With the SuperBowl last night and the Olympics coming up soon, professional athletes and their strategies have been on my mind. Over the weekend I flipped on the TV and saw an Olympic trainer being interviewed. What she said was counteractive with what we’ve heard in recent books such as The Secret. She said that she trains athletes not think of the crowds cheering and seeing themselves on the gold medal stand, but instead to concentrate on the process, doing the same things over and over again and continuing to do our best to improve each day. This is what creates success.
A colleague of mine teaches this same concept using Michael Phelps as an example. His argument is that what made Phelps successful was, of course natural ability (which we all have in some form), and then his process of each day practicing the same things over and over and pushing himself to do better.
As business people we imagine the next big deal we are going to land or if we could only hit $xxxxxx in revenue this month. But isn’t it really the practice of making a certain number of calls that help us land that big deal or increase our revenue? Determine what these practices are and turn these practices into habits. Build a process for creating the success you want. In the meantime, listen to your employees, have fun with your family, and read that book you’ve been wanting to read. After all, once we hit our goal, we will only have more.
Excellent advice, Nicole!
Thank you, Elizabeth!!