At the moment, I am lucky enough to be in beautiful Queenstown, New Zealand.  I had the privilege of meeting Natalie Cook – a 5 time Olympian in Beach Volleyball (she is the only woman to have ever achieved this).  In her Olympic career she has won both a bronze medal in 1996 and a gold medal in 2000 – an unbelievable accomplishment.   In meeting Natalie and listening to her speak, I was inspired as she made her road to success sound so simple, she explained how she was able to sustain her motivation for over 20 years to be the best.

It was all about the following 3 steps: -

1.                   The What and Why

2.                   The Strategies

3.                   The Rewards and Recovery.

These 3 simple rules are very similar to the Running Theory that I have explained on previous blogs and speak about at my seminars.

Let’s have a closer look at all 3 steps and how we can relate them to our businesses.

The What and Why.
Natalie had a What and Why – she broke down her goals, she knew on exactly what date and time she wanted to win a gold medal in beach volleyball.

Do you know what your businesses exact What and Why is? Is it to reach a revenue target? Is it a gross profit margin you want to achieve? Or is it focused around the bottom line – net profit, or the amount left for you to spend and enjoy?

Natalie made it very clear that until you have established your What and Why – you have set no purpose so you are unable to sustain the drive to get there.

“You have set sail with no clear destination in place!”

The Strategies.
Just being acknowledged in your chosen sport is hard enough, let alone being the best in the world and winning an Olympic gold medal.  Natalie achieved this.

She trained hard, watched what she ate, and surrounded herself with the best possible team of coaches, medics and family with one target in mind – to win Gold. What does your business target look like?

Have you surrounded yourself with the best possible team to achieve this target? Your employees and business Partners, a solicitor, and an accountant? Are your family and friends actively supporting you? You need to focus totally on your goal, have 100% commitment and discipline to achieve that one thing that is your What!

Surround yourself with experts in their chosen field to help you achieve your What – for example, an accountant that can help and guide you!
 

The Rewards & Recovery.
Natalie Cook trained for 6 hours a day, 6 days per week over a 20-year period to be the best.

Do you have that commitment, balance, and desire to continually succeed? Most importantly though, Natalie rewarded herself along the way and certainly allowed herself time to recover.  Natalie climbed many mountains, but allowed time for rewards and recovery, but most importantly, she kept on going.

After you have set your businesses What and Why and you have worked hard with total focus, commitment and discipline, it is time to reward yourself a little and allow time to recover. But remember you also must set your next goal or mountain to climb.

The key here is to set yourself targets along the way, focus and then go after them – success will not come to those that are not hungry enough to achieve.

What is important to your business - what’s your Gold Medal? Need a hand at defining your business goals or planning how to achieve them? Leave a comment or visit my profile.