In July 2021 I took on a new professional challenge as well as conquered a private one. Here are a few key principles that taking on a new job and preparing for a triathlon have in common:
In January one of my best friends registered himself for an Olympic Distance Triathlon. The reason I am writing about it is that he registered me as well. I received a confirmation email out of the blue which told me that on the 9th of July I had to be ready for:
1,5 km swimming
42 km cycling
10 km running
It was meant as a sports challenge to conquer together and get us into shape. Additionally, on the first of July, I took on a new role at work, switching from being a solution advisor role to a frontline sales role as an Industry Account Executive. Looking back at it, a few of the key lessons of these two rather different life events are very similar:
Time-bound
By signing me up, my buddy made the idea of doing a triathlon very real. Quite comparable to a SMART goal, since it was:
specific — triathlon on July 9th
measurable — 1.5k swim, 42k cycling, 10k run
achievable and relevant — in January that was still a debate for me & especially
time-bound. Because of the fixed date there was no way out, I had to be ready on that date or it would not have worked.
Obviously defining SMART goals makes sense, otherwise, this concept would not be around as much as it is. However, for me, being time-bound was one of the most important parts I had to transfer to my new challenge at work.
In a sales role, you are working towards reaching a quota in a given timeframe. Defining a close date for your goals, e.g. a deal, can be immensely important as you need to plan your work backward to figure out what needs to be achieved by when.
In the same way, I planned my training regimen up until the triathlon date, there are important steps that need to be covered in a sales cycle up until you can think of discussing a closure.
Figuring out a plan by working backwards from your deadline was for me one of the best tools to reach my goals.Discipline
Throughout the months of preparing for the triathlon the most important characteristic for me was discipline. The discipline to
do the hard interval runs
get on the bike even when it was windy
get up in the morning, even when I did not want to
“Discipline equals freedom” because “without discipline, there will be no real progress.” — Jocko Willink
I especially learned discipline in my time in the armed forces as there you are not given a choice, you do what is ordered. Without discipline I would neither have put in the necessary preparation nor would I have been able to complete the triathlon.
But what does this mean for work? Quite simply, any new or existing jobs discipline can help you:
discipline to put in the necessary effort
discipline to follow up with your colleagues or customers
discipline to call even when I do not want to and
the discipline to endure setbacks
The last point is probably especially important in sales as you are confronted with setbacks daily. Discipline might not be the most fitting word for it. However, getting back into the saddle is often only possible with discipline, because you will not always feel like it.
As Jim Rohn said “Discipline is the bridge between goals and accomplishments.”Chunk it down
During the last stage of the triathlon, i.e. the 10k run, what helped me the most was my own, internal self-talk and the breaking down of the remaining route into smaller chunks. I was lucky as during this event we were running two times the same 5k route with an actual turning point at 2.5k. So after the first quarter, you had an idea of what is waiting for you. I completely used this to my advantage:
I kept telling myself up ahead, after that small turn to the right you will reach this crossing, let’s go until there. Afterwards I was not running 6 additional km, but only to the next bridge and so on.Standing at the bottom and looking up at a mountain can seem like an insurmountable challenge. However, breaking it down into smaller, reachable objectives helps not only with the actual work but especially with the mental challenge.
In sales they kept telling us to “slice the elephant” and I tried to make use of it. The idea is to not look at your yearly quota as a huge amount of money, but to figure out how you could break it down into smaller, more realistic, and reachable “chunks”.
I am quite glad I took on both challenges, the triathlon, and the new job and I learned a lot from them. I hope that these 3 lessons might also help you!
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