“We’ll never be qualified to know what our limits are.” Marnie McBean, one of Canada’s most decorated Olympians and expert at turning potential into performance, shared her insight at our first Education Awards Ceremony November 23^rd at the Sheraton Center Toronto Hotel. The event honoured IBAO graduates and top achievers in education.

Incoming IBAO President Traci Boland welcomed guests with her theme for 2017: “Come Together transcends to education – look at who we have in this room today: brokers who’ve chosen to invest in themselves to work harder for Ontario consumers; brokers who dedicate their time to teaching new brokers; brokerage owners who invest in their employees; teachers and facilitators transferring knowledge to the broker community; and insurance company representatives who understand that the betterment of their business relies on an educated sales force.”

In the past we’ve honoured grads at our annual Convention. This year we wanted a distinct event, giving top students the platform they deserve. We honoured CAIB grads (Canadian Accredited Insurance Broker) beginning with top student Jessie Poulin from McFarlan Rowlands in London; we honoured CPIB grads (Canadian Professional Insurance Broker), top students from our Basic Broker licensing course, and Beyond Best in Class grads – our advanced program centered on the principles of collaboration and innovation.

“Goal setting isn’t hard; it’s goal achieving that’s tricky,” said Marnie. “Create a to-do list. Challenge and rewrite that list. Add to it and keep resetting your goals. No one will help your career more than you.”

As former specialist in Olympic athlete preparation for the Canadian Olympic committee, Marnie prepared athletes emotionally and psychologically to ensure their best performance. “We’re going to have great days and we’re going to have bad days… fear and doubt are the normal part of the path.”

On learning: “It’s like walking into a corridor of doors – if you open 10 doors, you think you’ll be an expert… but each door leads to another corridor of 10 doors.”

On achieving your goals: “It involves a photo or image you have in your head. That photo should scare you.” Marnie shared steps to take: “Create an album of what you can do now, later, after that, and then create a plan to close the gap.” Our favourite: “Without goals we become bored, and then we become boring. Hard goals make interesting people. We should have goals that scare the crap out of us.”

On success: “Too often we forget about our done list – all the things you’ve accomplished are part of this list. It’s our foundation. It’s how we embrace stress. Never lose sight of your done list.” Fitting advice for a room full of grads.

Thanks to everyone for joining us at our inaugural event. We look forward to carrying on the tradition next year.

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