Three Reasons Why Being an Athlete Makes You a Better Entrepreneur

I’m often (very skeptically) asked about my ability to run a company and be a competitive athlete at the same time. This summer, I’ll race in the U.S. Triathlon National Championship for my third year, so I’m spending a lot of time training.  At the same time, we’re growing ScriptEd substantially in the next few months -- so yes, I’m a very busy Boss Lady.

Rather than seeing my athletic ambitions as a distraction from ScriptEd, I see them as essential to being a better business leader. I’m sure that if I were not an athlete, I would not have the confidence and skills I need to run ScriptEd. Here’s what being a competitive athlete makes you good at:

• Knowing What it Takes to Achieve Goals: Race planning and business planning are similar. Both require you to be strategic and focused. You have to make plans for where you’ll allocate resources and contingency plans for when things go wrong.  You need to determine intermediate and long term goals, and you must define how you will measure your success.
• Working Smart (and Hard). Balancing training and running a company forces me to do only what is essential. I don’t have time to waste on doing things are not helping me reach my personal goals and ScriptEd’s organizational goals.  For training that means figuring out the most efficient and effective ways to spend my time exercising.  Seven minutes of burpees is way harder than a 30 minute run.  For ScriptEd, that means not signing on for every opportunity that comes our way -- we strive to only do the things that help us achieve our mission.
  
• Understanding Incremental Progress: I’ve been competing as an athlete since I was eight years old. I did not become a good athlete overnight. I became a good athlete by practicing nearly every day for the last 22 years.  Building a company is similar. ScriptEd has grown over the last three years through a series of small efforts that happen every single day, by placing one foot in front of another. Success doesn’t happen overnight. It happens by being dedicated and persistent and making little bits of progress every day towards your goals, even (and especially) when things get hard or you experience setbacks.  

Being an athlete and being an entrepreneur, for me, go hand in hand. Both continue to teach me new things about myself and the world all the time.