We were lucky enough to have Olympians Steph Prem and Dean Hewitt speak at our Employee Health and Wellbeing Forum on Thursday 17 March. Steph and Dean shared with us their incredible stories of adversity and triumph, as well as the health and wellbeing tips that helped them reach the Olympic games.
If you didn’t get the chance to attend, you haven’t missed out—we have picked out some of the great advice they gave on the day to share with you and you can also watch the interview back!
Build a resilient mindset
Dean overcame countless obstacles on the road to his Olympic dream, and his team was dealt one of the toughest hands possible for the Beijing Winter Olympic Games. Dean credited his ability to overcome these hurdles to his resilience.
“For us, there’s no such thing as a loss. For us, it’s always a learning opportunity—what can we build from that? Loss can be a bit of a barrier in terms of standings, but it’s an opportunity to grow and get some positive feedback and constructive criticism.”
Smile
Dean and his teammate Tahli Gill have a secret weapon they use to outperform their opponents: a smile.
“When we perform our best, we smile.”
“It’s so powerful. Even with a mask on these days, your smile has to be bigger for everyone to see it, and that’s a great thing. Not just for ourselves, but for the other people that you’re smiling towards. It creates such a great culture between the team. In the workplace, I think it’s transferable.”
Exercise every day
A big surprise, coming from two Olympic athletes! But Steph and Dean both praised the health and wellbeing benefits of daily rigorous exercise. Steph—a qualified personal trainer and Clinical Pilates instructor—spoke about the struggle of returning to exercise after her career-ending injury at the snowboarding World Cup in 2010.
“The minute I injured myself and broke my back, I had no more career. There was nothing left for me to do because I was unable to physically use my body. It taught me a lot about how important it is to look after ourselves. For me, to enjoy living in a healthy body for the rest of my life, I have to work very hard. So, one of my non-negotiables is of course, physical exercise.”
You can watch the whole conversation below. Make sure you’re across all the resources on our Health and Wellbeing page, and keep an eye out on our upcoming events page so you don’t miss the next Employee Health and Wellbeing Forum..
Approved by Karen Lowe