There are many areas of sport that overlap when it comes to your professional and working life. A reflection of this is the number of athletes that have become successful businesspeople. To be successful in sport requires dedication, strategy, willingness to win and in most cases teamwork. The same can be said for your professional life. Financial Adviser, Kosta Petrovic compares the similarities in the blog below.
Let’s break these down into 4 sections and discuss how these attributes relate to success in both.
- Dedication: Although natural ability/smarts is certainly a factor when it comes to performance, it is most certainly overshadowed by the need for practice. Hours spent focusing on what your requirements are and honing those skills are vital. This leads to self-confidence and knowing that you can perform the tasks that are asked of you.
- Strategy: Strategic thinkers put themselves on the path to success. Anticipating change in a business environment is the same as anticipating your opponent’s moves in the sport. By knowing what your opponent may do allows you to put a strategy in place to increase your chance of success.
- The will to win: No matter what level of sport you play, the willingness to win is what makes it fun! Not settling for mediocracy and wanting to be the best they could possibly be is a trait of every elite athlete. When it comes to business sense, the same is true. Wanting to be the best in your field, providing the best outcomes for your clients or whatever you can classify as a win in your line of work, leads to success.
- Teamwork: You will notice that successful sportspeople always attribute their accolades and success to the people around them, whether it’s team members, coaches, physios, nutritionists, or family – success is never achieved alone. This overlaps in the business world too. Finding a mentor, gaining an outside perspective and having someone challenge your ideas is vital for success. Having an open mind and be willing to seek and accept guidance will only benefit you in both areas of your life.
While success in sports and your professional life is not limited to the above characteristics, its shows that there are a lot of overlapping psychological traits that can be utilised from a sports field to your workplace to increase your chances of what you classify as winning.