Ghana's skeleton athlete shares productivity secrets of olympians

Ghana’s skeleton athlete, Akwasi Frimpong, wowed the world at the 2018 Winter Olympics where he exuded big energy and positivity despite knowing that the odds were firmly stuck against him.

With the 2018 PyeongChang games behind him, Akwasi has quickly switched focus to the 2022 Winter Olympic Games in Beijing, according to him, working assiduously to ensure he does better in four years.

Born in a West African country which has never had snow and is rather big on football in terms of sports, the 32-year-old athlete has been hailed as an ambassador of his native Ghana where he plans to help popularize the snowy sport.

Beyond the field where he displays his potentials, Olympian Akwasi through his website has shared tips on how people can step up their productivity in professional and personal pursuits.

5 Productivity Secrets Of Olympic Athletes

With the help of some Olympic guidance, you too can boost your productivity—in both your professional life as well as in your personal pursuits.

1. Take Action: Be a Doer

No one ever became an Olympian sitting around making plans but never acting on them. The most obvious secret to being a more productive person is to make yourself become someone who takes action. We all have ideas, hopes, and dreams, but those who are doers are the ones who actually get the results they’re looking for.

Be more proactive and you’ll find that your productivity levels will be off the charts.

2. Allow Yourself Self-Care

With the pursuit of any kind of goal, be at athletic, professional, or personal, the journey can often get taxing and tiresome. If you’re working on a big project, are under immense stress and are neglecting the needs of your mind and body—you are not likely to be very productive. Allow yourself to take a break when you need to, so that you may better return to the task at hand recharged and raring to go.

3. Don’t Fear Challenges

No Olympian ever shrunk back from a challenge.

Getting to the Olympics is a particular kind of struggle in itself, but what matters is the kind of attitude you display.

Instead of viewing challenges as something to be afraid of, take them as an opportunity to learn and grow. When you shift your mindset and free yourself of the fear of failure, you’re more likely to take on challenges with a renewed vigor.

4. Get Constructive Feedback

Whatever your endeavors, getting feedback is a great way to help you help yourself. The right kind of constructive criticism can spur you on and help you be even more productive, but with better focus and direction. Knowing what you need to work on in terms of your own skills can help you approach your efforts to achieve something with more pinpoint clarity.

5. Keep Yourself Motivated

You can’t be productive if you aren’t motivated to pursue your goals. From finding an inspiration in books, movies, and media to turning to an Olympian’s guidance for motivation, a little encouragement can go a long way in helping you be more productive.

Road to Beijing 2022

In July 2016, Akwasi Frimpong founded the Bobsled and Skeleton Foundation – Ghana, to promote the sport of bobsleigh and skeleton in Ghana.

This was in the same year he switched sports for the second time in his career.

Having taken a break to further his education after an ankle injury threatened his sprint career, Akwasi was in 2013 selected to join the Dutch bobsled team because of his speed and strength but failed to make the team for the 2014 Sochi Winter Games.

“In 2016, I was recruited by Nicola Minichiello, my former bobsled coach in the Netherlands, who told that she thought I had what was needed to be able to become a good skeleton athlete,” he told me. The attributes Minichiello referred to were speed and determination. “She told me that I could always learn how to steer. But with my speed I could be competitive.”

And that was the turning point for the man who has been chasing the Olympic dream for over a decade.

The Bobsled and Skeleton Foundation in Ghana has meanwhile been hard at work with Akwasi himself visiting the country in 2017 to organize clinics for the young talents who had expressed interest in taking up the winter sport.

“My goal is to come to Ghana and seek support from the Ghana Olympic Committee, sport authorities and the Ghana sports ministry to work together and come up with a 4-year plan so in 2022 we have more than one athlete,” says Akwasi.