What Australian Open 2021 can teach us about keeping our level of competence

With 72 tennis players in quarantine, the 2021 Australian Open is up for a tough start. Players have to stay completely isolated for 2 weeks, most of them in hotel rooms, and some of them are voicing their frustration. Not at the quarantine procedure, but at the uneven playing field created by this situation as some of them will play against players that did not have to isolate. They are all highly competitive people, so their frustration should be easy to understand for anyone sharing the same trait in any aspect of life.

Translating this into the business world, if we are competitive we should be concerned about keeping (or developing) our level of competence and make sure that we do this constantly. By benchmarking our current level against a standard (or against others), setting up goals and routes to reach them, and measuring progress. By putting in time and effort to train on an ongoing basis. If we are employees, we should make the most of that development plan provided by the employer and do something on top of it to stay ahead of our game. If we are entrepreneurs, freelancers or in any other form of independent work, we should understand that our level of competence is all we have in the business world and work constantly to improve it. Preferably outside of our "hotel room" environment.

These quarantined professional athletes know that, if they can't train properly for 2 weeks, they will have a significant disadvantage when playing against an opponent that could train well. They are doing their best in a hotel room, and some are really being creative, but is not just about the physical aspect of the training. Think about the technical, tactical and mental aspects as well and about recovery procedures where you depend on facilities and on other people.

And if you start feeling frustrated that you can't or don't do enough for your competence level, that's a good sign. It means that you are serious about it. And competitive. Start training and stop procrastinating. If you are not training this week, you won't train twice as much the next one to cover the gap.