I started my professional life with a lot of interests, which resulted in an eclectic career working with journalists, politicians and CEOs. But one of the most interesting interludes I’ve had was when I fell into a job managing an Olympic legend and four-time gold medalist.

Greg Louganis was coming to the UK (where I live) for the 2012 London Games and after I’d spontaneously sent him a fan letter, his business partner wrote me back to ask if I could help with some arrangements. I couldn’t have been more excited! Long story short, I partnered with another Olympian, Chris Snode, and we ended up working with Greg for several years.

During that time, I was lucky enough to get to know a number of athletes who have reached the pinnacle of their sports and joined the illustrious club of men and women known as Olympians. Some were full of hubris, some humble. Some were guys and girls next door and some could stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Zeus upon the great Greek mountain.

From them, I learned a great deal about high achievement, much of which translates to any field of endeavor, including - and, perhaps, especially - the creative arts.

Here are three of the lessons I learned:

Me with 4-time Olympic Gold Medalist Diver Greg Louganis

1. It’s about effort, not talent - keep doing the work.

One of the most extraordinary people I have the pleasure to know is Olympic skier Roger Cruickshank. In fact, I’m so inspired by him that I’ve written a feature about his life, called METTLE.

Roger is the first to admit that he was never the most talented kid. In a now deleted scene (RIP darling scene), nine-year-old Roger doesn’t make his local ski team. He sits on the snowy ground and cries to his father that the other kids are better. His father corrects him - today, they are faster, perhaps more experienced, but they aren’t better.

So Roger didn’t give up. He kept showing up, kept learning, kept working.

His first great success was representing Great Britain as a young teen at a youth Olympics. While there, he overheard some of his teammates' fathers making fun of him. Why was he chosen? He was too thin and didn’t have what it takes. But being told he’s not good enough spurred Roger on - he put his head down and did the work. He didn’t win the race that day, but was the best on his team.

Eventually, he earned a spot on the British national team. Training was superhuman work - dragging tires up mountains, sprinting and sprinting until he sprinted from the gym to the locker room to be sick. Roger gave 110% to every drill, in every practice - not just on competition days.

This is what it takes to achieve a dream. It’s learning from failure and carrying on, no matter how battered and bruised your ego - even your soul might be. It’s putting in the effort day after day, when you don’t feel like it, when you’ve got other things to do, when the dream feels a million miles away. It’s hearing “no, you’re not good enough” and believing in yourself anyway. Finding ways to make yourself better.

It’s doing the work. Seeking out as much feedback as you can find, even when it hurts to hear it. It’s using down time to learn - listening to webinars, taking courses, reading books, practicing, practicing, practicing. It’s showing up for the next audition or the next pitch after all the no’s, because the next person might say yes.

You may be the most talented at what you do, but talent only ever paves the way. As Calvin Coolidge said, “... nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent.” Success comes from putting in the time and effort to make yourself the best you can be.

Olympic skier Roger Cruickshank

2. Pain is temporary, quitting lasts forever.

Roger’s qualification for the 2006 Turin Games surprised everyone (except his father). More shocking though was the crash he suffered two months later that shattered his leg. Just like that, he lost his place on the Olympic team - his dream - and had only eleven months to recover and earn it back. However, the surgeon said he’d never walk without a limp, let alone ski again. Quitting made sense to the experts… but not to Roger.

As soon as he could, Roger began painful physiotherapy and challenging sports psychology. He trained with the Olympic weightlifting team. He got back on the mountain and it hurt… bad. When he was well enough to try skiing again, the British team’s head coach literally turned his back on Roger while he skied, complaining he was wasting everyone’s time. That also hurt… a lot.

Roger had moments when he feared he wasn't good enough. When the pain - physical and emotional - was too much to take. By the time he was back racing again, he had only one opportunity left to qualify, two weeks before the Games. Every top skier in the world was going to be at that competition. He had to make the top 20, yet his previous best finish at that caliber race was 30th.

This was his moment. He stood at the top of the mountain, worked through his routine, took a deep breath and smiled. He said something that rhymes with “bucket” then “let’s have some fun.”

It was a messy run. He had nearly the same problem sliding on his hip that happened when he broke his leg… but this time, he was able to push himself back to standing. He went for the ride. And at the bottom of the hill? He saw 19th place next to his name. He’d qualified!

Or so he thought.

The British Olympic Committee wouldn’t give him back his place unless he did it again - another top 20 finish to prove it wasn’t a fluke. With an expletive or two, Roger went back up the mountain.

This time, at the bottom of the mountain it’s 17th position! He re-qualified by seven hundredths of a second. His lifelong dream of becoming an Olympian came true. (As an aside, all this happens in just the first act of the screenplay... Roger has had an exhilarating life!)

Olympic skier Roger Cruickshank

There were many moments along the way that Roger could have given up. No one would have blamed him - in fact, everyone expected he would. But quitting? That’s forever.

It’s the strength to keep going when “all is lost” that makes a hero. And we are all meant to be the hero of our own story.

In a better known tale, Greg Louganis was sailing through the qualification rounds of the springboard diving event at the 1988 Seoul Games. Then, in the penultimate round, practically-perfect-in-every-way Greg smacked his head on the board. Adding to the shock of the pain was Greg’s fear. He bled in the pool and on the medic who treated him. He was secretly HIV positive at a time when the Korean authorities could have arrested him if they’d known.

Withdrawing from the competition was a natural decision. But despite the split in his head, the fear in his heart and the fact that tens of millions of people had witnessed him live his worst nightmare, he readied himself to do his last dive - a dive similar to the one he’s just crashed on. Calling on all his experience and all his faith in himself, he nailed it with near perfect scores. He went on to win the gold on both springboard and 10m platform, solidifying his place as an Olympic legend.

It hurts to get negative feedback or an outright no… maybe not physically - like breaking your leg, or cracking your head - but it can hurt your heart. No matter how much you try to have a growth mindset and learn from every experience, it’s hard when the answer isn’t the one you want.

Greg and Roger - heck, any Olympian… actually most people - have had times when they didn’t win the competition, the business, the job. When they didn’t feel good enough. When they wanted to give up - or thought they had to. But what separates those who achieve their dreams is that they press on regardless (POR) and find a way to keep going.

Anyone who has been hurt, but still reaches the summit will tell you the view from above is worth it. As long as you’re in the game, there’s a chance you could win. The only way to guarantee you won’t succeed is to quit.

Me and Gold Medal Olympic Diver Mark Lenzi

3. Focus on your own journey

It’s so easy to fall into the trap of comparing your road to someone else’s. Don’t do it. It can rob from you the glory of your own success.

Inspired by Greg Louganis, Mark Lenzi took up diving at 16 (quite late for the sport). Five years later, he’d won a World Cup and eight years later, he was the Olympic champion. Fairytale story, right?

Except, Mark had also seen what happened to Greg after the Olympics. He’d seen the sponsorship deals and the press and the fanfare surrounding him. And Mark thought that’s what he’d have too.

But there were no endorsements and after the initial warm welcome home, no media attention. The gold medal didn’t change his life. Instead, Mark became the poster child for what is now commonly known as “post-Olympic depression.” This is such a serious issue that many Olympic Committees have dedicated staff to help athletes to cope with the transition to life after sport.

The 2012 diving gold medalist David Boudia just missed the 2022 Games - it would have been his fourth Olympics. He came in third - the top two make the team. He has a job coaching diving now. One of the young people he coaches? Tyler Downs, the 17-year-old who beat him to take one of the Olympic places. When asked how he felt, David said, "I don't think I've ever walked away from a defeat like this so happy ever in my career."

David could have felt resentful toward Tyler, but he understood that Tyler didn’t stop him from making the team. If David had been better on the day, he would have gone to Tokyo. He was only ever in competition with himself.

David is another Olympic gold medalist who hasn’t become a household name and who maybe didn’t find his post-Olympic path to be lined with gold. But he dove because he loved diving. He coaches because he loves diving. David is driven by love of what he does, not by his ego.

Me with Olympic Gold Medal Diver David Boudia

We are each on our own path. Every successful creative has a unique journey and we have to find our own.

Success takes the time it takes. And most often, it is not a zero-sum game - someone else’s victory isn’t our loss. The more we help each other, the higher we all climb. There’s room for us all to win because the world will never get tired of being told great stories.

Poor Mark was caught up in the trappings of victory - wanting fame and fortune as much as excellence. By contrast, David focused on his diving. Sure he was open to opportunities (did anyone catch him as a judge on the TV show Splash?), but he did what he did for the love of doing it.

So if you want to be a screenwriter, write. Keep writing. Keep submitting. Don’t look at Sorkin or Tarantino or Phoebe Waller-Bridge and call yourself a failure. Just keep walking the walk and see where you go. If you want to be an actor or a director or the best Best Boy ever, just keep working.

If you win an Oscar, amazing! Celebrate it! But then get back to work the next day. Make it about the love of the work so you aren’t devastated by the box office, the critics, the press or the comments on social media.

Life is short. Do what you love doing. No matter how steep the climb, how hard the journey, how many odds are against you, believe in yourself and believe you’ll make the summit. Don’t worry if anyone else is getting there faster or climbing higher. It doesn’t matter.

Be the hero of your own story. And when you’re done, no matter how high you reach or where you end up, put down the book of your life and be proud that you were at least in the arena.