What do successful people have in common? They’re not satisfied with success. After winning an Olympic gold medal, or filling one the nation’s top offices “they would then say, ‘Okay, I’m restless to get more out of myself and I want to break myself down and take on the next challenge’,” explains Sarah Robb O’Hagan, an overachiever herself. However that’s only one side of the story, and it’s something O’Hagan grows conscious of every time she’s introduced at a conference or reads articles about her work: people always play the highlight reel of her career, but it never shows the full picture. According to O’Hagan, the other thing successful people have in common is that they struggled into success.
Transcript: I think that the wonderful thing that I learned writing the book Extreme You and interviewing some of the most extraordinarily successful people in the world—I mean everyone from Condoleezza Rice to Bode Miller the downhill skier, Mister Cartoon who is a tattoo artist—I’ve interviewed people from all walks of life who have achieved incredible success in very different areas.
And what I found with all of them is that even when they achieved success like what most of us would consider the pinnacle. I mean an Olympic gold medal is about as good as it gets, right? They would then say, “Okay, I’m restless to get more out of myself and I want to break myself down and take on the next challenge.”
And that, to me, was pretty spectacular to see. It’s like for them success is not a goal, it’s just an ongoing journey. And every time they achieve something they realize that there’s more of their own potential to unlock.
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Extreme You: Step Up. Stand Out. Kick Ass. Repeat
As a child, Sarah Robb O’Hagan dreamed she could be a champion. Her early efforts failed to reveal a natural superstar, but she refused to settle for average. Through dramatic successes and epic fails, she studied how extraordinary people in sports, entertainment and business set and achieve extremely personal goals. Sarah became an executive at Virgin Atlantic and Nike, and despite being fired twice in her twenties, she went on to become the global president of Gatorade and of Equinox—as well as a wife, mother, and endurance athlete.
In every challenging situation, personal or professional, individuals face the pressure to play it safe and conform to the accepted norms. But doing so comes with heavy costs: passions stifled, talents ignored, and opportunities squelched. The bolder choice is to embrace what Sarah calls Extreme You: to confidently bring all that is distinctive and relevant about yourself to everything you do.
Inspiring, surprising, and practical, Extreme You is her training program for becoming the best version of yourself.
