Interview With Olympic Gold Medalist Gabby Douglas On Setting Goals

By Bethany Braun-Silva August 3, 2017

Olympian Gabby Douglas discusses how she sets her goals and why doing so is so important.

Gabby Douglas is a two-time Olympic Gold Medalist, who competed in the 2012 London Summer Olympics and was the first woman of color to take home gold in the individual all-around. She then went on to be part of the "Fierce Five" in the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio and took home gold once again. Her autobiography Grace, Gold, and Glory: My Leap of Faith, was released in 2013. The Gabby Douglas Barbie Doll was released in July of this year.

So, how did she get there? She'll tell you it was with the help of goal setting that she and her mother started when Gabby was 9. Since then she has been creating vision boards, setting goals, and using visualization techniques to accomplish her many incredible feats.

She recently teamed up with Post-it Brand to help inspire kids to "make it stick." Gabby hopes to encourage children to use her same techniques to aspire to their dreams.

Check out our interview with her below:

Gabby says goal setting is so important because, "It just does something to your mind. When you see it and you have to put yourself in the moment then you can go out and start achieving it."

And once you've achieved your goals, it definitely doesn't end there, she says. When Gabby reached the Olympics, which was her biggest goal since she was a kid, she still had to stay focused, even though she achieved a big dream. "You still have to keep pressing the gas until the competitions are over.....It's not over until you step off the mat, literally."

If you want to encourage your kid to start goal setting, make a vision board with her, just like Gabby's mom did, or it can also be as simple as encouraging them to stay focused and positive, she said. "Believe it in your mind and go out and achieve it, don’t let negative people, don’t let negative thoughts get to you, don’t let them bring you down."

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