Across the end of July to the start of August, the UK has had the immense privilege of hosting the 2022 Commonwealth Games.
Taking place just down the road from us in Birmingham, the events have been great to watch, with some of the most talented athletes in the world competing at the very highest level.
Alongside enjoying the fantastic sporting feats that we’ve been treated to over these past few days, these superhuman competitors can also teach us valuable lessons about the notion of hard work and training, particularly for you as a business owner.
Find out what secrets you can learn from the performance of these individuals at the 2022 Commonwealth Games.
Detailed planning and rigorous training are the keys to success
First and foremost, these high-level athletes teach us the value of detailed planning and rigorous training if you want to succeed.
Take Scottish 1,500-metre runner Laura Muir, holder of a British record for the silver medal performance she gave at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
Muir is clearly one of Britain’s premier athletes, but she didn’t get there by accident. On the contrary, it’s the culmination of years of training and planning, pushing her body as hard as she can between events.
As reported by Runner’s World, Muir’s schedule includes:
- Training six days a week, including three track sessions and running around 50 to 60 miles a week
- Hitting the gym once a week, pushing herself through body weight exercises, as well as light barbell training
- Keeping her diet clean, eating porridge all year round, reducing carbs in the summer to stay at race weight, and avoiding alcohol as far as possible.
Muir may have a natural talent for running, but it’s all the hard work behind the scenes that have made her globally successful.
For you and your business, this shows the immense value of careful, regimented planning.
Whether that’s planning your business’s finances down to every penny spent, or looking to improve knowledge across your company with upskilling and training days, you should look to plan in just the same way if you want to compete at the highest level.
Changing the game and leaving a legacy
The next lesson you can take from these remarkable individuals is the immense value in blazing a trail to change the game and leave a legacy.
We probably won’t know for many years whether any of the current crop of athletes have left their mark on their respective sport yet. That’s why it’s necessary to take a trip back in time to see the long-term impact of what it means to be a true gamechanger.
Rewind to Vancouver, Canada, in 1954, where the newly named “British Empire and Commonwealth Games” hosted a race that would later become known as the “Miracle Mile”.
Earlier that year on 6 May, English runner Roger Bannister had run the first-ever recorded sub-four-minute mile, completing his loop in a remarkable 3:59.4.
Yet Bannister’s record would last just 46 days, as Australian runner John Landy went on to beat it with a time of 3:57.9 on 21 June.
So, on 7 August at the Commonwealth Games, the final of the one-mile event between Bannister and Landy was one to watch. In fact, it was the first time in history that two runners who had completed a sub-four-minute mile had competed against one another.
Ultimately, Bannister won the race after a remarkable chase down from the final corner that’s well worth a watch on YouTube if you’ve never seen it.
Already a world-record holder, Bannister’s achievement on the day cemented his place in history as a trailblazer, setting a standard that nearly all middle-distance runners look to meet early on in their careers these days.
You should aspire to do the same in your business. Look to be the first name that comes to mind when customers need your products or services, and be the measuring stick that other businesses in your sector aspire to in their offering.
It’s okay to run in someone else’s slipstream at the start of the race. But by the end, you want to be the first one crossing the line and taking home that gold medal.
The most important ingredient of all? Dedication and hard work
The fact is that the success of these athletes is no secret, it’s simply the outcome of years and years of dedication and hard work. Professional sportspeople put their bodies on the line, and let nothing stop them on their path towards being at the very top of their game.
Take England swimmer Adam Peaty, looking to compete in his home games as a Staffordshire boy raised just 45 minutes from Birmingham.
Peaty’s hopes of competing at the FINA world championships earlier this year were dashed by a freak accident in May, in which he broke his foot.
But Peaty isn’t taking this lying down. As he told the press in June about his prospects for making it to the games: “[four weeks] is not a long time to get properly ready for a championship at all, but if anyone can do it, I can do it”.
As a business owner, Peaty’s never-say-die attitude shows you everything you need to know about the sacrifices that top-level sportspeople make for their careers.
You need this grit and sheer determination to succeed in your business. Even when it feels like the odds are stacked against you, hard work is the key ingredient you need to push yourself and your business to the limit.
The last thing Adam Peaty wants is to get to the end of his career believing that he could have done more to win titles and trophies. You should take the same approach to your business, turning it into the very best version of itself that you know it can be.
Want to give your money a workout? Speak to us
If you’d like to design a training regime that helps your money to perform at the level you need it to, then please do get in touch with us at Henwood Court.
Email info@henwoodcourt.co.uk or call 0121 313 1370 to find out how we can help you.
