Business lessons from an (almost) Olympic sprinter

Alex Jordan uses key lessons he learnt in high performance sport on a daily basis in his business and in his work for other businesses. He explains why you must approach business with an athlete’s mind.

Alex Jordan was within a whisker of qualifying for the London Olympics as a sprinter and was already competing professionally in Europe for part of each year, when he realised that a serious health condition, triggered by the very activity that he was pursuing, meant that he would have to turn his back on a career as an elite athlete.

Born and raised in Nelson, Alex went to Nayland College where he was introduced to sprinting. He won New Zealand Secondary Schools 100m and 200m titles before going on to win five national titles in 200m and 400m events at senior level.

In 2012 Alex began to get sick after every 400m race and would end up in hospital for two to three days. “This happened for a couple of years,” recalls Alex. “It was affecting my kidneys and carried a risk of renal failure. It was also affecting me mentally. There is nothing worse than rocking up to a race knowing that if I am to try and win, I’ll be throwing up for the next 48 hours and will end up in hospital.”

Little did Alex know that he would be able to translate lessons learned in athletics into his own business in a way that would be powerful and transformational for other business owners.

“After graduating from Massey University through the Prime Minister’s scholarship I had been awarded as a sprinter, I worked in some traditional jobs at both web development and digital performance companies before founding my own business Museo Analytics last year.

“Moving from athletics (sprinting) to digital marketing was a relatively seamless transition. Athletics is a sport where you measure everything: times on the track, every training rep, your progress in the weight room – it’s extremely analytical.

“Working in digital marketing is the same. You measure every input; whether it’s ads or content and then see what effect it has had on a business’ revenue.”

“Working in digital marketing is the same. You measure every input; whether it’s ads or content and then see what effect it has had on a business’ revenue.”

Top 5 business lessons

Alex uses key lessons he learnt in high performance sport on a daily basis in his business and in his work for other businesses. Here are his top five lessons from athletics that apply to business:

1. Set goals and then plan what you need to do to hit them. Goal setting is huge in any part of life. Whether it is wanting to run 46 seconds over 400m or make a million dollars in revenue, decide what you want to achieve, make a realistic plan, and then EXECUTE it with intent every day.

2. Surround yourself with smart, positive people. In sport you have a coach, nutritionist, mentors, and psychologists whom you trust wholeheartedly. Finding the comparative version of these people in business is just as important. I certainly don’t know everything so I find positive people who do know and ASK for help. Nine times out of 10 they are willing to help.

3. Know when to rest. Overtraining in sport leads to injury and burnout. Exactly the same thing happens in business. If you try to push through 14-hour work days, eventually you’ll break – mentally and physically. Have days off, otherwise you’ll be forced to.

4. Not every day will be great. It’s impossible to hit personal bests in every race or training session. Business is exactly the same. You might not hit the right notes in a meeting and more often than not, things won’t go to plan. Learn from it, laugh it off, and come back the next day full of energy.

5. Smile and remember why you are doing this. One of the most important things I learnt from my sports psychologist while I was sprinting is that when I am feeling hyper anxious and nervous going into a race it’s important to remember that “I chose this”. Just as I chose to dedicate a portion of my life to running fast over 400m, when starting a business or venture, or when nervous going into a big pitch or meeting, just think back and remember “I chose to do this” and embrace the feelings that come along with it. Anxiety soon turns to excitement.

I know we said five tips, but here’s a bonus one:

6. Back yourself. Usain Bolt didn’t become the world record holder by thinking he was mediocre. You are doing better and you know more than you think. Believe that you can build a business and nail a pitch and more than likely, you will.

www.museo.co.nz

Pictured below: Alex in his sprinting days.