In the last article I talked about the topic «Focus» and how important it is to focus on the here and now, because that is the only thing we can influence and control.

The third part is about „Resilience”
I could probably write a book about that. The sport is tough and every day you reach your limits or go beyond. If it hurts, you do one more rep or one more shot. The training doesn’t end when you are tired or you don’t feel like it, it ends when you’ve done and completed all the exercises, drills, milestones and goals that you’ve set yourself. This means that sport certainly teaches you to work hard in a disciplined and focused manner.

Through the sport I have also learned how to deal with setbacks such as injuries, illnesses, defeats, mistakes, changes as well as pressure situations. Having the resilience not to lose your nerves in pressure situations, staying calm and in the here and now, as well as staying focused (as described in part 2 of the series), is not always easy. Especially in golf, where the frustration level can rise very quickly when the hole just seems to small or the ball to big for it.

Or at the same time to be aware that maybe not everything works out right from the beginning and that is takes perseverance to reach the goal.
How often was I “in contention” meaning I played for the victory but in the end didn’t make it. But it was exactly these experiences that taught me and showed me in which areas I still need to improve and work on or where I might find new pathways to follow, in order to be ready for that first victory as a professional in Portugal in 2014. It was certainly a key factor that I didn’t mourn the missed victories, instead was grateful for the experience, which helped me to finally achieve my first victory and all of the other top results. And that is exactly the same in the business world. Everything doesn’t always work out right from the beginning, but that doesn’t mean that you have to throw the whole concept overboard, it’s simply a matter of getting up and trying it again.

Another important point in the area of resilience is certainly the little breaks which are so important. That is something which I definitely didn’t do too seldom or not at all during my time as a professional athlete, but ultimately had to pay the price for it in form of injuries and illnesses. Today I have definitely learned from this and place much more value on these breaks (be it a short walk in the fresh air, some breathing exercises at work, etc), because I know how important they are in order to be able to perform at our very best again afterwards.

I could go on and on and on, but in the end it’s all about understanding that I’ve definitely fallen many times in my career, but those moments made me stronger in the end and today I am grateful when I face a challenge, because it shows me that I am ready to tackle my next milestone and that it will just prepare me for something much bigger.

So resilience is another key learning that I took with me from my time as a professional athlete and that I now use when developing personalities and teams.