The other day I was lucky enough to be part of and experience interacting with some of the world’s best Rugby League players as they went through their paces whilst in training camp preparing to battle and come back from their first series loss in eight years. Eight years in a row is incredible in today’s age of professional team sport where so many things change on a daily basis let alone year in and year out. Part of the day was being able to hear from their team doctor who was going to give us an insight into what it takes to keep them playing at their optimum level and how to manage their injuries.

After this session I realised that we have a lot in common with elite athletes. Nearly everything that the doctor told us was things that we should apply in everyday life and in our own training. The only difference was that the athletes have stringent guidelines and everything is monitored with nothing left to chance.

So, what do we all have in common with Elite Athletes?

• Sleep — we need plenty of it to balance out our hard work
• Nutrition — the most important thing for performance. We have to balance our exercise and rest and ensure we fuel our bodies appropriately.
• Timing — you can’t go hard all of the time. Workouts need to be periodised so we can peak when we have to
• Balance — in everything we do! The amount of exercise, the amount of rest the amount of food we eat and the type of food we eat.
• Downtime – What we do in our down time is more important than our actual workouts and this strongly influences our results.
• Mindset! – Positive all the time, learning not to cut corners, take responsibility and work to find solutions to whatever is in the way.
• Never give up – stay hungry and always have the desire to do more and not rest on your prior results.

So that’s it from a personal perspective. There are a few other things that we need to have in common with elite athletes if we are to be successful in our business.

• Have good systems in place – being systematic results in less errors and more efficiency
• Be accountable – have checks and balances in place for everything. Know why you pull up short and know how to fix it!
  Successful athletes have a great team behind them. Make sure you invest in your staff both from an educational and financial standpoint. Don’t try to do everyone’s job just to cut corners and costs.
• Lead by example – knowing boundaries and being able to follow you helps them to invest “themselves” in the business\
• Good communication – this goes both ways. Have the ability to listen as well as keep everyone informed on what is going on. Elite athletes can work alone or be able to communicate with the team to get the best outcomes.

So do you have these things in common with elite athletes and where can you grow and succeed?

Written By – Ken Baldwin