What can business owners learn from Olympians?

Succeeding in business and becoming an Olympian have a lot more in common than you might think. Here are the traits needed to become an Olympian that will also help you succeed in business.

• Embrace failure. Olympians fail again and again but instead of giving up, they use failure to their advantage and learn from it, making themselves better athletes. Successful business people fail many times before ultimately succeeding.
• Dedication. Olympians train, sometimes 8 hours per day every day for a once in four year shot at Gold. When they're not training, they're focused on their diet, sleep and mental state. In the early years of a start-up, business owners typically put their life into their business and unfortunately very seldom win gold. But after many years of hard work and multiple business failures, the best succeed.
• Strength in adversity. When Olympians reach that point when they have nothing left in the tank, they somehow find a way to not only push through the pain but embrace it, reaching new heights in their chosen field. Businesses can receive devastating blows such as COVID, creating obstacles that seem insurmountable. Great business owners use these moments to innovate, often building better businesses than they were beforehand.