Friday 28 August 2015

Having an Athlete Mindset helps you to excel in “Work”

                     


It certainly works for me. Being a Professional Cue Artist in the sports of ‘Billiards’, I have come to had this kind of Mindset with me since I started out at the age of 13. Back then, with such Mindset it has driven me with success in the Local and International scene when I was donning for the National Colours. (A Semi Retired Professional now). I got to tell you that by having such Mindset, it helped me to have a slight advantage against others. Thus, this applies well for me in the ‘Working’ environment.
It is undeniable that, to be truly good in what you’re doing you got to have Passion and Self-Believe/Confidence. These are the 2 main elements to break through the mind that perceives limitations. That holds true for everything. Only certain Individuals are able to get on to an elite level at their sport, there are the ones that have the mindset that I am going to describe throughout this post.
Passion- First and foremost, the most important element is having the Passion for whatever you are doing. It can be described as a certain drive or fire that keeps moving you forward in order to get as good as you can. You enjoy it so much that nothing gets in your way when you put the time and effort into practising. You have to LOVE what you do. Many love it, some tolerate it, some get frustrated with their job, and it brings us to the next question- Does that mean you can’t be passionate about what you’re doing? Not at all!
A personal example is when I first lepak (hang out) at Billiards Centre with my older cousins, I fell in love with this but also hated it as I was not even tall enough to reach the table to hit the balls. Although the dissatisfaction was there, but I still gave me best to do it and in the end I never took account of the height requirement.
It is the same as Working. Many of us dislike what we do as not everyone has their “Dream Job” but we need to see the bigger picture here which is “Making a Living” which explains- being passionate about the job. No! It is all about being passionate about how well I did the job…Yes!
So, paraphrasing a verse Stephen Stills penned,
If you can't be in the job you love…
Love the job you're in (or the way you do it)

Self-Believe/Confidence – After Passion, this is the next element. It plays such an important role in our life on a daily basis of what we are doing. Most of the time we just go on with our day without ever thinking about how confident we feel about ourselves- 

That is, until we are face with a huge decision to make or we need to perform a certain task and expect to do it well.
So creating a mindset with the Self-Believe/Confidence becomes a very important quality that we can apply to most situations before they even occur, thus making those challenging moments so much easier to contend with and to help us feel better in facing them.
There was quite a number of times, when I came to face tougher opponents in tournaments, most people including my team mates would tell me, tough luck for you, you’re in no luck to face that person and other negative thoughts I would hear. As for me, I didn’t allow this to disturb me but just took it as an advice. This is because my confidence level is so high that I wouldn’t want to admit defeat even before the game could start.
As an example, in the game of Football, the Mighty Liverpool is up against the minnows Stoke City. All the football fans, pundits and bookmakers predicted an easy victory- stroll in the park for Liverpool but the end result was Stoke City 6 – 1 Liverpool. –See what I meant? This is no miracle to it as Stoke City totally outplayed their Opposition and made everyone a “Fool” for doubting them.
Back in the “Working” environment, you need to have this kind of Mindset if you wish to succeed in your daily work activities. You may start off by creating a Vision(Dream) board that you can look at it constantly. This is a great way to form positive beliefs and give you a physical “goal getter” to refer to first thing in the morning, last thing in the evening, and anytime in between.

                                   

Surround yourself with positive energy. I’m amazed how many people continue to let destructive influences into their life from others. Join a group of like-minded people that you can relate to and share with and that empower you, or start one by yourself. Stop hanging around with those individuals that suck your energy away and bring you down. Start associating with those that lift you up and energize together towards the same ‘Goals’.
Lastly, accomplish something, no matter how insignificant it seems, that gives you some satisfaction that you are moving in the right direction. Confidence come from results- usually positive results. Don’t just sit around and wait for things to come your way.
Guess that’s all from me for now. Feel free to ask me for a game or two in Billiards. Most welcome!
Robert Cheah,
Assistant Manager Sales & Marketing
Vision College