The U.S. Women’s National Soccer team won the 2019 Women’s World Cup final this summer, their second consecutive World Cup title, and the fourth title since the Women’s World Cup was established in 1991. This team of all-stars didn’t make it to the top on their own, they had their teammates (a few who were on the 2015 winning team) and other supporters to help share in this historic win. We may not all be professional soccer players or athletes at all, but here are a few ways that you can stay on top of your professional game like the U.S Women’s National Soccer team.
Stay focused
Having a clear goal, or set of goals, and planned steps to achieve them will help you stay on track. Being able to minimize distractions that can take you away from your goals takes practice just like an athlete must focus on practicing in order to win their next game. There are tons of practices between each World Cup, which happen every 4 years. Megan Rapinoe has won 2 titles of the 3 consecutive World Cup games she’s played in and has her focus strategy down. “I can’t worry about whether I am doing everything that another player is doing, which can be hard sometimes. I have to trust my training and know my body and figure out what will get the best out of me.”
In a work setting, scheduling time in your day dedicated to certain tasks, creating a timeline for a big project in advance, or creating a list on how you want to develop for promotion are good ways to buckle down. Find the best ways to follow through that work for you.
Maintain your motivation
It’s important to stay motivated and keep your endurance high. Without motivation, going through the day to day can feel like a struggle if you are not passionate or interested in what you are doing. If you feel stuck in a rut and no longer stimulated, be flexible and change up your routine, try new ways to go about a project or work with people you might not normally work with. A change of pace and new perspectives will shift your mindset and give you a fresh outlook. It’s also important to acknowledge your wins, knowing you’re making progress or having smaller successes along the way. If Rapinoe can tear her ACL 3 times and still win championships and Michael Phelps can come out of retirement to do another Olympics, you can persevere too!
Communicate and collaborate
You may hear this regularly, but communication and collaboration are key. Being able to communicate properly with your coworkers, managers, those you manage, and the executives will get you farther than if you have bad communication skills. If you can’t get across what you want, how you want it, or clearly articulate what someone else may expect from you, the miscommunication will cause problems for you and those around you.
The same can be said for being able to collaborate well with others. Just like a soccer team, your coworkers or those that you manage are your teammates and they need to be motivated to communicate and collaborate in the most efficient way to get things done to reach the end goal. Add everything together and you have a recipe for success.
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