Olympic athlete mindset: Eight traits of high-performing people, according to an Olympic coach
(approx six minute read)
James Thie has spent time with some of Britain’s best athletes. Here he shares the eight traits of high-performing people which he believes you could apply to become high performing in your life.
“I think talent is only 20% of what it takes to become really really good at something,” says James Thie, former Team GB athlete turned Olympic athletics coach.
Thie should know, he’s spent time coaching in the presence of many of our Team GB Olympians, and was part of the Tokyo and Paris Olympics preparation training camps.
The 46-year-old is a current British Masters record holder in the mile and recent medalist in the World Masters in Sweden over the summer, with next stop the New York City marathon!
So not only does he regularly engage with high-performing people, he’s one himself.
Eight high-performing traits of olympic athletes: how to be the best at what you do
“What makes someone successful? Most of my time is spent with top level athletes who have an Olympic athlete mindset, but I think there’s a lot here that can be applied to someone trying to start their own business, or simply wanting to be really really good at what they do,” says Thie.
1. Perseverance: mental toughness in athletes
“We have to accept there will be setbacks and success will not be linear. As an athlete you might get injured. You might even miss an Olympics. But it’s how you come back from that. You might just miss out on a medal. But again, it’s how you come back from that, it’s about your mental toughness,” says Thie.
“You might have started your own business and are seeking funding but your pitches keep getting rejected. However, you read countless stories about someone on their 50th pitch finally getting the funding they need and going on to great success.
“We have to keep getting up and pushing through those hurdles.”
2. Self-belief
“I’m not sure I’ve come across an athlete who has had real success without that inner self-belief. It is fundamental to high performance,” admits Thie.
“Of course athletes have periods where they doubt themselves, that's only natural. But then it’s about looking at the evidence, how well you’ve done in the past, and using that evidence to either re-build or remind yourself of how good you are.
“Self-belief is vital in any walk of life. Asking for that pay rise, starting your own business, keeping going with a business in the early days when it feels like you’re not getting anywhere.”
3. You can’t do everything on your own: building a support network for success
“Behind every great athlete is a great team, a great support network,” encourages Thie.
“Michael Johnson, Mo Farah, Jessica Ennis - do you think they were out there every day on their own? Of course they weren’t.
“Don’t underestimate the power of building a great network around you to help you reach high performance.”
4. Work hard but smart
“It’s about knowing the right times to push,” says Thie. “You can’t push all the time, you’d burnout. It’s the same for athletes. They’re not at 100% all year round, they’re peaking at different times.
“But you need a strong instinct for that, when to push, when to hold back.
“I watched Keely Hodgkinson run three races when still a junior against senior athletes, and she didn’t put a foot wrong. She pushed at the right time, held back at the right time, she just had more time than anyone else.”
5. Live and breath it
“You have to be obsessive in a smart and practical way,” says Thie. “You need to immerse yourself in it, think about your goal a lot, how you’re going to get there, reflect and think about ways to fine tune and improve.
“I don’t want this to sound unhealthy and for people to become so obsessed they burnout, but I do think you need to think about it a lot, whatever that thing is for you.”
6. Maximise your potential
“How to maximise your potential like top athletes? This is personal to everyone, only you know if you’re really maximising your potential,” says Thie.
“For an athlete it’s about building good habits, doing the small things right. That might be turning up to training 15 minutes early to prepare, getting sleep right, diet right - doing the right things when no one is looking.
“And then genuinely ask yourself if you’re maximising your potential.
“I recently competed at the world master athletics championships. I did okay, as I finished in third place, but I don’t think I physically and mentally prepared as well as I could have done. I don’t think I maximised my potential.”
7. Goal setting for high performance
“The best athletes are laser focused on what they’re trying to achieve. Once they know the ultimate aim, it’s about building a training programme around that to help them get there. The plan should have lots of small attainable and achievable goals so it feels like there’s lots of wins along the way.
“If you’re not clear on your long term goal then tackle that first. Once you know the goal, be laser focused on it,” says Thie.
8. Talent: the role of talent in high performance
“Of course talent plays a part,” says Thie. “Usain Bolt worked hard, but he was also incredibly gifted.
“But talent comes in many guises, so it’s about finding what yours is. You might be a great communicator but not as good at the detail or finance stuff, that’s where your team comes in.
“I believe everyone has a talent in something so I urge you to reflect and think hard about what yours is, if it’s not obvious to you.”