After retiring, I genuinely didn't know what I was good at besides going in circles really fast.
That's not false modesty. That's what nearly 20 years of singular focus does to a person. My entire skill set was optimized for a frozen oval track. I could read ice conditions like a meteorologist reads weather patterns. I could feel the exact moment to accelerate through a corner. I knew the breathing pattern for every distance. None of that seemed remotely useful in the real world.
So I did what any confused 27-year-old with an identity crisis and too many frequent flyer miles would do. I fled to Asia. Buddhist monks in Thailand. Rice fields in China. Onsen baths throughout Japan. I was searching for something I couldn't even name.
Then I came back and said yes to basically everything. Rare earth minerals. Cross-border investments. Manufacturing. Real estate. Infrastructure. Mining operations. Tech startups. Industries I knew absolutely nothing about.
I walked into meetings with investment bankers and private equity partners feeling like an imPOSTer in an expensive suit. Terrified they'd see through me any second.
Here's what I discovered: The capabilities that made me an Olympic champion weren't skating-specific at all. They were completely transferable.
This realization transformed how I approach motivational talks on career reinvention. When I work with professionals navigating transitions—whether they're athletes, executives, or anyone whose identity was tied to a role that no longer exists—I help them see what I couldn't see at first: your hard-won abilities aren't locked to one domain. They're waiting to be redeployed.
My thirst for knowledge—the same hunger that made me study competitors obsessively—worked perfectly for studying markets and business models. My relentless drive that powered 4am training sessions worked for powering through complex deals. My visualization techniques that prepared me for races worked for preparing pitches and negotiations.
In my investment and advisory work, I've applied these same principles to evaluating opportunities. The pattern recognition I developed studying competitors for fifteen years? It works for analyzing market dynamics. The ability to stay calm under extreme pressure? Turns out that's valuable in high-stakes negotiations too.
In workshops with teams going through organizational change, I have people answer this question: What were you doing as a kid—almost effortlessly—that you didn't even consider a skill? What do people constantly ask you about, assuming you must have some special insight? What feels natural to you that others visibly struggle with?
For me, it was obsession. Complete immersion in one subject until I understood it at a cellular level. The willingness to show up at 4am when nobody was watching.
I've since invested in and advised companies where the founders had this same quality—that obsessive drive to understand something completely, that willingness to do the unsexy work that others avoid. It's one of the most reliable predictors of success I've found.
Write down three things you do effortlessly that others find genuinely difficult. Don't dismiss them as "just how I am."
That's not random. That's signal.
Your superpower is already inside you. Waiting to be redirected.
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.