tangible thing, you carry it in your mind and in your heart all season long. Like this training session is hard, like it sucks, but I know why I’m doing it because I want to see myself crossing that finish line first in London or Paris or Rome or wherever that big meet is. And so those were the things that really helped to keep me going, and then my own desires of wanting to be one of the best to ever do it motivated me every season to keep going and to strive for that elusive medal that I wanted in 2012 or the records. All of those things really kept me inspired throughout my career.
Adam: And what I’m really hearing from you is that you need to have a why and a burning why, and that why can change a little bit over time. It could change a lot over time, but continually reminding yourself of the why. Why am I doing this? Because there are going to be very difficult days. There are going to be days where you really just don’t feel like showing up no matter what it is that you’re doing. We’re talking about you competing and training for an incredibly grueling sport. You’re putting your body through the rigor. But anyone who wants to achieve any level of greatness has to put themselves through a level of rigor that requires this mindset, this focus, this dedication, and an inevitable part of the process is that there are going to be days where you’re just not motivated, but on those days reminding yourself, what is the end game? What am I doing this for? Why am I here?
Sanya: Yeah, absolutely. I love that you actually mentioned that, because I do think the why is so important. And as I was listening to you talk about it too, I remember, for me, the job wasn’t done. I wanted to be an individual Olympic gold medalist, and when I didn’t achieve it in 2008, I still felt like I was on this mission to be an Olympic individual gold medalist. And so that was also the constant motivation, was to be able to live that nine-year-old dream I had to be an individual gold medalist. So the why for me was to be an individual gold medalist. And also what I love about sports, and why I’m so grateful my kids are playing and I want them to all play sports, is because it challenges you to see how good can I be? What are the limits? And especially an individual sport like track and field, it’s like you get an opportunity every day to push yourself, to push beyond the pains that your body feels or the mental, you know, like, “Oh, why are we doing this?” The mental, I like to call it monkey chatter, where it’s just thoughts of doubt and all those things. It’s the ultimate challenge of self. I really always loved, like, how much faster can I go? Like, how much lower can I make these records? And that always motivated me too.
Adam: How do you push yourself past those moments of self-doubt?
Sanya: You kind of mentioned it too, but I worked with a sports psychologist late in my career, and one of the tools that he gave me that was a light bulb going off, a game-changer for me, was whenever your body is telling you something, right, for me, for example, I use myself as an example. In 2008, I did not win gold. I did win a bronze. And so a lot of times you’ll have these negative thoughts. So like when I’m in London and I didn’t win the gold, if you fight this truth that your body is telling you, you’re in this mental warfare that doesn’t allow you to come on the other side. So you go down this negative thing. Well, no, I didn’t lose. How much? No. What you do is, when you have negative thoughts, your mind thinks them, and then you exchange it for a positive. So what I would do is, okay, I didn’t win, but I didn’t, but I’m better prepared this year, and I’ve learned so much from that experience. And what happens is, over time, you train your mind to almost not even tell you negative things, because you’re constantly replacing with a positive that your mind makes this shift. And it truly worked for me, where the negative thoughts that come, because a lot of times the reason they impact us is because they’re true. We have experienced something that does feel negative, and it makes this experience harder for us, but if you’re able to say, yes, I did lose in Beijing, but I learned so much, and I’ve been training harder. I’m better prepared, then the mind kind of shifts to that positive, and now you end up in this positive space of feeling confident and feeling ready, and it made a big difference for me, especially going into 2012.
Adam: You mentioned your injury in high school that you were able to overcome. You had a career-ending injury after becoming one of the all-time greats, and at a certain point when you’re a star athlete, your journey comes to an end on the playing field, in your case, on the track, and you have to reinvent yourself. Life isn’t over. You’re still very young, and you have to figure out what’s next in life. And in your case, you were able to pivot very quickly into great success. You became a broadcaster, an Emmy-winning broadcaster. You became a television star. How were you able to reinvent yourself so successfully? What are the keys for anyone on how to successfully reinvent themselves along the way?
Sanya: Yeah, another great question. So with that, Adam, I was equally as intentional as I was about my sports career. So I remember in 2016, I had gone through my third surgery on my foot. I had a really bad toe injury, like you mentioned and alluded to. That was what ended my career. Ultimately, it was a really bad injury to my right big toe. And after my third surgery, I thought, you know what? At some point, quality of life has to be more important than chasing dreams. And so I knew 2016 was gonna be my last year whether I made the Olympic team or not. And so I went into that season, and I remember I said a prayer every day. I said, “God, thank you so much for this incredible gift of speed that has allowed me to live my dreams, see the world. And I ask that you leave all of the good things with me, all of the lessons, all the memories, but after this year, I’m going to give it back to you, and I want your help in seeing myself then more than an athlete.”
And so I just started to think about all the things that all the skills I had could apply to. And in the same way I did with track and field, I started watching, you know, broadcasters and envisioning myself as one. I knew I wanted to become a mom. I knew I wanted to write a book. And so after my run at the 2026 Olympic trials, which was my last race, I didn’t complete the race because I had pulled my hamstring, and it was just a lot of things going on because of my foot injury. And Lewis Johnson, now my colleague, he comes over to me, Adam, and he says, “You’ve done incredible things on the track. What will you do next?” And because I was thoughtful about it, and I was prepared for the moment when he put the mic in front of me, I said, “I wanted to start commentating. I want to start a family, and I’d love to write a book.” And NBC literally calls me the very next day. And they were like, “Are you serious? Would you consider commentating?” And I was like, “I really would.” And so I didn’t go to Rio as an athlete that year, but I went as a commentator, and largely in part because I had the confidence to say it out loud, and I was prepared.
And so I would tell people, especially if you’re transitioning from your first career, your first passion, your first love, those things all happened to you for a reason, and they can be such a great opportunity for you to take all of those lessons and use that as a springboard to move into the next chapter of your life. And that’s exactly what I did. I took everything I learned, all of my experiences, brought that to NBC, and everything else I’ve been doing just feels like it’s been building on this incredible track career that I’ve had, and I’m so grateful for that.
Adam: A chapter of your life that we haven’t really talked about was your time on Real Housewives. What did you learn from that experience? What are your biggest takeaways from that time in your life?
Sanya: For me, doing reality TV, because I did a show prior to Real Housewives with just my family called Glam and Gold on WE tv that I really enjoyed sharing my family and people getting to see us in a different light than just being an athlete, The Real Housewives of Atlanta was a little bit different, an ensemble cast, and being a part of a show that already had so much history was a little bit tough for me to come in as the newbie and to show up fully, authentically myself, so that was a challenge. But I do appreciate the opportunity to have been in front of a new audience, and I feel like a lot of the people who connected with me have stayed with me on my journey and support me and follow me all the great things that I do now, but I saw it as another great opportunity to challenge myself, to show up in a new space, and for people to see all of me, my family, my businesses, all of that stuff.
So it was a great opportunity. I think two years was enough, and I’m hosting a new show now that I’m really excited about and still doing things in television because I do love television, and I do want to continue to do more broadcasting opportunities and hosting and those kinds of things, but I do think that reality TV was fun and presented a new challenge for me, and I definitely grew a lot from that as just a woman and finding my voice and showing up authentically. I learned so much from that platform in that sense. But I’m happy that chapter is behind me.
Adam: Given your history working in television in a number of different roles, so much of your success in television, so much of anyone’s success in television, centers around their ability to communicate effectively. What are the keys to successful communication? What can anyone do to become a better communicator?
Sanya: Communication first starts with having a clear POV. When you truly understand your point of view on different topics and life and those types of things, it allows you to really be able to stand strong on your opinions and on your takes. And then I think it’s about communicating authentically. And I see a lot of times people go on platforms and they try to speak in a way that they think people will better receive it, or try to use bigger words, all of these things. But communication is about being simple. It’s about being clear. It’s about being concise. And so when you know your POV and you communicate in a way that feels authentic to you in a very clear, simple, concise way, it is the most effective way. That’s how I have found success.
I remember when I first went on to NBC as a broadcaster, I was like, I wasn’t sure how I wanted to show up. And the moment, I’ll never forget, I was at the Olympics. I did the trials, did the Olympics, and probably about day eight, I remember I had this feeling that I wanted to say something, and I was like, I don’t know if that’s gonna come across, if that’s like TV, you know how people say. And I remember saying it, and my producer was like, “I love that.” And I was like, yes, that’s what I want to sound like. I want to sound like myself. I want to sound authentic. I want to be clear. And so the moment I was able to really lean into my own voice and who I am and how I communicate is when people really started to connect with me, especially as a broadcaster, and I continue to lean into that, just being authentically myself and sharing my clear, concise POV. That’s how you communicate well.
Adam: Be authentic. Be yourself. Be you. That’s not only essential to succeeding as a broadcaster, as a communicator, but as a leader. What do you believe are the keys to successful leadership? What can anyone do to become a better leader?
Sanya: I think being a great leader is setting your team up to be successful. The best leaders don’t try to play every role. They’re the ones who put people in their best position and empower them to be great. Those are the kinds of leaders that I love. That’s the kind of leader I try to be. I feel like as a track and field athlete in particular, we are kind of thrown into this leadership role very early on because we pick our coaches, where it’s not like the NFL or NBA, where you go into a system, there’s already a coach, everything is already there. There’s trainers, all that thing. No, when you’re a track and field athlete, you have to create your own team. And so you got to pick a coach, pick a strength coach, find your physio, find all of those people. And so at a very early age, I mean, I’m 18 years old as a professional track and field athlete, curating my own team, building my own brand, doing all of these things. And so I feel like I was put in this role very early, and what I realized was that our team was at its best was when everyone was empowered to play their role, and it allowed for us to be most effective as a team. The best leaders empower their team to be great, encourage them. They’re not people who are like hands-on and on top of everything and trying to make everything go their way. They set a vision for the team, and they allow the players to show up in their best ways. That’s when the team operates better. So that’s kind of one of my key ingredients for being a great leader.
Adam: Sanya, what can anyone listening to this conversation do to become more successful, personally and professionally?
Sanya: To become more successful personally and professionally is setting clear goals for your life and being relentless in achieving them. We’ve talked a lot about the fact that obviously they’re going to be failures and disappointments along the way. So giving yourself grace, but not giving up. All of us have a calling on our lives. God has placed something inside of every single one of us that we are uniquely equipped to do, and we all know it. Some of us run from it because it might seem too big, or we might seem like we’re not equipped, but we all know what it is. And so when you set that clear goal, you get the right people around you, and you are relentless in your efforts to get there, you will achieve it. And we see it all the time. Guys at an event last night, and they say like it takes 10 years to be an overnight success. You can’t get fooled by the fact that most people who are successful have been at it for many, many years. So you too will need time to develop and to be successful in your personal life and professional life. And so if you set the goal, work hard, give yourself grace along the journey and keep going, I truly believe every one of us can be successful in what we’re called to do. Success takes time and you can’t run away, and we’re hearing that from one of the fastest people to ever live on this planet. So if we’re hearing it from you, it has to be true. Thank you.
Adam: Sanya, thank you for all the great advice, and thank you for being a part of Thirty Minute Mentors.
Sanya: Thank you so much. Thanks for having me. This was awesome.
