The Athlete's Mindset

It's a specific set of skills and traits all athletes have in common to a different degree. 

Resilience - the capacity to withstand or to recover quickly from difficulties; toughness. 

Patience - the capacity to accept or tolerate delay, problems, or suffering without becoming annoyed or anxious.

Focus - the center of interest or activity.

Desire - a strong feeling of wanting to have something.

Are any of those skills and traits beneficial to have in life or business? 

Think about any previous project, goal, or relationship in which "having more of any" would have been handy? Or better, think about any current project, goal, or relationship you could positively impact by intentionally strengthening those skills?

Can you have or cultivate all of these traits without doing any sports? Absolutely! Is it easier to train and improve an athlete's mindset by actually doing sports? You bet! 

It's picking an empowering goal and executing it until the goal is achieved. Will you face obstacles and challenges on the way? Yes, you will! Will this stop you? No, if you have what it takes: an athlete's mindset. Surrendering to the process, keeping an open mind, and looking for solutions rather than problems. 

Running is a great tool; it requires no particular skill or heavy investment in terms of money or time. Get a pair of trainers, and out you go - set a goal and encourage friends and colleagues to join. You'll see who's still at the finish line - hopefully, it's not only you! Once you achieve the goal, you move to a bigger goal - this time, it might not even be sport-related - but it's based on the same skill set. 

Most people focus most of their energy on all kinds of things, while the mind and "how to think" is actually one of your most powerful tool.