Lessons From Athletes: How To Be Great In Your Field

Have you ever stopped to think about what makes a great athlete really great?

I mean, why are there so few really super great athletes in the sport? What is that special something that allows them to go from mediocre to great? How the hell do we get our hands on that? What is available to us? Are we crazy to believe that we could ever be considered a great athlete?

Having spent almost half of my adult life in and around professional sports with my husband’s Major League Baseball career, I think I have some exciting ideas to help us mere mortals fully embrace our potential or realize that our greatness may be a little more finite than we are. I had expected. But even with the most enviable ways to greatness, there can be pitfalls and pitfalls in each.

greatness is born While working with a group of 12-year-old boys, I realized that the affinity for being truly athletic is very obvious in young children. It has something to do with the way their bodies are built and the way they move. Everything you teach them comes quickly and easily. There is so much potential because the place these lucky people start from is far above mere mortals. Finding the sport to apply those skills is usually the hardest part because they enjoy and excel at EVERYTHING! The good part: they are naturally good, the athlete is often a star at everything, the bad part is that there is the potential to be lazy and rely on their natural gifts and not work on it.

Greatness unfolds. This means taking an above average athlete and giving them sport-specific training and attention. By providing many opportunities to play the sport and apply the lessons, the athlete develops a higher level of ability and achievement. The good part: improving as an athlete through skills and exercises. The bad part: Potential burnout, especially if they’re not allowed to explore and challenge themselves in other athletic ways.

Greatness is expected. These are the athletes who have always been told and taught that nothing less than the best is good enough, winning is everything. For many people, this is a lifelong pursuit, to always be the best at anything and everything they do. Truly, they don’t understand any other way because it’s instilled in them like manners or southern charm. The good part: they have unwavering determination… the bad part: it only takes one big mess to bring the house of cards crashing down on their perfectionist ways.

Greatness is supported. This one is huge! It is a fact that while we may see the incredible athlete run a world record mile, score the game-winning goal, or lift the greatest weight in history, no winning athlete did it alone. They all had a coach or coaches, people to maintain their bodies, people to help them work on their mental game, deal with their team, manage travel plans. Behind every great athlete is a group of support staff (or family) that is critical to the athletes’ success. The good part: every possible weakness is covered by support, the bad part: think about the resources needed!

Greatness is imagined and believed. I believe that this is the most powerful of all and the one that most of us can take advantage of without limits or costs. It’s a deeply rooted, almost physical sense of knowing EXACTLY where the athlete is going, what will be accomplished, and how he will feel when completing the task. It is like a movie that they have seen and memorized so well that it is impossible to know where the dream ends and reality begins. A person may be devoid of all previous sources of greatness, but belief is free to all who have been given a dream. That becomes the compass that all athletes who train, eat, study and relate use as their lodestar. I bet if you were to ask the most successful athletes in the world how strong their belief and vision was in their success, you would be surprised by the intensity of this source of greatness. The good part: Anyone at any level can use this for greatness in any field or endeavor. The bad part: maybe the first time we try it, our vision doesn’t match our reality. But the beautiful thing is that this component will always be in the process of refinement and that will always propel us forward.

In the end, that’s all some of us can get. Begin today by allowing the dream and vision you have for your life to be your lodestar. It was put into you for a reason, and that reason is for you to go the distance to YOUR greatness!