It’s no secret that most successful athletes have good reasons to prepare to become an entrepreneur of sorts after their playing days are over. Some of them are already planting seeds to grow a great empire while they are still playing.
Now, not all of us may be professional athletes, but we have all been involved in some kind of sport for a long period of time. I have been involved in sports all my life and most of the time I prefer to play football and basketball. Whether it was high school football on Fridays or softball on Tuesday afternoons, I enjoyed playing every minute of it. During this time, I acquired knowledge and habits that will be useful to me for the rest of my life. Below, I’ll show you why former athletes, pros or Bush league athletes, become great entrepreneurs. (Why Exercising Prepares You for Entrepreneurship)
Table of Contents
1. We have the ambition to be the best.
From the first game to the last, you never want to lose, and that competitive fire that lives in your soul extends to everything you do. When you start a business, you don’t set yourself the goal of becoming a mediocre company. You set out to be the University of Alabama football team by dominating the finish line every year. Not everyone can be Bama, it turns out you can be. Mizzu Football and work hard to succeed.
2. We strive to make the people around us better.
Very early on, your coach tells your team that you are only as strong as your weakest link. If someone struggled with a particular serve or play, you stayed after practice to make sure they understood. Now that you’re starting your company or are a seasoned veteran, you need to make sure your employees or colleagues have everything they need to grow.
3. We are used to insane schedules and terrible sleep habits.
It was common in high school to stay up late for a test and still be overweight at 6am before school. Now replace the test with a sentence and the weight with a flight or meeting and you’re done.
4. We want to improve every day.
All those days of weight training after school during the off-season have shown us that it takes time to improve our skills. You may not see significant improvements every day, but when you look back in a month, you will be pleasantly surprised. As Muhammad Ali so convincingly put it, “I hated every minute of training, but I said, ‘Don’t quit. Suffer now and live the rest of your life like a champion.”
5. We have learned to understand and recognize fakes.
Every year someone would come in with all the new expensive gear or talk about a huge game. But as soon as the whistle blew, real talent or lack of it showed up. When you build a company, people will come to you with a fancy website or business card, but once you ask them a few questions, they fall apart. People will promise you the world, but you can see them in an instant.
6. We can trust others.
Trust is the most important thing, in my opinion, what sport has taught me. In every game, you had to look at this court or field and know that these 4 or 10 other people would support you no matter what. Now you should be sure that your developer or CEO will do their best to help you.
7. We finally know how to bounce back from setbacks or setbacks.
After every defeat, we knew that there would be another game in a week. We have learned not to dwell on defeats and instead use that passion to get better.
For anyone who feels like they are in a crisis, I leave you with these powerful words from the eternal Jim Valvano: “Don’t give up. Never give up”. Even if you are not in a crisis, take these words to heart and use your gifts for great things.
