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October 9, 2023

As much as we wish we could crack the code to success, we know there’s no silver bullet to achieving your goals. Everything worthwhile in life takes time and effort. Still, looking to wildly successful people can help you find inspiration and identify patterns to implement in your own life. 

As a sports columnist for The Washington Post for over 20 years, Sally Jenkins has had a front row seat to some of the most successful athletes and playmakers in the world, including Steve Kerr, Peyton Manning, LeBron James, Diana Nyad, and many others. Recently, she compiled everything she learned from those interviews in her new must-read, The Right Call, and discussed how to foster grit, motivation, and resilience on the mindbodygreen podcast. If there ever was a recipe for success, today’s episode might be it. 

Even if you don’t love sports, you’ll surely learn something from Jenkins. Below, find a few of her expert-backed tips to reach your goals and elevate your game—be it mental, physical, or spiritual. 

As you can probably guess, the best athletes have an enormous amount of discipline, and the best leaders know how to foster it. But according to Jenkins, discipline is actually a very misunderstood subject. “Discipline is not something that’s imposed outwardly by leaders. It’s an inner construct,” she explains. “A lot of the great leaders I’ve spoken to [had] very few rules for their players.” 

This advice doesn’t only apply in the locker room. Teamwork is necessary for pretty much every industry, and it can be easy to micromanage others when you have the same end goal. But take it from Jenkins: “If you have a coach who’s trying to impose their will on you, sometimes it’s not good for the team in the room,” she shares. For your own team—your employees, your coworkers, or even your children—try to help people develop their own conscientiousness instead of imposing demands. 

As for your own sense of discipline, Jenkins has four words: “Go five more minutes.” Meaning, take small, consistent steps towards the end goal you crave. “Make slightly more disciplined choices very first thing in the day,” she adds. Over time, chances are you’ll look back and marvel at how far you’ve come. 

A rising tide lifts all boats. Similarly, successful people tend to care more about the success of others than themselves. “The great leaders I’ve known are profoundly unselfish people, Jenkins shares. “They are much more interested in the overall success of the endeavor than they are about their individual role or their stake in it.” 

She references LeBron James, whose assist statistics are just as remarkable as his shooting statistics. (Essentially, he helps his teammates score just as much as he takes the winning shots.) “It’s important to recognize about leaders that their best quality is not their dynamic personality, charisma, or their aggression in striving to the top,” she adds. “Their best quality as leaders is their ability to draw other people in and get them to cooperate with them.” By supporting their success, you’ll propel the greater team forward. 

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Visualize what you want

Your mindset matters. If you consistently picture yourself on top of your game, chances are it will help you have more faith in your ability to perform. The great athletes are well aware of this connection, which is why many of them practice visualization—sometimes without even knowing it. Take tennis champion Novak Djokovic, for example, who recently won the U.S. Open: In press conferences, he mentioned consistently visualizing in his mind what it would look like to win and be the best, even as a child struggling in a country at war. “It’s a critical tool,” Jenkins says regarding visualization. “They all have it to one degree or another.” 

However, you can’t expect to merely believe your wishes into existence. “They all have imagination, but they acquire the nuts and bolts to make that imagination come alive,” she adds. Your mindset can be powerful, but you can’t forget about doing the work to make it happen.