The views expressed by the business participants are their own.
Anyone who has found success as an athlete will tell you that sports teach lessons that go far beyond the playing field. If you’re looking to succeed in a competitive business environment, there may be better role models than champion athletes. What allows these people to achieve greatness? What makes a person a winner? There is no single answer. Rather, it is a combination of factors. We share five of them here. If you follow these courses, you will be ready to master the business world.
Related: 4 Productivity Tips From Super Athletes That Will Make Your Business Stronger
Show high confidence
Champions have a strong belief in themselves and their ability to succeed. Importantly, this does not mean that they expect the journey to be easy. Many must-haves require a lot of effort. Champion athletes give “blood, sweat and tears” in pursuit of excellence, and are willing to sacrifice because they know it will pay off. Doubters leave the journey when it becomes too difficult or when they encounter few obstacles. Champions persist because they believe in themselves deeply. This strong confidence becomes self-fulfilling. If you fully believe that you will win if you keep grinding, you will beat your less confident opponents. High confidence leads to high effort, and high effort leads to success.
Like a champion athlete, a successful businessman always gives his all when things get tough. Future industry leaders are those who will continue to improve their current areas and marketing strategies as often as necessary to achieve success. They will not be deterred by rejection but instead will learn from it, make changes, and come back stronger. This willingness to learn and improve is, in fact, another defining characteristic of a champion.
Always look to improve
Champion athletes, while extremely confident, also have enough humility to know that they always have room to learn and grow. When they lose, they review game film to see what mistakes they made and where they need to improve next time. Even if they win, they look at what they could have done better. They also seek input from others. If the trainer points out a mistake in his method, he accepts the feedback and incorporates it into his training. They also look to their colleagues and even their opponents to learn what others are doing well.
As an entrepreneur, if you lose a deal or find a competitor who owns a large portion of your target market, look at what they are doing to succeed. Be open to learning and humble enough to seek help from others. Champions are often their own harshest critics, and their high standards drive them to keep improving. So even if you have achieved something, keep looking to climb.
Focus on what you can control
Champions do everything they can to control the variables involved in their sport. Knowing that they cannot fully control the outcome, they do their best with what they can control, including attitude, effort, and preparation. Entrepreneurs should do the same by analyzing their markets, rehearsing presentations many times, and evaluating both their competition and their potential customers. When you meet with a client, study them ahead of time so you can anticipate the questions they might ask and have fun answers prepared. Be proactive in your preparation.
The takeaway from this lesson is to focus on your own immediate interpretations of what you can – or can’t – control. After a heavy defeat, the champions do not blame the referee. Instead they look at what they could have done differently so that the referee’s calls didn’t matter. As an entrepreneur, be aware that bad results are due to luck or that things were wrong. When you do, you lose motivation to make changes in the future. Instead, follow the lead of the champions and know that there is always something you could do better.
Upgrade when needed
As champions focus on what they can control, they realize that they cannot control everything. Rarely does anything go as planned, and the best players practice and improve. Something can go wrong, and instead of panicking when it does, winners stay confident and make the necessary changes. So, as you work to control what you can accept the uncertainty of your game – or your business, as the case may be.
Related: 5 Lessons Entrepreneurs Can Learn From Professional Sports Teams
Be flexible
You may have noticed that the studies described above have some contradictions. Champions have high confidence but also believe they need to improve. They also focus on what they can control while acknowledging that they cannot control everything. Therefore, another key to success is adjusting your attitude based on the situation you are facing. Champions have the mental flexibility to do so seamlessly. Instead of looking for a recipe to follow every time, they embrace the fluid needed to succeed every time.
This willingness to adapt – to have a non-fixed mind – is the main premise of the book Extreme Balance: Paradoxical Principles That Make You a Champion, published by Entrepreneur Press. This book, which I co-authored with champion athlete and coach Ben Askren and successful business leader Joe De Sena, describes how various champions balance conflicting principles to succeed in their sports. It includes chapters like “Thinking You’re Good Enough and Thinking You’re Never Good Enough,” and “Preparing for Everything and Expecting the Unexpected.” These sections expand on the subjects described here – and many others – in greater depth. If you want to become a master entrepreneur, it’s a great resource to help you get there.
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