Management Best Practices
Magazine
THE
EXECUTIVE ATHLETE
Richard F. Gerson, Ph.D., CPT, CMC
We all want to be winners at what we do. We want to
perform at the top of our game. As a sport psychologist
and performance coach, I emphasize with my clients the
importance of mentally training and preparing for every
event or activity in the same way you would prepare
physically. In my forthcoming book, I talk about the
similarities between business people and athletes and
how sport psychology and the mental training techniques
that athletes use will help business people become top
performers.
Research tells us that top performers are more mentally
fit and mentally “stronger” than their novice
counterparts. This means that they process more
information more rapidly so they make better decisions.
These better decisions allow them to select the right
responses (movements or words) for a specific situation
and then execute them properly. This combination leads
to a highly effective and successful performance. We
also know that top performers believe in themselves more
than other performers. They have a high level of
self-confidence and feel certain that they can control
the outcomes of their performances. They are also
willing to take some risks during their performances so
that they can achieve at the highest level possible.
Now, who am I describing here - an athlete or a top
performing business executive? In either case, you can
be sure they are winning the inner game first before
they play the outer game.
What Makes Someone an Executive Athlete?
The mental and psychological skills the great athletes
use are what separate them from the rest of the pack.
They know their minds affect the way they think and feel
about a performance, and the way they actually perform.
At the highest levels of performance, the difference
between winners and losers is due more to mental and
psychological skills than to physical talent. This is
true in sports and in business. In fact, we know that
performance outcomes are determined first in your mind
before you ever actually do something. If you believe in
your mind that you will perform at a high level, you
will do so more often than not. Similarly, if you
believe you will lose, you will do everything possible
to make yourself right (the self-fulfilling prophecy).
These principles hold true for executives because the
description of a high-performing executive includes
performing under pressure, performing in front of a
crowd, bouncing back from adversity, and believing in
yourself - just like an athlete.
Motivating Yourself for Success
The importance of motivation in becoming a world-class
executive athlete cannot be denied. You must persist
over time, overcome adversity, continually strive for
the brass ring, and find the mental energy when you
think no more exists. You must convince yourself to be
mentally strong when it would be easier to give up and
quit (run through the wall). High performance and top
levels of achievement are not easy. They require strong
people with strong mental skills. And only a select few
people, in business and sports, are willing to pay the
price and commit to doing whatever it takes
psychologically and emotionally to achieve at the
highest levels.
Your mind is the first, and probably the only, thing
that you control before you go out and perform a task.
You can pre-set the outcomes in your mind, either
positively or negatively. You can think good thoughts or
think bad thoughts. The choice is always up to you. You
simply must remember that the outcome of your
performance will be related to your thoughts and the
pictures you create in your mind. Motivation is critical
to your success. Consider what athletes go through to
get themselves ready (pumped up) for a game. There are
dozens of things they do and ways they act to motivate
themselves, all in addition to mentally preparing
themselves.
Yet, in business it is the rare performer who motivates
herself before an event. What do you do before you have
to make a business presentation or give a speech? How do
you mentally prepare yourself to run a meeting or meet
with a client? What mental training techniques do you
use before you give an employee a performance review, or
before you go into your own review? All of these things
and more are affected by your mental state and your
level of motivation. Business people should take a tip
from their athletic counterparts. Get your head right
before you perform and the outcome will almost always be
to your satisfaction.
Executives are Athletes, Too
Executives are athletes, too. They must think like
athletes, train like athletes, and be mentally prepared
like athletes. Executives face the same types of
pressures that athletes face, and the sooner executives
start thinking of themselves as high-level athletes, the
sooner their businesses will be more effective and
successful.
Richard Gerson, Ph.D., CMC, is President of Gerson
Goodson, Inc., a coaching, consulting and training firm
specializing in the psychobehavioral aspects of
individual and organizational performance improvement.
He is the author of 22 books and can be reached at
www.richgerson.com,
Richard.gerson@richgerson.com, or 727-726-7619.
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