Pierson Krass
Take one for the team.’ ‘Teed up.’ ‘Knock it out of the park.’ ‘Behind the eight ball.’ The business world has appropriated both language and concepts from the sports world, much of it actually appropriate, from hitting home runs to the importance of team. In sport psychology there’s also much that translates, from the use of mental imagery to establishing performance routines to managing stress, fatigue and burnout. Think about it. Entrepreneurs need to be like high-performance athletes – their company, their team depend on their talents and ability to perform – so why not tap the knowledge of a sport psychologist? We did. And what we learned about performance readiness planning, rethinking positive thinking and building resilience to stress can absolutely fuel success in the realm of entrepreneurship.
This article draws parallels between sport psychology skills and training that can also be useful in the business world. The author speaks with Alex Cohen, Senior Sport Psychologist for the U.S. Olympic Committee who has worked with many elite athletes. I would have never put these sport psychology and entrepreneurship together but through reading this I can see how tools and skills learned in sport psychology can be useful in any field where someone is to perform, not just in sports.
“Performance readiness is essential for when plans go awry in the face of adversity.”
The design research I want to do is to try and solve this problem in runners (track runners specifically) so that they are ready when it comes time to perform regardless of weather, competitor, noise, stadium, travel, etc.
“But if you have to decide in the moment what to do, often it’s too late.’ That’s why the mental contrasting, i.e., the if-then planning for various scenarios or sequences of events, is so important.”
The article also gives some tips that I find useful and also further validate my reasoning for wanting to do this research.
The following are quotes that stood out to me:
- “Thinking through these things ahead of time allows you to be more ready to make decisions–What are my actual actions going to look like? Having that plan can help increase coping skills and reduce stress.”
- “Combining such a plan with training and routines can improve execution, again, whether you’re an athlete or an entrepreneur. ‘Performance is on-demand execution of what you learned’….”
- The routine carries over into the actual performance and knowing how you’re going to respond if something isn’t going as well as you desire–In the sports sense that would be, I can work on regulating my energy, through breathing and imagery, and or I can focus on where I send my attention.’
“Pressure is just a lack of preparation.”
Krass, Pierson. What Entrepreneurs Can Learn From A Sport Psychologist For Olympians. Forbs 2018.
