What Sports Motivators Can Teach You About Business

It’s that time of year again, and if you’re a sports fan like myself, it couldn’t be any better. The NBA Draft and free agency are taking place. The baseball season is in full swing and the NFL training camps are set to open in about a month. If you’re an athlete or entrepreneur who’s looking for some needed motivation to take yourself to the next level, there are certain individuals you should be following. The individuals mentioned on this list are world class speakers and high-performance coaches and have worked with some of the best athletes, entrepreneurs and teams in the world.

Tony Robbins

Tony Robbins a world authority on leadership. He has worked with everyone from Leonardo DiCaprio to Von Miller and even Bill Clinton. Tony goes into the psychology of becoming a successful athlete. When you’re trying to take your game to the next level, Tony recommends reframing your mindset. When you re-frame your mindset, you’re changing how you think. He states it doesn’t matter how good of an athlete you are, it only matters what you think you’re capable of.

When you’re an athlete trying to get to the next level, Tony says you have to make a commitment to find a new solution. That means you have to train smarter, train harder, and re-frame your thinking. One last piece of advice Robbins gives to athletes is to use their problems to help them grow. It’s no secret you will experience setbacks as an athlete and you can either use those setbacks to hold you back or you can use them as the motivation to push yourself forward.

If you want to make the next step in your athletic career, according to Robbins, you have to identify your mission as an athlete, set your goal, and create an action plan.

Jon Gordon

Jon Gordon is a best-selling author and keynote speaker who has worked with teams such as the Los Angeles Dodgers, Atlanta Falcons, Los Angeles Clippers, Miami Heat, Pittsburgh Pirates, and Clemson football. Through his speaking and coaching, Jon know’s what it takes to build a successful team, and that doesn’t happen with just one individual, it starts with teamwork. When you’re an athlete, according to Jon, you need to create a vision for yourself for where you want to go, and this vision must be shared with your team.

Jon speaks on the power of positivity for athletes and how you should always look to turn a negative situation into a positive situation.

Eric Thomas

Eric Thomas is a world renown speaker, author, and minister. If you’re an athlete, all you need to do is watch one of his videos and you’ll be motivated. Having grown up homeless, Thomas uses his message to inspire others, especially athletes. 

Says Thomas, “As an athlete, maybe you were worshiped in high school and even middle school. But as soon as you get to college, you stop grinding and you act like you don’t know how to grind. Because you’ve been worshiped you believe you’re now comfortable and no longer have to grind to become a better athlete. It doesn’t matter if you’re not the best athlete, all that matters is how hard you are willing to grind.Take advantage of the opportunity you’re given because you never know when you will get another opportunity.” Lastly, Thomas preached about loving the process of what it takes to become a successful athlete.

In another speech given by Thomas to UFC Fighter Anthony Pettis before a fight, Thomas talks about having the will and heart to want it more than the other person, and that starts with your preparation.

As an athlete, it’s a must that you watch one of Thomas’s videos.

Inky Johnson

Inky Johnson is an author and inspirational speaker who used to be a football player at the University of Tennessee and projected top draft pick until a fluke hit ended his career. Through his speeches, Johnson talks about loving the process, much like Thomas. His mother had him at 15 and he grew up in tremendous poverty. He only saw one way out, and that was by making it to the NFL. To help him realize that dream, he took consistent action each day. That meant continuing to do drills when the coaches and everyone else had gone home.

Johnson understands that people quit on their dreams because they don’t have pride in what they’re doing. Because when you quit you are being selfish. With his dream, Johnson realized that whatever you start, you must finish. Without the fluke hit, he would’ve been a premier NFL player. If you’re an athlete, it doesn’t matter where you come from, it matters how badly you want to succeed.

Jason Selk

Jason Selk is the best-selling author of 10-minute toughness and director of mental training for the St. Louis Cardinals. When you’re an athlete, you will use your mental toughness to get you to the next level, and that’s stated more than once by Selk. In a speech, he states that mental toughness is the mind’s ability to stay focused and execute in the face of adversity. As an athlete, you’re always going to be pushed to the limit. Your mental toughness will determine if you’ll be successful.

To develop mental toughness, you need relentless solution focus. The brain is wired to see problems instead of solutions.

Until you can re-wire yourself to become a solution-oriented person, you’ll always see problems.

As an athlete, you will need to develop mental toughness.

Tim Grover

Tim Grover is well-known for his work with Hall of Fame athletes. He is an international authority on sports performance and motivation. Tim teaches athletes how they can go from good to great to unstoppable. There are key differences between the athletes who are good and those who are unstoppable. While working with the top athletes, Tim noticed they don’t think about the problems they are encountering, they kept pushing forward. They are always looking for a competitive edge over their opponent.

He saw that most athletes have a passion but they also have to act on that passion. Think about winning first as an athlete. If you can help your team win, then you’re doing your job. Tim says the unstoppable athletes pay attention to every detail no matter how small it is.

He understands that each athlete has a dark side, and he works with them to control their dark side. Each athlete was focused on their ultimate goal and they allowed no one or anything distract them from pursuing that goal.

Ben Newman

Ben Newman is a highly regarded performance coach, international speaker, and six-time best-selling author whose clients include top companies around the world, business executives, sales organizations, and professional athletes in the NFL, PGA, NBA, MLB, and NCAA. After listening to one of Ben’s speeches, he will get you fired up. He preaches the topics of staying focused, creating powerful ‘I am’ statements, and unlocking your full potential.

In one of his speeches, Ben talks about asking yourself courage questions to overcome adversity. Because when you choose to be courageous you’re likely to achieve a positive result. To put it in plain terms, you must do what you’re scared of if you want your life to change. How courageous you are will determine how far you go. Are you willing to do what scares you?

Josh Medcalf

Josh Medcalf provides mentorship and consulting for athletes and businesses committed to maximizing their potential. In a speech, he talks about building the necessary foundation for success if you want to create lasting success in your life. If you don’t, you’ll crumble. He gives the example of bamboo. Once bamboo is planted, it builds its foundation over five years. Within a six week period, it grows to over 90 feet.

The foundation of success as an athlete starts with what you’re doing each day. Because eventually, what you do each day will add up and you will achieve your breakthrough. This doesn’t happen overnight and you must be willing to build the foundation first.

In another speech by Medcalf, he states that greatness comes at a cost and not everyone can become great. Everyone wants to become great but most will fail. Will you be the one who succeeds or fails?

Ryan Holiday

Ryan Holiday is an American author, marketer, and entrepreneur who writes on the topics of stoicism. The practice of Stoicism should be used by every athlete. Stoicism is the endurance of pain or hardship without a display of feeling and without complaint. Stoicism is teaching you to grind out whatever you may be going through for the greater good. Holiday wrote an article called, Here’s The Strategy Elite Athletes Follow To Perform At The Highest Level.

The coaches mentioned in Ryan’s article all said they trust the process. Out of the many key takeaways from the article, and what struck me most was the excerpt with Nick Saban, The University of Alabama football coach. Saban said he tells his team to concentrate on what they can manage. All you have to do is go step by step. Just think about the task at hand and nothing else. It doesn’t matter how difficult of a situation you’re in if you just break it down into pieces.

As an athlete, your goal could be to play professionally, but that goal starts with what you do today and the next.

Justin Su’a

Justin Su’a is a mental skills coach, author, and speaker. His clients perform in the NFL, MLB, U.S. Military, Olympics, and Dancing with the Stars. In a speech, he talks about how to use time-outs in your life.  Justin talks about how you should relax. As an athlete, you can become so nervous or pumped on adrenaline you don’t take a second to breathe. If you feel as though your life is moving too fast, then it’s time to take a timeout. This allows you to refocus on where you want to go.

If you start to feel stressed or nervous, then you’ll play stressed and nervous. The way to conquer those feelings is to take a timeout. Next time you feel stressed out, it’s time to take a timeout.

Who’s your favorite motivator on our list? Let us know in the comments!