How having a winning sports mindset can work in your business

The London 2012 Olympics was the first major sporting competition that I can recall that actually looked at how the mind can effect sports performance and talked about it so openly.  I thought this was great as coaching the mind is not just for when you have an issue it is very much about enhancing performance.  There were some great pieces on Sports Psychology and some great quotes from those that have been there and done it!

So what can we learn from these beliefs held by elite athletes that we can take into our own sporting or business arena.

'I don't own winning, I wanted to win' - Carl Lewis

'Top athletes perceive pressure as a privilege' - Tom Bates

'...pressure so high at that point, all things being equal it's the person who handles that moment and the pressure at that particular time best, that's going to have their best performance' - Michael Johnson

'I'm about to go to battle' - Michael Johnson

'Four years preparation for a few moments of action' - Matthew Syed

'Control the controllables' - Sir Matthew Pinsent

'You can only control how you perform' - Michael Johnson

'Thoughts become things and what we think affects the way we feel and the way we feel ultimately affects the way that we behave and ultimately in the sporting context - performance' - Tom Bates

'Find something that works for you' - Jonathan Edwards

'That minute difference between victory and defeat on the biggest stage of all is often to be found not in skill or effort but in the recesses of the mind' - Matthew Syed

Take a moment to think about a situation or activity you have coming up where you want to be at your best.  Pick a quote and think about your situation as if you hold that thought to be true - what does it tell you now about how you see and feel about the situation - what will you do differently?  What will you do the same?

Whether you are an athlete or in business, competing in any arena you needs to have mind and body working together and mental coaching techniques will help you achieve your goals and perform in the most competitive of environments.

The model below I use with athletes so they can see the different areas that coaching can work with - these are as relevant for business as they are for sport.

Now you may think overcoming injury is not very relevant to business but if someone feels injured this can have as devastating an effect on their work as an athlete being physically injured.

So what sports winning mentality will you have today?