6 minute read
Performance Tips from Elite Athletes at 60,000 Feet
Dr. Roddy Carter
Picture yourself seated on your favorite commercial airline waiting for take-off. You might find yourself thinking about the daunting task ahead. How do we get this massive flying machine and its occupants into the air?
As an ambitious entrepreneur, I’m sure that you feel the same excitement, fear and responsibility as you stare down the runway ahead. Driven by a distant vision of your prosperous enterprise, you’re taking substantial risks, with the future of your loved ones in your hands.
And then you hear that very strange, ubiquitous piece of advice.
If you’re a caring human being, especially if you have your own children on the flight with you, these words seem bizarrely inappropriate. It is hard to imagine myself taking care of my own needs ahead my children’s, even (perhaps especially) in the dire circumstances of an aviation disaster.
Dr. Roddy Carter
But it works! And every airline gives this same advice for good reason. The image of mid-air emergency drills will resonate with many entrepreneurs, struggling through a chaotic sequence of near catastrophes. You feel like you’re fighting to survive, at best- never mind perform.
This counter-intuitive directive is entirely relevant to the perilous start-up phase of your business journey. Your strong instinct is to look after others first—your employees, your friends and your family. You put yourself last, always. Your mother taught you this as a child. That’s how you become a nice person.
But, to be a successful entrepreneur, you must always take care of yourself … first! So, what does this look like for the over-worked, under-resourced start-up leader?
The answer lies in a biologic truth that is well understood by elite athletes … at least, the successful ones. Intense effort can only be maintained with careful attention to recuperation. Stress must be followed by recovery. When they get the balance right, nature’s magical forces not only ensure survival, they guarantee high level performance.
This principle is powerfully relevant to the entrepreneur. You depend on prolonged personal performance to succeed in your brave venture. You know better than anybody else that you must pitch up to work feeling creative, acting determined, and smiling hard day-after-day for extended periods of time in order to contemplate success.
Like the elite athlete, you must balance mental, emotional and physical stress with rest. When you do this, you not only rejuvenate regularly, but you also grow in strength—that’s Mother Nature’s intriguing design. Unfortunately, the macho start-up culture we have today suggests that you won’t be successful without working so hard that you risk a near-death experience. Luckily, Olympic athletes are smarter than this. Entrepreneurs should follow their lead.
Elite athletes have learnt one of Nature’s fundamental rules. The major currency of success is not time, it’s energy.
If your day is anything like mine, you’re wishing for more time to get your long to-do list under control. This will never happen. So, the determined entrepreneur must ensure optimal use of the time you have. Firing on all cylinders when you work is one way of doing this. Managing energy becomes critical.
At its most fundamental level, energy is a simple biochemical process. You burn it to do work—physical, mental, emotional and even psychic work. And it must be replenished, physically. You can’t invent energy. No amount of will-power, or even cash, can generate fresh energy reserves. It must come from deep within your biology, and this happens while you rest.
Don’t be confused by the word “rest”. Recuperation doesn’t need to be passive. You don’t need to be flat on your back with your eyes closed to be rejuvenating. Active recuperation includes exercise, socializing and hobbies. Like the cross-training of elite athletes, this drives mental, emotional and physical freshness.
But sleep is important. It’s the time of day that your brain sorts through and organizes the vast amount of data that you accumulate while awake. Especially as an entrepreneur, you are learning all the time— soaking up new information every day. Start-up life moves fast, and your brain needs sufficient time in this vital processing phase to ensure your strategic integrity. You simply must get enough sleep … your performance depends on it!
The efficiency of your regeneration depends on the shape you’re in. Like the elite athlete, when you’re in good physical condition, your body is highly efficient in storing energy in your biological batteries. So, you must exercise … your performance depends on it!
Finally, the substrate for energy generation is your food. If you want to be a high performing athlete in your business, you need to focus on quality substrate. You can put low-octane fuel into a race car, but sooner or later its engine will splutter and shudder, and the competitors will grin as they race past your stalling vehicle. So too with your body. To be a top-performer, you must enjoy a healthy diet … your performance depends on it!
Mother Nature has designed you for success. When you honor your natural design, she rewards you with health, happiness and prosperity—in its broadest possible definition. The success of your business, and the wellbeing of your family, your employees and your investors depends on your personal performance, which in turn depends on you getting Nature’s delicate balance right.
So, next time you feel the turbulence of your thrilling, but exhausting entrepreneurial journey … fasten your seatbelt and reach for the oxygen mask. But remember … put your own mask on first. Your life and success depends on it!
Read more about Roddy Carter, MD and BodyWHealthÒ at www.BodyWHealth.org, where he inspires and educates hardworking men and women to unlock the biology of success. Take advantage of free membership of the WHealthClub for active military, veterans and law enforcement officers.
Dr. Roddy Carter
