Have you ever noticed how athletes tend to succeed in many areas? Not only are they physically fit, but they tend to do well in business and other endeavors as well. It’s no coincidence. To succeed in sports, you have to follow a certain routine in order to get results. If you apply that same training philosophy to your life outside sports, you can advance quickly and leapfrog over others like they’re standing still.
That’s the conclusion I’ve come to watching people at the gym this fall.
It’s one of the many benefits I’ve gleaned since I decided to join my husband in his morning routine once the kids went back to school this year. We work out three times a week at the University of Delaware student fitness center where we share equipment with athletes, students, and other faculty.
Now I have to admit that I was very intimidated on my first day there. Not only are most of these kids half my age, Robert immediately dragged me into the weight training room, the inner sanctum of the male athlete. You can smell the testosterone there (or maybe it’s just the b.o.). Anyway, they stared at me, I stared at them, and we all came to the same conclusion: I didn’t belong there. But I stayed anyway. I’m glad I did. Not only have I shed 15 pounds and two dress sizes in the last eight weeks, I’ve learned some very valuable business lessons from my fellow gym rats.
Perhaps you can benefit as well. Here’s what I’ve learned from jocks (stereotypical athlete) that most business people don’t know.
They:
1. Dress for Success
Athletes invest in clothing and equipment that prevent injury and enhance performance. Jock straps, sports bras, moisture-wicking fabrics, high-tech footwear — you can tell in an instant who’s committed to fitness and who’s not simply by what they wear. If they show up in an oversized t-shirt and scuzzy tennis shoes, you know they’re not very serious.
In business, knowing and wearing your industry “uniform” instantly conveys your level of commitment. It says that you’ve learned what’s appropriate and are dressing to achieve results. If you ignore that uniform and “do your own thing,” you won’t be seen as a maverick – you’ll be seen as uneducated, or worse yet, an embarrassment. When one of Robert’s scientific colleagues collected a Biology Department award from Governor Minner in a formal ceremony recently while wearing a neon top, khaki shorts, and hiking boots, he fell into the latter category.
2. Dress to Impress
While people who are out of shape tend to hide beneath oversized clothes and billowy silhouettes, most athletes like to wear clothes that fit well and show off their toned physique. When you spend that much time and effort doing something, you want people to notice.
