Pushing the Boundaries of Performance: 3 Simple Guidelines

Following last weeks blog, 'Do you know what you're really capable of?' I thought it might be useful to share some tips on how you can discover what you might be capable of, both from a physical performance and a business performance perspective.

First, a short practical, personal example.  I'm currently training to attempt a personal best time at a half marathon.  It's a hilly course so I've been spending a lot of time recently running up hills.  Last week while running steady laps of a local hill I was thinking to myself that I'm quite pleased with how the time it takes me to lap this route has steadily dropped over the last few weeks, but I felt that I'd probably got to the stage where the laps were unlikely to get much quicker.  

Then, on lap 12 (it's not a long circuit) I was overtaken on the downhill section.  That wasn't great so I increased the pace a bit and got back in front on the flat part of the circuit, only to be overtaken up the hill again.  I used my fellow runner as a pacemaker and followed him up the hill (where he stopped) and I carried on to discover I'd completed the lap a good 20-seconds faster than ever before.  The rest of my laps were all quicker than my previous best time and I finished my run very happy and thankful to the guy who jolted me out of my familiar rhythm.

So, what's the point?  Basically, if you want to progress quickly in sport and in business, remember to follow 3 simple guidelines:

1) Get a training partner or get a mentor.  Someone who will challenge you and prevent you from falling into a comfortable routine.

2) Join a club or change who you spend time with.  Surrounding yourself with great performers and high achievers will spur you on to great things.

3) Set tight deadlines. Whether it's sporting events or career development, aiming to achieve success sooner rather than later keeps momentum and helps you see opportunities where others may miss them.

Finally, I guess the last piece of advice would be to find some hills.  Real or metaphoric, seek them out, discover a way to conquer them and move on to the next one.

Photo by LuciusArt Fotografie (Flickr)