There's a switch inside every elite performer.
Peter Attia described mine on his podcast: "He spent the early part of his career basically riding on talent, and then just realized, nope, I'm gonna go all in on this. I never want to finish a single race with a single regret."
That switch changed everything about my trajectory as an athlete. Before and after are completely different careers.
Before it flipped: I was good. Naturally talented doing what natural talent does without much additional effort. Coasting on gifts that came easy. Winning enough to feel validated. Not hungry enough to be truly great.
After it flipped: I was relentless. A completely different athlete wearing the same body. The one who showed up at 4am when nobody was watching. Who wanted it more than sleep, more than comfort, more than basically anything else in life.
The difference wasn't more talent magically appearing overnight. The difference was determination to never leave anything on the table. To know at every race's end—win or lose—that I had given absolutely everything I had. No regrets. No what-ifs.
This concept of "The Switch" is central to my work as an inspirational speaker on peak performance. When I deliver keynote speeches to executive teams, I don't talk about talent—I talk about the moment of decision. The moment you stop coasting and start committing. I've seen this same switch flip in boardrooms, in startups, in established companies facing existential threats.
In workshops on high performance with leadership teams, I ask: When did you last deliberately flip your switch? When did you last choose hard over comfortable simply because it mattered? The answers reveal everything about why some teams break through and others plateau.
I've invested in and advised companies where I could see the founder's switch was flipped. It's unmistakable. There's a quality of commitment that transcends normal motivation. These founders aren't working hard because they should—they're working hard because they can't imagine doing anything else. That's the switch.
But here's what nobody tells you about The Switch:
It doesn't flip automatically. Adversity doesn't automatically flip it. Success doesn't automatically flip it. And it doesn't stay flipped once you've found it.
You have to flip it yourself. Consciously. Deliberately. Every single day. Sometimes every single hour when things get particularly hard. There's a spring mechanism constantly pulling it back toward off. Comfort. Distraction. Rationalization. Always pulling.
In my advisory work with executives navigating high-stakes situations, I help them identify when their switch has drifted back. It's not a character flaw—it's physics. Everything defaults toward entropy. Excellence requires constant recommitment.
The question isn't whether you have the switch. Everyone does. It's standard human equipment.
The question is whether you're willing to keep flipping it. Especially when you don't feel like it. Especially when nobody would notice if you didn't.
That's The Switch.
That's grit.
That's everything that separates good from great.
About Apolo Ohno: Apolo Ohno is a sought-after keynote speaker and leadership advisor known for translating elite performance principles into practical leadership behaviors. His work focuses on authentic leadership, executive presence, and the Gold Medal Mindset - helping executives and teams perform with clarity under pressure, communicate with conviction, and lead with credibility when the stakes are high. In his keynotes and workshops, Apolo helps leaders identify the unseen patterns, narratives, and habits that quietly limit performance, then replace them with a repeatable system for focus, resilience, and decisive action.