ONE IDEA

Put the right people around you to help you succeed.

THE WHY

In a study of the development and maintenance of expert athletic performance, researchers Durand-Bush and Salmela (2002) concluded that although individual athletes may have unique paths to world class performance, they share several common success factors. Beyond training and personality characteristics, the athletes interviewed in this study cited factors such as parents, coaches, teammates/friends, support staff, other athletes, and school/education, as instrumental towards their success. In other words, they had great people around them.

MY THOUGHTS/ PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS

If you are trying to achieve a goal, big or small, the absolute best thing you can do for yourself is put good people around you. As an athlete, I’ve spent many years trying to be my own technical coach, physiotherapist, travel agent, tournament planner, and psychologist. It just doesn’t work. In 2015, I joined the Canadian Sport Centre Atlantic and began putting an expert team around me. Doing so did wonders to my athletic development.

I continue to apply that same idea to this day by asking people who have different expertise and more varied experience than me on how to grow a successful business.

INSPIRATIONAL QUOTE

“The strength of the team is each individual member. The strength of each member is the team.”

–Phil Jackson

References

Durand-Bush, N., & Salmela, J. H. (2002). The development and maintenance of expert athletic performance: Perceptions of world and Olympic champions. Journal of Applied Sport Psychology, 14(3), 154-171. https://doi.org/10.1080/10413200290103473