Whether you are a business owner who just started his first business, a seasoned entrepreneur that has many notches of success in his entrepreneurial belt, or you are just beginning to raised capital for that new start up idea, there are lessons you can take from just about anywhere on this planet.
A big key to personal success in many areas of life is very closely related to fitness in general. In the fitness world, a very successful trainer passed away tragically in an accident. This individual was very adept at using health and fitness as a metaphor for how to approach goals in any walk of life. These metaphors can be extrapolated to entrepreneurs, as well. Looking at some of the characteristics of athletes, and applying them to our lives and our thought processes both we and our employees can use these metaphors on a daily basis. Many markets are dominated by lazy people. But you won't generally find an athlete in the lazy market.
Athletes, at least the successful ones, are dominated by a huge amount of positive energy. It takes a huge amount of positive energy to actually succeed in the sports world as well as in business. Every bump in the road can give a person the opportunity to be either positive or negative.
Every single person who is an athlete or an entrepreneur has failed. Everyone has been face down in the mud at the track or in their career. The separation between those that succeed and those that fail is not the failing, rather, it is the dusting their clothes off, picking themselves up, and doing it again. There are many times in a start up business when we will fail. What we see from athletes, is the ability to go back to the film room the next day, allow themselves to be critiqued, hear it, learn from their mistakes, and go out and prepare for the next game.
Work ethic is perhaps one of the most important value sets that stems from athletic success. When a successful athlete wins a contest or match, you know that no matter how much god-given natural ability they have, no matter what coaching they were given in their life, or even performance enhancing drugs (we all know it is true...), they worked their back side off to make it to where they ended up. Lets take an example - Lance Armstrong. The man was practically raised on a bike seat. But then he was found to be using performance-enhancing drugs. Yet, the one thing you will never hear anyone question was his undying work ethic. The same is true in business. While the example of an individual that was found out for his cheating may sound odd, it illustrates a point, that athletes, no matter what else is going on, believe in hard work. This is a character trait that is absolutely necessary to be successful in business. (And, by the way, I still admire Lance Armstrong, and I was inspired by his book, "It's Not About The Bike.")
Successful athletes show us the mind and heart that we need in business. If we watch and follow their examples, we will see a rise in the productivity and success of our own business ventures. Take some physical action along with your mental work, and get on the grind!