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Resilience, Mental Strength, & Motivation in the times of Covid


Adventure racing teaches critical lessons for success with Covid.


Dealing with disruption and re-setting has three basic tenets:

  1. Attitude of resilience.

  2. Race to your strengths

  3. Travel fast and far…. Cut excess baggage.


Adventure racing, and in life, nothing ever goes to plan. The winners (successful at achieving any goals) are those that deal with disruptions the best.


There’s always a surprise storm, slashed tyre, headwind, muddy swamp, flooded river, broken shoe-lace, food problem, cramps, broken bone or other injury.


And that’s why we LOVE Adventures and Adventure racing, because it calls upon us to be resilient, to be in the present moment, to powerfully lead, to strategise, to be innovative, creative and to PIVOT.


It’s exactly the same now with Covid.


Covid calls upon us to be present, access the part of our brain that thinks innovatively for survival, success and winning.


We can learn from Adventure race winners:


1. Winning is an attitude of resilience.


In adventure racing we expect problems, challenges. A perfect race never happens.


In fact, it’s perfect that it’s not perfect.


The winners are the ones who adapt, patch it up and move on quickly and consistently. We choose adventure because it requires us to be adaptable, because it surprises us and because it challenges us.

Satisfying.


It’s exactly the same for life, and for Covid.


We just need the big picture perspective to see the growth it gives our lives.


How can you change, tweak or flip your attitude to truly welcome the disruptions like Covid for the growth, strengthening and wisdom that it gives you?


2. Race to our strengths


We never win an endurance race by focusing on other athletes. (life/business is also an endurance race) We all have different strengths, abilities, advantages, and weaknesses, so their strengths and specialities won’t match our abilities.


To win, we must focus on OUR unique abilities that will give us the competitive advantage.


Just as in baking a cake, one needs to follow the matching recipe for the cake ingredients for the cake to rise, we need to match our strategy to our unique strengths.

  • What are you really good at?

  • What do you truly passionately love doing?

  • What is your Unique Ability that defines your point of difference and competitive edge?


3. Travel far and fast …. Cut excess baggage


In adventure racing we won’t win, (let alone finish), if we drag along too much baggage, (and it adds to the blisters too). When disruptions upset our race plan we need to be agile and move quickly.


We ruthlessly minimize the gear we carry for the week-long race, (without sacrificing it’s functionality). We chop off the labels, replace metal zip-pullers with light Kevlar string, squeeze half the creams out of the first aid kit, no toilet paper, no spare socks.


We get COMPETITIVE!


How can you get truly competitive?


We innovatively analyse the purpose and function of every item we carry to check whether it is truly useful (or is it just there just because “that’s how we’ve always done it”), and we critically brainstorm for improvements.


How can you cut off your dead-weight?


What stuff is unnecessarily holding you back, slowing you down in your business? Failure to critically minimize and optimise is preventing your win, or even threatening your survival. Get competitive!


Let me help you and your team be competitive and efficient.

021 487 639 (021 GURNEY)

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