How do you value your self-worth? Do you stay focused on your purpose? Or do you let external factors weigh on your shoulders?
Lessons from Ash Barty, Dylan Alcott and Stephanie Gilmore
What Kind Of Human Do You Want To Be?
What kind of human do you want to be, what words would come to mind?
These are the words of Ben Crowe, Ash Barty’s mindset coach who also works with well known Australian champions like Dylan Alcott and Stephanie Gilmore.
In essence it is mindset that goes to the inner sanctum of why we do what we do. What is our purpose as a human being. What is the purpose of our organisation?
Crowe adds:
No matter what happens today, if you just focused on those words, the human (or organisation) that you want to be . .. that is success. Success, for me, is not in achievement.
It makes sense I suppose, considering that we are “human beings” not “human doings”.
Does “Achievement” Determine Your Self-Worth?
The Pandemic has constantly shifted our goal posts, particularly if it is achievement that determines your success and ‘self-worth’.
How has the pandemic changed you or your organisation?
Change is a constant in our lives. The more that we can build our foundations on our prime purpose beyond commercial and business success, the happier our live regardless of the many challenges (that are mostly beyond our control).
It is rewarding working with CEO’s that get this. They get the fact that “if I can build a culture that follows a purpose that builds people’s success both externally and internally this tends to drive commercial success itself“.
Commercial Success, Self-Worth & Organisation Culture
One Bridgeworks client in the food industry has done it particularly tough commercially. Yet the CEO has remained steadfast that investment needs to continually be put into his culture. It’s our staff who are the customers. Look after them, the rest follows, including commercial success.
As the former sports marketing director at Nike, Ben Crowe recognised a pattern in the athletes with whom he worked, and later on, in the successful businesspeople he coached: many were struggling under the pressure of external validation, be it from winning, making money, achieving social or corporate status.
“We’re so distracted by achievement and results, more than the process of going there”
The Losing Game
Focusing on what is outside our control, like the expectation of outcomes or the expectations of others, not only leads to stress, pressure and anxiety, it is a losing game.
Champion surfer Stephanie Gilmore has mentioned the importance of being “able to recenter myself at every event, letting go of past results and not think about future potential results”.
Instead, by focusing our attention on what we can control, like who we want to be, we remove external “distractions” and can focus without fear.
In one of your quiet moments, ask yourself that question – “what kind of human do you want to be?”
In an interviewed before the Tokyo Paralympics, Dylan Alcott summed up the mindset formula that clearly works for him:
“If you asked me two years ago, I would have been like ‘yeah man, I want the golden slam’. Now, I could not care less. The only expectation I can have is to be the best version of myself every time I go on the court. I’ve got a goal to win, but I don’t have an expectation to win any more.”
Speaking about the power of “Mindset” and “Vision”, I invite you to read about the life journey of West Papuan Jefry Yikwa and listen to our podcast series in this post Two Journeys One World Podcast.
At Bridgeworks, we particularly enjoy connecting CEO’s, teams and leaders of influence, up with their purpose and clarifying why they are in business. This challenge softens the blows in dealing with market uncertainty such as COVID.
Raw Nerve?
Wayne Dyson
0402 300999
Extracts courtesy Sarah Berry, Sydney Morning Herald
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