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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