Mixing Business and Sport!

2015 was a great year for me personally in both my professional and sporting life. And I very much believe the sport I do has helped me in my professional development. That’s why, as we kick off 2016, I wanted to write down some of the lessons I have learnt from sport, and how I use them to help me further my professional career!

Last year, I completed my second marathon, which was my sporting highlight. I beat my previous personal best by 36 minutes. More importantly, I had a goal of finishing in less than five hours, which I am excited to say I achieved. You can’t blag a marathon, trust me! I like to work smarter, not necessarily harder, but when training for a marathon, you cannot cut any corners. For my first marathon, I just wanted to complete it, so my training programme was enough to do just that! However, last year I really wanted to ensure I had a finish time goal and therefore had to do the necessary work to meet it. I also play football for an over 30’s team, and try to go to Bikram Yoga regularly to help prevent (and recover from) injury. I love sport, especially the ones I take part in.

My sporting activities and the skills I develop from them helped me secure a job with MYOB last April and with my intention being to build a successful career with the leading provider of business management solutions in New Zealand and Australia. I’m not scared to say I love my job (which is handy as our slogan is Love Your Work), and the more sport I do, whether individual or team, gives me greater confidence to take those skills and push myself further at work. I am by no means the fastest runner, the best footballer, or the most flexible yogi, however I give my all when I’m on the road, pitch or studio (most of the time) and enjoy every minute of it. So it just makes sense to take that with me to our office in Mt Eden.

Every time I put on my kit, I have a goal I’m aiming to achieve - to run a certain distance, keep a clean sheet or push myself further in a yoga move. I like to set a goal, create a plan, execute it and achieve my goal. As a sales person, this is vital for when I want to hit my target. Every day, week, month and year, I have to put a strategy into action. My vision and goals are converted into sub-goals – the execution happens every single day, and it is measured, both for sport and work.

I am more determined at work than I have ever been. When facing obstacles, I keep going and have a strong desire to reach my goal. Running a marathon is not always a smooth ride. I definitely hit a wall at the 30km mark, but having a never-give-up attitude meant I pushed past it. At work, if I have a setback, I don’t let it get to me. I push past it and try and find a solution or ask for help. I need to be able to perform under pressure regardless of the situation, come rain or shine! Which means even if it is raining, which it often does in Auckland, then I just have to go out there and do a 26km training run. This also helps me if I have to attend a work event on a sunny Saturday (instead of being at the beach) as I can just get on with it and do my job!

My training programme for the marathon was 15 weeks long. There is no such thing as a free lunch, so I had to put in the work to get the result I wanted. At work, the more clients I contact, the more sales I’ll make. It really is a numbers game whether it’s kilometres on the road or phone calls and meetings. Playing football has also definitely helped with my teamwork at the office. I understand the importance of the team more. Even in individual sports like running, where only my legs can get me across the finish line, I ran with friend. As a duo we trained together and then completed the marathon together, albeit at different times.

I am motivated and committed to my career and my sporting pursuits. I need to put my brain and body into my quest for success, whatever the goal is. So if it means getting up at 5am to go for a 12km run before work, going to an extra yoga session before football, or getting to work at 6.50am on the first day back after the holidays to check my numbers and make sure I earned my December commission, then so be it. And yes I did earn my December commission!

I am certainly not saying if you start playing sport you will become the CEO of your company but it will certainly help you achieve your goals whatever they may be. It will also keep you fit and healthy. Sport helped me have a successful 2015, so mixing business and sport absolutely does work.

I will leave you with two statistics that I recently read – 95% of Fortune 500 CEOs played college sports, and three out of four C-Suite executives believe candidates with sports backgrounds will do better professionally! Time to get your trainers on!