Endurance sports and sustainable business - one and the same discipline?

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I am riding Paris Brest Paris this year, a non-stop 1230Km event from Paris to the tip of western France, and back. The event is the oldest cycling event in the world, having started in 1891, and only happens once every four years. This year's event, the 17th, starts on 21 August 2011.



Training
Just as the discipline of continuous training applies to an endurance sport, so the discipline of continuous training applies to you in your business. Keep reading, keep interacting, and keep networking, to learn, and to become a highly tuned instrument in the face of your competition. Without discipline in training, you will NOT go the distance. You have to continue with your training regimen, in spite of cold, rain, wind, indeed, hell or high water! Just as in business, you need to keep on top of your field, in spite of how busy you may be, and in spite of the pressures in the business.

Tuning

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Before and after every ride, much time and effort goes into making sure that the tyre pressures are correct, that the cable tensions are correct, that the wheels rotate freely, that the brakes are effective, that all of the controls such as handlebars are properly aligned, that the handlebar tape is still fit for purpose, and that all nuts and bolts are appropriately tensioned. most often it is just a subtle tuning that makes a world of difference to the bike. Just as in business, it's the little things that can make a huge difference to the performance of your business, although you may need to look over the entire business to find those little things!

Washing
After most rides, and certainly all major rides, a good wash gives you an opportunity to ensure that everything stays in peak working order. You get rid of all the dust, mud, tar, insects, leaked carb drinks, sweat and all sorts of other gunge in the process, returning the bike to its most efficient state. Like a bike, a business wash makes sure that the systems are all operating appropriately, that staff are performing to requirement, that dirty processes are optimised, and that your products, channels and segments are each profitable in their own right! Anything that doesn't meet requirement needs to be washed away.

Mental preparation

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Probably the most significant attribute of success is tenacity, and persistence. SHEER GRIT! Your muscles are screaming from too much lactic acid! Your butt is sore, your hands are sore, and your feet are sore. You have sunburn and are dehydrated. Even your tongue begins to stick to the top of your mouth with alarming frequency, and begins to get painful from having to continually release it, as there's no saliva to act as a lubricant. You are low on carbohydrates and are physically exhausted. So exhausted that you begin to hallucinate! Your head feels too heavy to hold up. You are hardly maintaining enough speed to stay upright. BUT YOU PUSH ON. And finish events over many hundreds of kilometers. In business, you will take heat from bosses, peers, colleagues, shareholders, academia, the press, and more over the life of your career, and in various measures. It is up to you not only to be able to deflect criticism, naysayers and doomsayers, but to continue motivating your team whatever the adversity you face. Through our historical heraldry, my family motto is per adra ad astra - through adversity to the stars. Never was a truer phrase ever spoken!

Ultimately, I also think that if you're successful in sport, you'll be successful in business, and vice versa, as long as you stick to it with a clear plan of doing the right things, however long it takes. As participating in sport is as much a passion as conducting business to world class standards, I will continue to draw analogies between the two in the hope of learning more from the similarities, and even the differences, between the two disciplines.