🎈(#16) The Athlete Mindset

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Message from the author:

Just a quick update from me this week.

I’m still on a short hiatus from my personal IG and posting online, it has actually been great.

I feel like have had time to just think in the moment and work on future plans.

I’m still in the process of building a system for new articles on topics that I enjoy. Until then, hope you are gaining small gems from the weekly Newsletters that you can either apply or at least help ignite something within you.

As a kid, school was not my thing…

At least that’s what I told myself.

That thought process and mindset continued into my early adult years when it was time to work and make money.

Working was not my thing either.

It’s fair to say…

That if it didn’t have anything to do with creativity or sport… I was not interested.

At the time though, the reality of my situation was weighing in and I needed work to make money.

I wanted to figure out the mundane thought of clocking in each day.

My goal was to find a passion within what I was doing and do “that thing” really well.

What was that thing though?

And where do I find it?

Around this point in my life, I was a little lost.

The beginning of an athlete mindset

Between the ages of 10 years old to 19 years old - I had been playing sport at a decent competitive level.

I represented my country (NZ) by the age of 14, played in multiple representative teams, lead and captained a known basketball school to premiership, travelled overseas to compete and made a development squad for the national league at the age of 18.

Whilst I was not a scholar during this period of time, in order for me to compete at this level, I had been developing skills that would assist me in years to come.

Somehow, I knew that If I wanted to play to my full potential, I needed to have a certain mindset and work ethic in order to compete with the best.

It wasn’t just about showing up on training and games days. I was doing things that no one else could see and when no one else was watching on a consistent basis.

I was putting in the time on and off the court.

I had learnt the art of habit, routine and consistency at a young age, without even realizing it at the time.

I had also learnt the art of study, development and growth - I just didn’t apply it anywhere else outside of sport.

It wasn’t until early adulthood when it came time to pivot and adapt to a new lifestyle.

The Aha Moment!

In my younger years, I struggled to come to terms with working every day and being told what to do.

But I did it anyway. I showed up, did the work and went home.

Something in me was wanting to find a way to make it enjoyable and feel like I was getting more out of life than just a paycheck.

I moved around to different industries to see what worked…

Laboring… not for me.

Working on a bottle line tightening bottle caps… not stimulating

Steel work… too many people missing fingers or near-death stories. I stayed here far longer than I should have.

I then started with a company within the FMCG industry (Fast Moving Consumer Goods - specifically Supply Chain) and enjoyed the work and people.

Whilst I started at an entry level point, I had seen early on that hard work was being rewarded and there was an opportunity to grow.

I remember telling myself, that if I am coming to a place for a minimum of eight hours a day, I will figure out a way to add value.

I also remember saying to myself that instead of coming to a job to just work, I will come to this job and learn.

I had switched my mindset and started developing on the job experience and knowledge whilst getting paid.

A few years went by, and I started wanting to learn more about the industry itself, I was going home and researching business and leadership online and through books.

As time went on, I had developed into a shift leadership role and within a year or two I was leading multiple shifts for the site.

Something was working for me, and I was making progress… by this point I had the bug.

I started to build a passion for not only acquiring knowledge but also applying it and seeing what worked in real life.

Anything that sparked my interest and would help me further develop as an individual and also as a leader within my career I was going to try it.

Fast forward to the present…

I am now 17+ years in the same industry and currently in a state-based leadership role (also supporting nationally).

I am responsible for building & leading a team and the team culture, the development of employees within that team and finding opportunities to develop future leaders, as well as the overall performance of the operation year on year.

The kid that had no work ethic, no formal study and no vision of what was next has landed here.

When I stop to think - It actually doesn’t seem real at times.

Many times, I have reflected on how I got here and have always given credit to my time competing in sport.

The lessons I had learnt, I applied and have molded them in a way that works for me and now has a proved track record.

The athlete mindset that got me here

In no particular order, these are the main things I had learnt as a young athlete that have assisted me in developing into leadership roles within my career.

To this day I use these same fundamentals and they continue to develop and grow along with me.

• Goal-oriented. Athletes set clear, achievable goals (short and long term). This same approach helped me set some key milestones within my career over the years. Set the vision then execute and do the work.

• Discipline. Athletes maintain strong work ethic and self-discipline. When transferring this into a working environment, the same rule applies. I found that treating my goals and vision the same discipline as if I was competing and helped build consistency.

• Resilience. Athletes develop the ability to bounce back from failures and setbacks. The same goes when building your career. There will always be tough times and challenges thrown your way. Adapt and find a way. I have many ups and downs over the years and can attribute my mental resilience to helping through those times.

• Focus. Athletes practice mental focus or how to maintain focus. Looking for ways to place myself in peak focus on the daily still remains a goal for me, whether that’s through nutrition, fasting, morning & night routines or training.

• Continuous Improvement. Athletes are always striving to enhance their performance in any way possible. Still to this day - I am in a constant growth mindset, looking for ways to improve 1% each day even on the most micro level.

• Teamwork. Most athletes are part of teams and learn to collaborate and communicate effectively. Learning to be an individual whilst also being a good team player is something that transitioned well into the working environment for me. The mindset of the team was an important part of sporting years and remains the same today.

• Passion & Dedication. As an athlete, I remember just loving the feeling of showing up each day, even when you were tired. This commitment and enthusiasm can help fuel you once you find something that you really enjoy within your career.

• Health & Wellness. Adopting an athlete’s approach to how you take care of yourself will better support you in the long term. Everything from feeling physically fitter to mentally stronger through building certain habits and routines. This one I speak about quite a bit on here.

• Coachability. An athlete’s ability to be great can’t be done on their own. They require a trusted coach or mentor to provide feedback on how to improve their performance. I have always been a coachable player through sport, and It remained the same into my career. I have been able to take on all feedback from managers and senior teammates over the years. This helped me learn quickly and build new skills whilst building trust in my abilities.

• Competitiveness. Most athletes have a winning mentality and desire to outperform the competitors. If you know me personally, I am really competitive. I believe this was part of my fuel, particularly earlier in my career to prove a point and position myself by putting in the work required.

I genuinely believe that my success to date has a lot to do with these traits I had acquired in my earlier years competing in sport.

To this day, I correlate a lot of business with sporting metaphors and philosophies as I believe they go hand in hand.

That’s it for another week my friends.

It’s an opportunity that I appreciate and I’m grateful to be able to share my thoughts and ideas around a topic that is so close to me.

I hope you gained something from this issue fam.

If you are in a position on building your career, wanting to learn more about leadership and building teams, feel free to reach out.

Have a good week fam!

JC