Training

I got to thinking about training the other night when Ryan Lochte competed against Michael Phelps in the swimming Olympic qualifiers of the 400 Individual Medley.  Before the races the announcers were talking about how Michael Phelps had won his 8 gold medals over two Olympics and that Ryan Lochte had played second in several of those races.  Since Beijing, Ryan was determined to beat Michael Phelps, and had done so in the last World Championships.

The qualifying races played out and the two went head to head in the semifinals.  Ryan Lochte swam a good race and was almost a full body length ahead of Michael Phelps and ended up beating Michael.  Both qualified for the Olympics in the 400 IM.

After the race, the announcer had Michael and Ryan side by side and she asked Michael how the race went.  He replied (not an exact quote but something like this), “It went well, I have a few things to work on in training over the coming weeks but I will be ready—the Olympics are where it counts.”  She then asked Ryan how he felt winning.  “I’ve trained hard for many years for this.  It is good coming out here today, but I have to keep training and stay on track for my goals.”

This is what made me think about training. All of the world’s Olympic hopefuls and Olympic competitors have worked extremely hard for the last four years.  They push themselves to the limits for the shot at gold.  Only a few make it from each country, and only a few get gold. None the less they train each day, every month, all year for something they believe in.

What are you doing daily to train in your work?

Are you training each day, every month, all year?

DAILY TRAINING:  Work each day to learn a little more about different skills you can apply to your business.  Customer service skills, personality differences, sales basics, advanced sales techniques, phone skills, communication skills.  Are there any programs for your job you can learn that will help you be more proficient in your work?

DAILY COACHING:  Is there a mentor at work, or outside of work, that can help you become better?  Are there things you can learn from the top person in the office or at your work?   If you are the top person, who can you help coach.  Many times when you are coaching others you learn as much from them as they do from you.

DAILY ROLE PLAYING:  Do you practice word skills, sales scenarios, role-play sales basics, with your boss or co-worker?   Doing this keeps you on your game.  If you sit back and wait for things to happen, you won’t be fresh or ready to perform.

MONTHLY:  Do you track your progress? Are you constantly looking at your goals or forecasts to see if you are on track or not?  Are you analyzing your performance to see the areas where you need to do a bit more training, or practicing to get better?

YEARLY:  Do you go to seminars, take webinars, read books, analyze your goals for the year and set new ones?

If athletes can train daily, monthly, and yearly . . . why can’t you?

–Tim Northburg
LifeWork Elements

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