Aug 8, 2018
To bring her whole self to the game, the business athlete
- Stays physically fit, flexibility, strength, cardiovascular fitness – because in long days at work, physical fitness supports mental alertness
- She insists on getting enough sleep
- She practices some form of mindfulness, to remain centered in the midst of inevitable crises
- She finds a coach who will help her keep improving her game through deliberate practice
- She puts time into mastering the basics until they become automatic -
- She studies the competition to understand their moves
- She regularly reviews, with an objective lens, her own performance, identifying what went well and what can be improved
- She is motivated not by standing on the medal podium, but the satisfaction of performing at the highest possible level
- She compares herself, primarily, not to other athletes, but to her own performance yesterday
- She looks out along the full arc of her future career, and not just to the next competition.
- She phases out from her life acquaintances who are a drag on her energy rather than a contribution to it
Thanks to Michael Feiner, who, in his course "High Performance Leadership" at Columbia Business School, introduced me to this concept of the business athlete.