By: Bobby Dunham, MA, LPCC
When You Were Growing Up, Did You Play Sports? Here’s Why That Matters Now.
For many of us, playing sports was an imperative part of our childhood. We lived for those feelings of being on a team, our competitive natural, fueling our desire to win. Now that we’re older and compete in different realms (our careers) are there things that we are forgetting about ourselves that we used to implement while playing sports? Although we might not be competing against others in a formal setting such as sports, competition is still very present. Now we are competing for a promotion, or just competing with our former self to constantly make improvements. Here are some questions to ask yourself next time you find your confidence slipping at work.
Am I assuming failure with no evidence?
Okay, picture this: it’s the bottom of the ninth, bases loaded, down by three runs, and you are up to bat. The crowed is watching and the pressure is on. Of course, you’re nervous, but think about your mindset walking up to the plate. Is it, “oh, this is going to be bad.” or is it, “I am about to crack that ball into next week?” Naturally, we needed to be confident and believe in ourselves before we could be successful in our sport, so why would be not think the same way at work? If you are going into things at work doubting yourself, try to remember, confidence is key when believing in ourselves.
Am I giving it all I got?
Our careers are not a game of baseball, and our lives are more stressful than they used to be. So, we can’t expect ourselves to give 100% all the time. That being said, given the energy you do have to expel at work, are you giving it all you got? Or have you started to turn on cruise control just to get through the workday? As years go on, we might find ourselves becoming complacent and content with mediocracy. Since we don’t have a coach to monitor our performance anymore, it might help to step back every now and then to assess if you are really applying yourself as much as you are able.
Do I know what winning looks like for me?
Soccer: make a goal. Football: score a touchdown. Basketball: make the shot. Career: eh, not a clue. In sports we have a clearly defined end goal to work towards. This absolute clarity, unfortunately, might not be how the real world looks for us. If you have lost sight of what you are working towards, then it could be difficult to stay motivated not knowing what you want out of it. If you feel as though you are lacking specific goals, try writing down where you picture yourself in a year and then small obtainable steps to reach the goals. It’s easier to stay motivated when we know what we are working towards.
Sports gave us more than just entertainment and purpose, it also instilled behaviors that might be useful for us to this day. Looking back at strengths we had in sports could remind us of how we used to handle stress and competition in ways to get results. If you think you could benefit from instilling old habits, think back to the days of playing those games we loved and we just might learn something about ourselves.
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