Why You Should Treat Every Week Like Race Week

After 16 weeks of grueling training, I was ready for race week for my latest Ironman.  As I went into the week, I could not help but notice how things took on a new importance and how my attention to them was more focused than usual.  As I thought about it, I asked myself, "What if every week was treated like race week, not just for an athletic pursuit, but in business?"

As I pondered the question I began to think of how it would affect my life if I treated every week like race week.  Granted that I follow a pretty rigorous training routine and have a healthy focus and discipline on a weekly basis for my goals, but even with that, some things still stood out to me.

First off, race week has a special feeling to it.  All of your senses are heightened as you get ready for the event.  There is a sort of excitement in the back of your mind mixed with a little bit of nervousness for how things will ultimately turn out.  An Ironman is a 2.4 mile swim, followed by a 112 mile bike ride, and then a full marathon, so a lot can transpire and you need to be prepared and ready for everything from being kicked in the face during your swim to a flat tire on your ride and fatigued muscles when you get to your run (and a host of other potential things).  Your mental preparation is just as a important as your physical.  On top of that, it is a race.  It is a competition.  The biggest thing you are competing against is yourself, but make no mistake a close second to that is you competing against the other racers.  All of this really gets real in race week.

Additionally, during race week, you pay very close attention to your sleep making sure you are well rested throughout the week.  You take extra care of your body through your eating during the week, prepping your body and muscles through stretching, massage, and light activity to keep yourself loose.  You also become very focused in on your goal(s) for the race.  You have to steady your emotions and not get "too high or too low" so you can manage your emotional energy alongside your physical.  You also have to think through all of your transitions and your nutrition for the day during the various aspects of the race and make sure everything is prepared and ready.  Lastly, you do a lot of visualizing of the courses, how you will feel at different points; really for me, I try to visualize every aspect of the race in my head and almost play it through ahead of time so my mind has a sort of plan or "experience" on the course.

Race week requires a very special focus and attention.  Why shouldn't every week be like that?  Especially in your business?  Imagine if you approached every week with a big goal, a competition that you were going into, and you had to visualize and prepare for the challenges and outcome.  Imagine what would happen if you were focused on your sleep, diet, exercise, and mental awareness needed to be your best.  Imagine, if you were prepared to manage your energy through the week to make sure you were operating at the optimum levels. 

What would happen to your results?  Where could your business be in 12 months if you approached every week like a race week?  I bet, you would be exponentially more successful than you are now.  So, make a choice to take it up a level.  Treat every week like race week.  Pick a "race" for your business each week.  Make it a big goal to achieve to move the business forward and the go about it reaching it in "race week" state of mind. 

You'll be surprised at how much you can achieve!