Incredible concentration, desire, and motivation to be the best or better than they were the day before, getting up when they fall, and striving to improve. These are but a few of the qualities an athlete has. The competitive drive that comes from someone who is an athlete is unmatched by anything you will experience. 

You do not have to be an athlete yourself to share these qualities but here is what you should know and implement in your own life that you can take from these qualities.

A Desire to be the Best

Every athlete you talk to will have someone they inspire to become or someone who inspires them to be better. Whether it is becoming the next Lebron James, or having the mindset of a bodybuilder such as 3X Olympian Bodybuilder, Christian Bumstead. An athlete who is trying to become the next best male distance runner will wake up and put on his running shoes with the goal of being the next record holder in the Olympics. Athletes push themselves to live and breathe like their role models. 

You may not be an athlete yourself but deciding to be the best parent or partner you can be in your relationship or taking this mindset into work so you can get the promotion and be recognized for it, that feeling is unmatched. Taking the desire to be the best and doing what needs to be done to achieve that will not only make you successful but will also give you the satisfaction that you reached the goal, that is a feeling any athlete knows far too well. 

Determination over Motivation

A trait anyone can pick up from an athlete is learning motivation is a mere myth.  Do you think athletes who do the same thing every day in practice are always motivated? Heck no. They are just like you, motivation is temporary. You have to push yourself when your motivation is out the window and you are feeling defeated and you are ready to call it quits, that is when you shake your head and say no. You must let your determination to be the best or to reach your goals be what pushes you when the motivation is out. Athletes are not motivated 24/7 what they are is determined. 

Always Learning

You can be the most talented athlete out there but if you do not know how to improve you are nothing but wasted potential. Want to know an athlete’s secret in being the best they can be? Their coach. Every time an athlete messes up or doesn’t know how to do something they always go to their coach, the mentor they trust, to help them.

A great athlete is a coachable one, one that is willing to learn, this is why even after an athlete gets injured, they are still in the game because they chose to learn how to still be in the game, there are so many athletes that have come back better after an injury due to their desire to learn how to improve. Even after they are done doing their sports, any ex-athlete is always coachable and open to learning. This is a quality you can always implement in your life, choosing to be coachable and becoming a life long learner.  

Thinking that you know it all only tricks you into thinking that you don’t need to keep learning.  This can not only be detrimental to both your career and your personal growth. This is why at work a coachable employee will prevail compared to a manager that believes there is no need to improve something that has been working for so long. Someone with an athlete mentality will be on the lookout for improvements.

Practicing for Perfection

Practice makes perfect, is not just a saying to an athlete, it is their life motto. An athlete is always practicing from the basics to mastering the skills that they are trying to improve on, to an athlete who does the same exercises every day of the week it does not feel like it is for nothing. 

Relay this to yourself, there may be skills that you have mastered.  Skills that moved you up in your career. You may know about the tasks that you were charged to accomplish. What about the practice of being better at who you are? 

Soft skills are sometimes referred to as transferable skills or professional skills. As this term implies, these are skills that are less specialized, less rooted in specific vocations, and more aligned with the general disposition and personality of a candidate.

Skills can always be honed and practiced.

If you’re wanting to learn a sport and lack any motivation then you would probably start off by learning the rules or finding something that interests you. For example, for golf, you would probably start off by learning the rules and then practicing your swing and going out to get the best practice golf mats you can acquire and wake up every day with the mentality of mastering the skills needed. 

Adding this Mentality to your Work

 What one trait or skill that if you worked on, would make your job easier?

• Communication
• Self-Motivation
• Leadership
• Problem Solving
• Time Management
• Conflict Resolution
• Determination
• Or another skill not mentioned

This is your sign to take the qualities of an athlete and implement them in your own life. 

What skill if improved on would help you in your life or work? 

Our lives can get pretty hectic and it can be easy to get lost in our actions. When we are so focused on what is ahead, we forget to pause, reflect and find ways to energize our minds. These 5-minute motivation posts are meant to give you that recharge. The goal is to give you a 5-minute Vitamin for your mind through quotes, posts, and videos. It is also meant to challenge your thinking and inspire you to take action.

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