Pushing Performance

How far can you push your performance?

Is there a limit to your abilities? There is. Can you enhance your abilities? You can.

To be able to perform to our best, we need to consider if we are able, ready and willing. For this, we focus on skills, attitude and mindset. The competitive athlete works on all three dimensions; he focuses on building his abilities, enhancing his capabilities, and developing his competitive mindset. He, then, must race to determine his level of performance.

I have learnt much from pushing my personal performance in the marathons from the top-30 percent to the top-3 percent. It took me six years to complete my first double-marathon, and in doing so made the top-10 percent in the field of participants. The road leading here has been paved with learning, training, competing, measuring, and comparing. I had my fair share of pain and discomfort; then serious with the fun. Every step is calculated, and we may be calculating and calculative depending on our focus.

Without limiting yourself about genetics, natural talent, background and experience you can still improve your performance as a leader in sports and our profession. Competition and the next personal challenge, can give us an opportunity to rise above our complacence and into the territory of our potential.

How do you extend your performance? How far can you push, before you get pushed back? How did you bounce back from injury and disappointment? In life, we can get our ego bruised and pride injured. Yet, we can engage the sustaining values of determination, resilience, persistence, and passion to rise above our mediocrity and into the next level of our performance.

You need not do this alone; you can seek the counsel of a coach, training partner, business associate or consultant. You can benefit fro somebody else’s successes and mistakes. I wish well at your next Ironman triathlon, marathon, open-water swim, or cross-country run!