What I Learned from Steven Bradbury (Episode 192)
Oct 15, 2024We dive into the extraordinary story of Steven Bradbury, the Australian speed skater who won gold at the 2002 Winter Olympics. His win, while unexpected by many, offers valuable lessons on resilience, preparation, and the importance of seizing opportunities when they arise. Just like in video content creation, success isn’t always about being the fastest—it’s about being consistent and ready for the moment when it comes.
Key Lessons from Steven Bradbury’s Journey:
Preparation is Everything
Steven Bradbury didn’t just stumble into his gold medal moment—he spent 14 years training, recovering from injuries, and building his skills. Similarly, your video strategy needs to be built on consistent effort. Every video you create adds to your foundation of success, even if it doesn’t go viral right away.
Overcome Setbacks
Bradbury’s path to victory was full of obstacles, including life-threatening injuries. In video creation, you may encounter challenges like low views, technical issues, or harsh feedback. The key is to stay resilient. Use these setbacks as learning opportunities to improve your content.
Seize the Moment
When Bradbury’s competitors crashed, he was ready to take advantage of the opportunity. For video creators, this means being consistent and present. When a trend, event, or surge in engagement happens, you’ll be in the right place to maximize your reach and impact.
4. Build Your Visual Equity
Bradbury’s moment of triumph—arms raised as he crossed the finish line—was iconic. In video marketing, your “visual equity” is what makes your brand or content memorable. Use your face, logo, and consistent branding to build recognition and connect with your audience over time.
5. Listen to People, Not Metrics
While it’s easy to get caught up in views, likes, and shares, they aren’t the only measure of success. Take the time to listen to real feedback from your audience. Genuine engagement and the value your viewers find in your content are far more important than chasing numbers.
Steven Bradbury’s story is a powerful reminder that success comes from preparation, resilience, and being in the right place at the right time. Whether you’re a business owner or a content creator, these lessons can help you push through challenges and find your moment to shine—one video at a time.
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Video Transcription:
[00:00:00] Speaker: Welcome to the DIY video for professionals podcast for another week. Look, this episode is simply titled what I learned from Steven Bradbury. Now, who is Steven Bradbury? He is a gold medal winner from the 2002. Salt Lake Olympics. And the reason why his story stands out than most gold winners is because he was coming in last place until the last turn of a speed skating final.
[00:00:39] Speaker: When he crossed the line in first place, everybody in front of him crashed. Had made the mistake and here he was coming to the end of the line in first place and shocked and amazed that he'd won gold. It was such an inspiring story. I knew very little about the backstory of Stephen Bradbury. He was, as far as I knew, a fairly ochre Australian.
[00:01:08] Speaker: Somebody that liked to beer. I don't know. I had very little information. I remember recently showing my kids The, one or two minute video that I was able to pull up on YouTube. If you haven't seen it, you've got to go check it out. Cause it adds so much relevance to what I'm talking about here.
[00:01:23] Speaker: Go and have a look. Steven Bradbury, Olympic gold. But yeah, I showed them and they were like, wow, that's just so amazing. Cause I think the joy of seeing somebody with their arms up in the air, just so razzed that they've actually won knowing that they were exhausted and tired and out of energy and.
[00:01:42] Speaker: Running on empty before they got there, no hope, and here he was crossing the line in first place. Stephen, I met Stephen at the growth potential seminar that I just recently went to. Thank you, Greg Betty and the growth potential team down there was listening to some amazing different.
[00:01:59] Speaker: Keynote presentations from people like Todd Sampson from the Gruen Transfer, who was widely known in the, on the Discovery Channel and whatnot, some amazing others. And it was the Stephen Bradbury thing that just really caught my attention. It was just the thing that keeps coming up about overnight successes.
[00:02:18] Speaker: I did not know until the night before the journey that Stephen Bradbury had been on. To achieve Olympic gold. So a 14 year career going through the trenches, doing the time, not only exercising himself physically, but also mentally to be able to achieve. That Olympic gold. But what was really interesting was, I don't think even the commentators actually believed that he'd won because they were checking the videotapes and adjudicators and making sure that he'd actually won the gold over there.
[00:02:57] Speaker: Somebody was somebody at fault that would disqualify the whole thing. But anyway, it came up and of course he he was up for the ceremony and getting the gold around his neck, but the time the He had between winning and being presented with the gold, he doubted his, I guess ability to take the gold.
[00:03:19] Speaker: He had this moment of feeling that he didn't deserve it because he had come in first place as a result of everybody else falling down. And then he went, you know what, I deserve this for the 14 years of grinding out, going through and all the aspiration and all the belief and all of the skill that he had to develop over those 14 years to finally get recognition for it.
[00:03:47] Speaker: What I didn't realize, and this came out through his presentation, was that he died. Almost twice, once from being knifed effectively or a blade from one of the competing skaters had kicked up and had sliced his leg open and to a point where he was almost bled out and bled to death on the ice rink.
[00:04:12] Speaker: Severe. Slice, like 140 stitches or something. It was unbelievable. I got to see all the graphic imagery. And that really affected me just based on my recent near death experience last year as well. I was like, Oh, really? I just sunk into that story and just, it really razzed me. The other story was only, I think 18 months before he ended up winning gold was that he hit a a barrier and broke his neck.
[00:04:39] Speaker: And so he spent two and a half months with his head in one of these braces that are effectively drilled into your skull in order to keep your head completely straight. Every doctor telling him that he would never skate again and that was, I think, 18 months before he ended up winning gold. So he had to overcome his fair share of challenges in his [00:05:00] 14 year career, all deserving of an Olympic medal.
[00:05:05] Speaker: Gold medal. And I think the reason why I'm telling you this is I just was so touched by it that my assumption was predicated on one minute of video that I'd seen over the years and understood his story to a certain degree that he was a fluke winner and then just through spending time at the growth potential seminar, I really got to understand how, even overnight success is not actually A real thing, it's still the energy, the years of dedication of believing of hurt, pain, suffering to doing it.
[00:05:43] Speaker: That is the reason that people succeed is the success factor, if you like. And the reason why I give you this story is perhaps you can relate to that, perhaps that's, Your journey in the world of video or in your business where going through the ups and downs needs to be part of your belief system of the dedication to getting better at what you're doing.
[00:06:13] Speaker: It's not a case of if we build it, people will come. It's a case of build it, create a lot of trouble, stir activity. Get people to listen, put your, get your foot in the door. Raz, the world up, this is your time to shake things up and to take action in your business, in your video marketing, your ability to sever what is already a highly attention depleted world with your new thing.
[00:06:46] Speaker: With that brand image, with that face that you have, and it's a wonderful asset to your business, that facial recognition, what we call visual equity that you have it. Don't let ups and downs or that fear or that inner monologue or that thing that's telling you that you should probably have a face for radio should be probably doing something else.
[00:07:08] Speaker: If you believe it, keep going, keep trying new things. And don't listen to everything that social media tells you about the lack of visibility, the lack of views, and the lack of people engaging with your content. Listen to the people that are actually going to tell you firsthand that they got a lot of information, important, useful things that they could take away from watching you on video.
[00:07:32] Speaker: That is where you'll get A really nice boost of confidence from people saying you did good. Listen to the people, don't listen to the metrics. That's it for now, that was what I learned from Stephen Barabree. Go for it, you earned it. And believe that with every quick win is the years of dedication that you've poured in to making that work.
[00:07:55] Speaker: Good luck, keep filming, and keep connecting.
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