Jonah Lomu is a rugby legend. He is considered to be the first superstar of the sport having been an international icon during his playing days with the New Zealand All Blacks. Earlier this month, Lomu attended the Barcelona Global Sports Forum where he participated in a panel that discussed how professional athletes are using social media to connect with their fans.
Lomu is an avid user of social media and he spends time connecting with his followers both on Facebook and Twitter on a regular basis. During his intervention, he recognized that social networks are here to stay, and went on to conclude that if athletes use common sense about what they decide to post, there shouldn't be any risk about disclosing too much information to compromise their privacy.
After his panel discussion, MotivaGoal had the chance to interview Lomu personally at the GSF's press room, and asked him to give us advice on how to achieve our goals.
Enjoy the interview below:
Diego Valdés - MotivaGoal - I´m writing a blog about motivation, what advice would you give to someone coming up?
Jonah Lomu - I guess for me, the best advice that I can give someone is to look out for number one, yourself. That means that there´s gonna be sacrifices you have to make along the line. And there´s gonna be a lot of knockers. The thing is to build a thick skin. If you have a passion for it, then go for it and just don´t listen to anyone else.
For me, it´s the biggest disappointment when there´s someone with young talent and belief, but the problem is that their friends actually don´t understand that he has the passion for it, and they don´t actually support him. Instead of embracing what he´s got and actually helping them out by just saying ¨we understand¨, they make them choose. That´s when it becomes ¨are they really your friend?¨
So for me its back yourself. If you feel that there´s something that´s there that´s just edging you that it wants you to improve you to improve. Follow it, follow your dreams, follow your heart and you won´t go wrong.
Also check out previous MotivaGoal Interviews with:
Fernando Llorente, Athletic Bilbao: http://www.motivagoal.com/2011/03/interview-with-fernando-llorente.html
Javier Aguirre, Manager for Real Zaragoza: http://www.motivagoal.com/2011/02/interview-with-javier-aguirre.html
Marcos Senna, Villareal FC: http://www.motivagoal.com/2011/02/motivagoal-entrevista-con-marcos-senna.html
Manolo Preciado, Manager Sporting Gijón: http://www.motivagoal.com/2011/03/entrevista-con-manolo-preciado.html
Photos: www.netprosolutions.com
