We’ve talked a lot about the fact that you are an athlete, even if you are not into sports or a fitness enthusiast at present, or ever become so.
According to Brian Johnson from Optimize.me; “athletes” are traditional athletes going for the gold to cognitive athletes showing their grit in business.
I think it’s time we open up our dictionary and look up the word athlete. I’m curious about the ancient etymology of the word. What does the word “athlete” literally mean?
Although I originally looked this up in my old-school hardcover dictionary, we’ll go with the Apple dictionary for this one. Flip open the virtual pages via a search and we find that the word athlete is
from Greek athlētēs, from athlein ‘compete for a prize’, from athlon ‘prize’.
Actually, now that I type that out, I also want to include what my American Heritage dictionary has to say as well. Here’s what we find in there:
from Greek āthlētēs, contestant, from āthlein, to contend, possibly from āthlos, contest.
Athlete.
“A contestant competing for a prize.”
I LOVE that.
Two things.
1. The idea of being an “athlete” is, from my vantage point, about much more than just sports. LIFE is the ultimate sport. As such, I think we’re ALL athletes.
2. I also think we’re ALL athletes in the more traditional sense of how the word is used today in which it’s defined as “a person who is proficient in sports and other forms of physical exercise.” At least, if we’re serious about Optimizing our lives, I think we SHOULD all step more fully into the persona of being an “athlete” as a means to raise our standards and get our Energy where it needs to be to give our best selves to our Work and Love.
So…
Today’s +1. Two questions.
1. What prize(s) are you going for in life?
2. How can you step into your athlete identity a little more?
High fives, my fellow athlētē. Let’s do this!
Here at Performance Lifestyle, an idea that was born in elite athletics, but further defined and developed by Performance Lifestyle Inc, because of the reality is, living like an athlete by no means comes close to explaining the full breadth and depth of living a lifestyle that supports you and what you are up to in the world.
Athletes themselves would do well to go through Performance Lifestyle training to get results like Tom Brady.
That said, the mindset of an athlete is powerful for everyday achievers, particularly around how they manage their energy, stay healthy to perform sustainably at high levels, and achieve even their most ambitious goals. Performance Lepitomizespitomize this mindset.
No, we’re don’t wake up in running shoes and workout clothes every morning, workout or train for a living or the like. We are working parents, entrepreneurs and up to big things in our lives; yet still, this mindset serves us well and the skills set is so engrained in us at this point that if you were a fly on our wall; t’s hard to see more than as a sort of sporty edge to the way we do things.
But keep in mind, that’s because we practice every Performance Lifestyle skills for months at a time to do the heavy lifting in our lives, and then connect those essential habits that create the lifestyle that supports what we need to suceed in our own lives. But by that point there isn’t so much heavy lifting anymore.
Those who identify with an athlete-like mindset, directly link their lifestyle with their performance and success results and therefore optimize the way they live. And that is what we do. It includes but goes way beyond nutrition, and fitness. We apply every aspect of performance lifestyle skill to help us navigate where we are to where we want to be, getting our needs met every step of the way as best as possible.
That’s a balanced and healthy lifestyle and you can maintain that, including peace of mind while achieving even your most ambitious goals if you are training in Performance Lifestyle. Now, energy and performance become your benchmarks and as symptoms like excess weight and the health complications dwindle and disappear. And if negative symptoms return you know what to do about it.
It’s not a surprise why don’t see athletes going on weight loss programs, or trying to “exercise more.” They are athletes, but they too, like you, like me, need to stay in training, to get better and better at living.
Make this your persona, your identity and the success of your lifestyle and the results that follow will expand exponentially. Read more in part II >
