Improve Your Performance by Emulating Olympic Athletes
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Similar Components Needed to Achieve Excellence in Athletics and on the Job
Even those who are not devotees of amateur or professional sports and athletes will admit that the best performers are truly exceptional people. Taking naturally-given physical talent and combining it with intelligence and dedication, they achieve goals that most of us can only dream about.
If you’ve ever had the pleasure of listening to some of the best motivational speakers in the world, you’ve probably heard many analogies and comparisons of superior athlete techniques and high level job performance. Motivational speakers use these analogies because they understand that high intensity workers and high performing athletes can use similar techniques to achieve their goals.
Certainly you don’t have to spend hours per day on the stationery bicycle or bench press 250 pounds, but the motivation and dedication to achieve and excel are identical. But, as with any action plan, simply saying, “I want to be the best” is not sufficient. You must identify the components of your plan, then follow, and use them every day to achieve your goals. Just as an Olympic athlete uses repetition to generate what’s called “muscle memory” and the best auto responses when they compete, you need to use these techniques consistently to perform. Use one or all of these tips to become a top workplace athlete.
Some Valuable Tips to Become an Olympic Performer at your Job
The following techniques are used by most Olympic and high performing athletes in all sports. Although Hall of Fame catcher, Yogi Berra, made the confusing analysis that “90% of hitting a baseball is 50% mental” (what?), it is true that once you understand all the components of your job, the rest of your success will depend on your psychological input. Keep that in mind as you consider these three important tips.
- Visualization. If you play golf, you already are aware that all high performing pro players use visualization before every shot. Actually, regardless of your sport, visualizing the outcome of your next stroke, shot, at bat, forward pass, etc. is an important component of your winning psychology. This technique is invaluable at work, too. For instance, assume you’re faced with a project or problem that you’re responsible to solve. Try visualizing a successful result before you ever start the project. Picture what a successful result would look like, feel like, smell like, and how you will react when it happens.
If you are skeptical, consider this. There are a number of real-world examples of visualization used by prisoners in Nazi concentration camps during World War II that helped them survive the terrible conditions they faced. For example, in one case, an inmate decided to concentrate on learning to play golf in his mind. Many waking hours were spent thinking about how to swing, how to make different shots, how hard or soft to hit the ball, how stroke a putt, etc. These visualizations kept him alive until he was rescued by the Allies. After returning home and regaining his health, he borrowed some golf clubs (he’d never played before) and went to a golf course. His first time ever he shot a 77, only 5 over par. His visualizations and repetitions in his mind while imprisoned in a concentration camp taught him to be an excellent golfer.
Anticipate roadblocks and problems. Just as Olympic athletes train their bodies, they train their minds to anticipate things that may happen during their events that could cause problems. They then prepare effective responses. You can perform this same “rehearsal” before you start a new job, project, or assignment. Anticipate every large – and small – problem that might occur. Plan a response to fix the problem in advance. Should something happen, instead of panic, all you need do is go to your checklist of solutions, and act.
- Eyes on the prize at all times. Focus, focus, and focus. Just as a superior athlete is single-minded and dedicated to achievement, you should give nothing your primary attention, but the excellence of your job performance. Spending valuable time dealing with daily annoyances or other minor job-related inconveniences is energy-destroying, mind-confusing, and goal-defeating. Do not let non-related, unimportant thoughts intrude on your mental focus on achieving your goal.
Using these tips will mirror those used by Olympic and all high achieving athletes. Even if you question some of these tips, you cannot deny the excellent results these athletes have enjoyed. Use these techniques on a consistent basis and you will find yourself performing superbly, being noticed, and, soon, enjoying a lucrative promotion.
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