By Three-time Olympian Ruben Gonzalez

How does someone who did not even take up the sport of luge until he was 21 become a Three-Time Olympian? As I tell thousands of people in my speeches, I’m not a big shot. I’m just a little shot that keeps on shooting. I’m proof that ordinary people can aspire to achieve extraordinary things if they will just follow a few simple steps.

Step 1: Choose a goal

What changes would you like to make in your life that excite you just by thinking about them? What would you love to do? Where do you want to be 10 years from now? What is your dream?

Ever since I was in the third grade I wanted to be an Olympic Athlete. I respected the Olympians because they were an example of what I believed in - they are willing to commit to a goal, willing to risk adversity in the pursuit of it, willing to fail and at the same time keep trying until they succeeded. But it was not until I was in college and saw Scott Hamilton compete in the Sarajevo games that I actually made the decision to train for the Olympics.

Just thinking about your goal is not enough. If you want to reach your goal, you need to make it real - write it down! Don’t worry how you will make your dream come true at first. Magic happens when you put your goals down on paper. Writing it down is the first step in turning a dream you might achieve into a goal you will achieve.

When Tiger Woods was a young boy, he wrote down on a 3x5 card that he intended to break all of Jack Nicklaus’ records. Tiger read his card every night. Jack Nicklaus agrees that Tiger in on track to make it happen.

Write your goals down on a 3x5 card. Write them in the present tense along with a completion date. On the other side of your card write at least three reasons why you will do it. The more reasons the more you increase your belief.

Read your card first thing in the morning EVERY DAY to stay focused on the objective. Then read your card EVERY NIGHT before turning out the lights so your subconscious mind can work all night on ways to make it happen.

Step 2: See yourself succeeding at your goal.

Several times a day close your eyes and for a couple of minutes vividly imagine what it’s going to feel like when you achieve your goal. Really get into it. Feel it as if it were really happening – right now! What’s it going to look like? What’s it going sound like? What’s it going to feel like when you finally make your dream come true?

Get excited! Your subconscious does not know the difference between imagining it and it really happening. By doing this, you become passionate about your desire, your belief becomes unshakeable and you become unstoppable.

Seeing yourself succeeding is an important step because imagining yourself succeeding will keep you from quitting when the going gets tough.

Step 3: Choose a quality that will help you reach your goal.

Have you ever looked at someone and wished you could be like them? Everyone has at one time or another. The good news is that if you notice a quality in someone else, you have some of that quality in yourself. You just need to develop it further. "It takes one to know one". Any quality you admire in someone else is a quality you have – you just need to practice it!

So step number three in reaching your goal is to choose the main quality you think you will need to reach your goal. Is it Boldness? Creativity? Enthusiasm? Patience? Leadership?

In my case it was Perseverance. To get good at the luge, I knew I was going to have to endure many crashes and injuries and simply refuse to give up. So I made a decision to become perseverant. To never quit. Someone has said, "The main difference between a success and a failure is that the success tried one more time." I decided to persevere in trying one more time.

Step 4: Create a new habit that will help you achieve your goal.

Good habits usually don’t just happen. You need to develop a specific plan for creating a new habit. It’s simply a matter of choosing an action that helps develop your quality, deciding when to practice that habit, knowing that you are going to have to repeat it many times and then give yourself a reminder.

Since perseverance was the most important quality I needed to have to reach my goal, I needed to find ways to develop my perseverance. I had to get good at "not quitting". So I decided to become an expert on perseverance. I read books about people who had faced great challenges and refused to give up. I got inspired that if they could – I could!

You can do it. No matter what your dream is, you can make it happen if you follow these four simple steps: 1) Choose a goal, 2) see yourself succeeding, 3) choose a quality, and 4) create a habit to develop your quality. Commit to these four steps.

The difference between people is there are those who are interested and there are those who are committed. A key to success in life is going from being just interested to being fully committed. Once you are committed you will produce results. At the point of commitment, you mentally "burn all the bridges" and you do whatever it takes to make it happen. THAT’S when you become unstoppable!

Commit to these four steps and you too will achieve more than ever before.