Sports, your “soft” MBA

Do not take this literally. I do not intend to compare the practice of sports with what an MBA can provide to their attendees in terms of tools, knowledge, and skills. And “soft” does not stand for easy, partial, or blurred. Instead, I want to share my humble assessment on how the dedication to sports’ challenges can “arm” you with soft skills that are extremely important in our work life.

I will be focusing on an amateur perspective and mainly related to running. This is what I know best as a marathon participant (lately ultra-trails too) with no financial motivation to do it. In fact, it’s more about spending money (a lot, sometimes!) and investing of time…

• Focusing on goals – Amateur runners will usually define the goals for the following year and sometimes at longer term (specific or “to do one day”). This can be the participation of specific events, distances completed, Personal Best break… But they do have a goal that moves them. Something that they have on their minds every time they put their trainers on and hit the road or trails. Without a goal, there’s no “why”, no compelling to do anything. This is valid in any aspect of your life, particularly at work. Without a clear goal, everything looks like a waste of time and energy. In your private life you can be the responsible for the definition of the goals, while at work someone else might define them for you (your boss, the client, a partner…). Still valid, chase whoever is defining them, so you have a clear idea of what the goal is. I admit that running can be boring specially when doing long and lonely runs. Remove your goal, and each kilometer you go by will kill you a bit more.
• Planning and organization – Once you have your goal(s) defined, time to do your master plan. You take in consideration the “when” and the “what” you want to do, and always align with other stuff. Like when you go on vacations and where. This can affect your training plan! I was in Turkey during the preparation for a marathon in a terrible year with huge fires in the region. So, when I went, I was prepared to face crazy high temperatures and bad air quality, and I faced the challenges. Planning gets more detailed once you plan your weeks. How you plan your runs and adjust to the other multiple things you must combine with (family, friends, work, travels, events, other hobbies…), can be really a tough exercise. I do it every Sunday for the following week, and I replicate the same at work. Not all can be planned but having a draft of your week will avoid skipping important tasks and manage your time more efficiently. And above all, prepare yourself for those days you know the challenge will be high! A long or very fast run; a board presentation or discussion with a tough client.
• Commitment and motivation – You have a goal and you have a plan to achieve it. Without commitment and motivation you will never move a finger. As an amateur runner this is simple to understand. You have no boss, no obligation, in fact nothing makes you do what you have planned. I wake up almost every day at 5 am for my running before starting work, sometimes running for more than 2 hours. If I would be waiting for some external motivation to make me jump out of the bed, I would never run 1 km even. Same at work. Do not depend on external motivation, instead be proactive and define yourself what you need to improve. If you want to keep growing, you better push yourself to do more, to go the extra mile, to achieve something nobody pushed you to reach.
• Managing risks and mitigations – As a runner, there are always risks to be managed. The weather, the personal or business trips, injuries, sudden change of plans, visits of good friends or family… You must be aware of these and other events that can ruin your plans, and define mitigation actions to avoid not complying with your plans. Many times, I needed to check possible routes for my runs in other cities prior to travel there, avoiding skipping runs due to a lack of a route matching the distance and type of training I had planned. What is work without risk management? This is a part of our routine, depending on the business field or role we have, but we do all need to be prepare for uncertainty. And above all, to avoid freezing at the first moment we encounter an obstacle that requires a little detour.
• Managing priorities – Well, you want to be a runner and having an ambitious goal, be prepared to do choices sometimes. It’s definitely not easy to go for a party on Saturday evening with friends and running a 30k run the following day. Specially if you like to enjoy some whiskeys or gin tonics… Up to each of us to handle the priorities. Sometimes, it is possible to rearrange the planning, other times is difficult. Again, when managing priorities, you probably need to take advantage of each of these soft skills above in order to define what will be your move. Sometimes, the training wins and you skip the party. Other times, the party is what you need and you will work on a review of your plan. All about priorities, and how you shall tackle them. The same at work, know your priorities in advance and define your plan based on that. Then take the path you think it’s best to follow.
• Raising expectations – If your goal(s) remain the same, it’s harder to keep you motivated and committed to them. You grow when you feel challenged. If your goals become too easy, boringness will take over you and you will feel stagnated. Whatever you define, better that it will spice you up. Last year the challenge I defined for myself was to run in 4 weeks, 2 marathons and a 48k trail. And I broke my best time in both marathons! This year, I’m planning to do one marathon below 3h05m and 3 trails 70k+. Completely different goals! But it makes me motivated to achieve something new. Same at work, one should always raise the self-expectations. Again, without the external influence. I tend to be more ambitious setting goals to myself, than my managers. That drives towards higher improvements and recognition, while improving my motivation.
• Looking for coaching or references – For a while I was doing my training plans or getting ideas on the internet. Many sports brands even offer training programs to prepare you for a marathon given a certain amount of time to train. But some years ago, I realized I needed more. I wanted to increase the difficulty level of my challenges and keep a close monitoring of my progress while preparing. I quickly realized that I needed an expert that could guide me, prepare my trainings and adjust along the away based on my progress or physical status. So, I decided to have a coach, and it was the best I could do! I have someone that I trust and that I can follow the advice. At work, the role of your manager, mentor, or senior peer, are of high importance in your growth and development. I am really lucky with the managers I have worked with during my professional path, and I’m really grateful for what I learned. ?

This is just a sample of the soft skills that you work on when dedicating to a sports challenge. Maybe there are the ones that I relate the most, but other might have other ones. But the most important is to realize that a commitment to sports can make you grow in many ways and help you increase your soft skills, and ultimately bring them to your work environment.