Athlete Mind-Sets and Philosophies That Can Improve Your Work Performance

We are now fully immersed in the 2016 summer of sport, and with this in mind, I have been contemplating how various athletic philosophies can be adapted in the work environment. Making a comparison between the mental barriers we face when aiming for a sporting victory or a promotion is pretty straight forward, it all comes down to self-efficiency. Athletes challenge their mentality every day in order to build the confidence to support the belief that they have the ability to obtain their goals. This is married with the determination and focus they require and is no different to that exhibited by the Steve Jobs, Elon Musks and Richard Bransons of this world. The one unifying characteristic all successful people have is the ability to manage their own mind, so in order to help you do the same, I have chosen a couple of sporting philosophies that will help you tackle your work based goals.

Sir David Brailsford – The Aggregation of Marginal Gains

Marginal gains can be summarized as; slightly improving the small processes that contribute towards performance, with the belief these will collectively result in a better overall performance.

Dave would make sure the athletes he coached took their pillows from home when training away in order to have a better night’s sleep. He would challenge them on washing their hands correctly so they had less chance of becoming ill. Dave would tackle any seemingly insignificant factor and aim to improve them, as this could be the difference between coming first or coming in 4th.

"The whole principle came from the idea that if you broke down everything you could think of that goes into riding a bike, and then improved it by 1%, you will get a significant increase when you put them all together.”

You can easily translate this philosophy to your daily work routine, by critically looking at your typical day and decide where you can make small changes for overall improvement.

For example;

• Turning the TV off or putting your book down half an hour earlier at night to improve your sleep
• Listening to calming music on your commute if you know you have a big day ahead of you
• Making a daily to-do list before tackling your emails in the morning
• Allowing yourself small periods of rest to help refocus your mind
• Making sure you are in a comfortable and productive position whilst working
• Not drinking coffee in the office after lunch

These are just some small changes you can consider to improve your performance, productivity, and satisfaction.

Simone Biles – “You Make your own luck. You make it in training”

It’s easy to look at successful people and assume that their success could be part luck, or part talent, or even some sort of unobtainable advantage. These assumptions could be ,and in some cases have been, directed at Simone, due to the apparent yet relative ease she performs even the most complicated of manoeuvres, the absence of visible nerves, and the impact she has had on the gymnastics community after almost every performance. Over the last 4 years, Simone's winning streak and flawless performance have skyrocketed her into the upper echelons of competitive gymnastics, but her success has not been handed to her; it has been earned through her relentless dedication and training.

Coming from a tough background as a young girl, Simone found an anchor in gymnastics. Her talent was noticed unexpectedly whilst on a field trip to a gym at the age of 6. This was reinforced initially by her adoptive parents and later by her lifelong coach. Unfortunately for Simone, talent only took her so far; in her early teens, she began to struggle with flexibility issues which led to a string of poor results. Upon reaching the boundary of her natural talents, Simone’s family made the choice of switching to home-schooling so that she could embark on a rigorous 32 hour, 6 day week training regime. This would mean that Simone was no longer immersed in hyper-social environments suitable for her age group. Instead Simone dedicated her life to being the best. It has been her undeterred mind-set and pure dedication that has led Simone from being just another Texas teen to world leading gymnastics juggernaut.

It is easy to detach ourselves due to the weight of continued success, yet Simone does not. She remains social during competition right until she starts her routine, whilst her peers favour a more reflective and isolated approach. Simone remains on the surface. She elegantly avoids assessing her state of mind during a competition, remaining confident that all the hard work and training will take care of her performance. It’s this approach that makes Simone’s success appear effortless, it is no surprise she has recently signed with Nike, as she is the perfect embodiment of “Just Do It”.

Making your own luck is something we have all heard but rarely experience or understand, it is being mindful of our comfort zones and pushing ourselves out of them to achieve more than we ever thought possible.

Simone’s story is a template for self-improvement, success means never being satisfied, never growing complacent, yet always remaining humble and true to who we are.

Ben Hunt-Davis MBE – Will It Make The Boat Go Faster?

Ben believes all champions possess three key attributes that determine their success. He would use the same thoughts that went into his book “What makes the boat go faster” to maintain the essential balance of these attributes;

• Singular focus and determination on the goal
• Continuously strive to improve and challenge how they do things
• The ability to work with others

Ben and his team would ask themselves “what would make the boat go faster?” as a guideline when training to make sure their focus was solely on that key goal. Even if this meant missing a dinner date with your wife because you have training in the morning… missing the date and getting an early night would make the boat go faster the next day.

How could you apply this thought yourself when prioritizing your workload or day to day tasks? Don't allow yourself to be beaten by distractions that detract from your main focus. These top 3 points can also come back to challenging how you do things which we saw in the “Marginal Gains” section. It’s always worth remembering the equal important of your ability to work with others. It’s easy to naturally assume we are reasonably good or even exceptional at this, but taking a step back to be mindful at times of your interactions always delivers a positive self-assessment. Always aim to lift others up rather than put them down, as helping promote good teamwork is conducive to success in all areas of your life, not just the workplace.

“What’s more important being right, or making the boat go faster?”