Adopt the attitude of an athlete – Soulfully Connecting

Progressing in your career or business is a lot like being an athlete. To really progress you need drive, dedication, hard work, belief and to put in many hours of training and development to survive and thrive. You need to have the right mindset, approach and strategy.

As a life / business coach I’m fascinated by sports and the drive, focus, work ethic, confidence, skill and determination of athletes and sports stars. In fact of course life coaching owes much to psychology on the one side.

Prior to being a life/business coach, the first 10 years of my career was in media / PR and then I was a singer / performer. Both of these are tough challenging industries. Perhaps the industry that you are in – or wish to go into is demanding, competitive and challenging too. If so you need to raise your game. You need to take charge. As I put it ‘your career is your business’.

Here’s a few quick tips to help win the prize:

Study your field: Watch, listen, learn and study what’s going on in and around you in your current / chosen field. Learn from and observe key players, influencers and key developments – stay sharp.
Master your craft: How good are you at what you do? What skills / abilities do you have and which need working on? What’s the quality of your product? What could / needs to be developed? Rare are the short cuts in the long run. In many fields it takes years to truly master one’s craft, so be patient.
Gather a great team – Even an athlete in an individual sport has a team around them. List the kind of formal / informal team, skills and expertise you 1) have already 2) additionally need to flourish. Your ability to ask for, attract and sometimes hire the support you need will be key to your success. Don’t let ego or shyness stop you from fulfilling your potential.
Win and keep supporters: It’s amazing how a crowd and close ones lift an athlete to succeed. Who are and could be your flag bearers, sponsors, introducers and ambassadors? This quality of really winning people over, being likeable, honouring those who support you and sharing your success is a very important factor in those who are truly deeply respected and loved.
Give 100% Put your whole being into what you do. If you’re looking to climb the corporate ladder or if you’re building your own business it’s your energy, passion, drive and quality of product / performance that can help single you out as a leader.
Keep your eye on competitors: Enjoy the competition, learn from others and you may find ways to even train / work together. It’s often the spirit of rich competition that brings out the best in us and makes us achieve beyond even what we thought – so be grateful for this aspect of life, don’t fear it.
Run your own race – be authentic, forge and follow your own path. This is the flip side of competition. A great champion trusts their skills, abilities and instincts. They develop a deeper confidence based on knowing themselves, their skills, their magic and knowing that they are a winner whatever the outcome.

If this theme interests you then there’s more on the attitude of an athlete and developing the clarity, customer-awareness, courage, co-operations, conversations, creativity and change to progress in my book Soul Trader – Putting the Heart Back into Your Business. You can download the first chapter of the book free here.

Rasheed Ogunlaru is an acclaimed life, business and corporate coach whose simple ‘become who you are’ approach has helped countless business owners connect with themselves, their businesses and their customers. His background spans over 20 years in coaching, training, media, PR and performance. Rasheed is the business coach partner to the British Library’s Business and IP Centre and business coach mentor to TiE UK. He is a highly sought-after public speaker and regularly appears in the media, including the BBC, The Times and the Guardian.

He is the author of ‘The Gift of Inner Success’ and ‘Soul Trader – Putting the heart back into your business.’ or Amazon

For information about coaching, motivational talks, or to order one of his inspiring books, CDs and MP3s visit his website or email him

Twitter – @RasheedOgunlaru

or call 020 7207 1082