Going the distance: what we can learn from athletes about staying the course

Topic: Resilience, Wellbeing

Resilience is about pacing yourself, knowing when to apply the power, when to recover and how to stay the course and perform to your best – and no one knows more about this than elite athletes. Research on the psychological resilience of Olympic champions by David Fletcher and Dr Mustafa Sarkar (i) suggests that the ability to persevere and overcome setbacks is a key component in achieving their goals. Adopt an elite athlete’s mindset (whether you want to do the physical training is up to you!) to increase your performance in the workplace and you’ll benefit from the drivers and tricks that give the top performers of track, field and pool their edge…

Tip#1: Go for a personal best – not perfection

For an athlete, the biggest pressure come from within. You know what you want to do and what you’re capable of.

Paula Radcliffe, long-distance runner

Perfection is the enemy of excellence, and sports psychologists recommend athletes kick this attitude out of the arena. The big win is found in working hard toward personal bests – giving 100 per cent in the pursuit of performance excellence, but not expecting perfection. By getting rid of the need to be “perfect” and to compare oneself against others, they find that people are more likely to be open – ironically – to the idea that they might be able to perform even more effectively. Focusing on your own performance, you give your energy to the only thing you can really control and return the power to yourself.

Tip#2: Build a strong team

No individual can win a game by himself.

Pele, footballer

Forget the loneliness of the long distance runner – even they have a full team behind them contributing to their success on the track. Knowing that you don’t do it all by yourself – and, crucially that you don’t have to – is one of the most empowering ways to shift your mindset into a winning mode. Don’t be afraid to ask for help, advice or mentoring; those who know that it takes an (Olympic) village understand that seeking out support is a sign of confidence and strength. Crucially, elite athletes don’t train alone or purely with those at the same skill level either. In a similar vein, reap knowledge, inspiration and motivation by reaching out to converse or collaborate with others at different levels in the organisation – and add further resources to your “team”.

Tip#3: See your decisions as active choices

Losing is not coming second. It’s getting out of the water knowing you could have done better. For myself, I have won every race I’ve been in.

Ian Thorpe, swimmer

An elite athlete takes responsibility for his or her performance, owning both the failures and the sweetness of success equally. The blame game will slow you down on the track every time and although externalising your problems may protect your self-image for a while, it is unlikely to help you improve your performance in the long run. So, if you feel that you are being held back by others or particular circumstances, focus on your own performance and what you can control. Another crucial shift is to change the way you frame the – sometimes challenging – decisions we all make on the way to achieving our goals. For many, these are often considered ‘sacrifices’, but in reality they are active choices, not things imposed externally. For an athlete, a sense of empowerment is crucial – they know it is nobody’s choice but theirs to get up every morning at 5am to train in pursuit of their goals.

Tip#4: Practice every day

Every athlete acquires routines as a way to control nerves

Hope Solo, footballer

Elite athletes become the best, in part, because of repetition. Their intense, unbroken training schedules may be too restrictive for most us, but we can still take the principle of ‘practice makes perfect’ into our work and flourish. Our jobs may regularly provide us with different challenges and scheduling, yet within this we can choose to focus every day on areas we wish to improve incrementally or get more comfortable in. From public speaking to negotiation with colleagues, repeating a scenario over and over with purpose ultimately gives you a competitive advantage.

Tip #5 Develop a winning mindset

You have to believe in yourself when no one else does – that makes you a winner right there.

Venus Williams, tennis player

The race is won in the mind before it is won on the track or tennis court and having the right mindset is key to success. Only the most determined elite athletes succeed at a level where medals are determined by fractions of a second. They know that positivity and optimism are fuel for the long hours of training and single-minded focus they must adopt. The traits of proactivity and being conscientious are also key. And while they will always have clarity on what they want to achieve – and be able to visualize the end goal – they know that the focus must always be on the process that takes them there, ultimately the one thing they can control. Breaking down the big goal into smaller goals creates momentum – while also turning the unreachable into the obtainable.

Tip #6: Never Give Up

Champions keep playing until they get it right

Billie Jean King, tennis player

Commitment and discipline are the two pillars on which athletes are built – and the ability to never give up. There will be setbacks and things may not go according to plan, but the resilience that an elite athlete has to build into their psychology is the difference between coming back into the race from behind – and winning. Or retiring. Athletes don’t let mistakes defeat them, instead they face adversity head-on, learn from them, make corrections and use those lessons to change the future. Even Olympic gold medallists have made mistakes or had to dig deep in the face of odds that were not stacked in their favour. Heptathlete, Jessica Ennis, was distraught to miss out on the 2008 Beijing Olympics with an ankle stress fracture just a few weeks before the competition, yet returned to win a gold medal at the London 2012 games. Regardless of your situation, develop the mindset of an Olympian to enable you to swiftly bounce back and move forward.