Apolo Ohno Opens Up On How He Reinvented Himself

Imagine being twenty-seven years old and retired from the only job you knew. For an Olympian, that is the norm. So what is next? The most decorated American Winter Olympian, Apolo Ohno, knew when he was done short-track speed skating. So what changed?

“My confidence had not wavered. What changed was what was in my heart.” Of course, you can be intrinsically motivated to pursue a particular path, but life happens, and what once excited you no longer does. So after three Olympic Games, Apolo Ohno was done.

So what now?

Like many athletes at this level, this is a troubling scenario. They have been doing the same thing for so long that they often do not know who they are without their sport. It is the loss of a long-held identity. As a result, they start to fill with self-doubt, a sense of loss, and vulnerability.

Apolo Ohno was no different. But, as he openly shares in his latest book, Hard Pivot, he started to retreat into himself and was dangerously heading toward a “downward spiral of negative thoughts.”

At 27, he was restarting his life. Like all high achievers, he feared not trying more than failing. He failed often, but that was data. He reviewed the lessons learned and pivoted accordingly.

Apolo Ohno outlines five principles that helped him through his hard pivot and helped him reinvent himself in a faced, unpredictable world.

Gratitude

Express it daily to maintain perspective, cultivate empathy and alleviate stress.

Giving

Selflessly give of your time, resources, and attention.

Grit

Your ability to persevere through complex challenges.

Gearing up

Prepare yourself physically and mentally for challenges ahead.

Go

Learn by doing

He realized that the further he traveled from his comfort zone, the harder it became to retreat there.

Apolo Ohno shares that he grew up with “intense feelings of self-doubt and a fear of failure.” His post-Olympic life was undoing many behaviors that kept him safe and consistently winning…but at what cost?

In his youth, Ohno admits, “Winning was everything to me. Not learning, not growing, not getting the best out of myself, but winning.” He thought that winning would stop the perceived naysayers. Even with all of his medals, he was riddled with self-doubt. Winning became an obsession for Ohno. “The more I won, the more I had to win.”

Like all high achievers, Apolo Ohno surrounded himself with mentors – people who believed in him more than he believed in himself. He calls these people his “Starting 5.” Today, he focuses more on the process, not the end result. He realizes that “winning does not define your self-worth, and losing does not determine who you are.”

Apolo Ohno found friendship, joy, and love in his post-Olympic life.

More of Apolo Ohno’s story can be found in the books Hard Pivot and The Success Factor.