The Brain Habit Behind Olympic Success - And How to Use It

At just 22 years old, Eileen Gu has already achieved what most athletes spend a lifetime pursuing.

Olympic gold medals.
Global endorsement deals.
A place at Stanford University.

Yet when asked about the habits behind her success, Eileen didn’t begin with training schedules or talent.

She talked about how she trains her mind.

In interviews, Gu explains that she spends significant time analysing her own thinking, journaling and deliberately adjusting her thought patterns. She studies how her mind reacts and then actively reshapes it.

In simple terms, she is using the brain’s ability to rewire itself. Neuroscientists call this neuroplasticity - the brain’s capacity to reorganise itself based on repeated thoughts and experiences.

The patterns we think most often become the patterns the brain strengthens. This is why elite performers are extremely intentional about the way they think.

How To Put This Into Practice

The principle behind The Remembering Technique works with the same foundation. Most people try to create change by imagining a future outcome.

But the brain often resists this. If something feels unfamiliar or unrealistic, the subconscious struggles to accept it.

The Remembering Technique takes a different approach.

Instead of visualising the future, you remember it as if it has already happened. This simple shift changes how the subconscious interprets the experience. Memories feel familiar to the brain. And what feels familiar becomes easier for the mind to reproduce.

Rather than trying to force belief in something new, you are training the brain to recognise success, calmness or confidence as something it already knows.

Your mind is already shaping your future through the thoughts you repeat every day.
If you’d like to learn how to consciously direct those patterns, Donna shares a simple daily practice in her newsletter - practical steps you can use to start taking control of the future you create.