Anyone who is interested in living a healthy and active life is definitely fascinated by the drive, dedication, and self-discipline of Olympic athletes. It’s true, some of the habits they adopted might not integrate fully into our lifestyles, but they have some that could really have a positive impact on our productivity and all round wellbeing.
It is important to adopt healthy habits. It’s an understatement when we say that Olympic athletes take their routines very seriously. What initiated our curiosity is how many of their habits can we actually adopt?
Of course, we’re not gonna set our alarms at 4:15 AM to fit a double length of workout, but we might try to look into other habits that we’d like. Let’s see 10 habits that we can borrow from Olympic athletes.
Try out that sweet resting
Getting good rest can be crucial, and Olympic athletes are very familiar with this concept. They want their bodies to be fresh for their most important performances.
And just like them, you might want your mind to be completely rested in order to reach your optimum productivity and sharpness of mind.
To achieve this, you need to listen to your body, get enough sleep each night, unplug from work on a consistent basis and give yourself the rest you deserve. Olympic athletes are obliged to respect and listen to their bodies because it’s the most important element in their careers.
Try some nutrients
Olympic athletes need to set a strict ritual to set their bodies up for that big success they aim for. So, along with sleep, you need to fuel yourself with foods that are healthy and full of nutrients. Their diets (and yours as well, if you want) need to include some special criteria:
- To be nutritionally balanced
- To be sustainable
- To be effective
- To be easy to follow
Aside from that, try making a plan which includes a variety of fruits and vegetables. Choose whole-grain carbohydrates sources such as whole-wheat bread or pasta, but don’t forget about fiber-rich cereals! And last but not the least, stay hydrated.
Visualize goals
If there’s one thing we can learn from Carli Lloyd (and there’s not only one) is the emphasis she puts on mind focusing. Before each match, she dedicates some special time to visualize exactly what she wants to happen in the game.
In 2015’s World Cup final, she hit three goals, and she managed to keep her mind strong because she imagined she’d be scoring four. If this is not mindful thinking, I don’t know what is.
Still, you might not be a talented soccer player who needs to play in front of millions of fans, but you still need to make a good impression with that presentation you have for today or that salary raise you were about to ask, right?
Keep a record
What all Olympic athletes must do is keep track of their schedules. They usually go to bed at 9 PM and nap for an hour each day, but that’s not all they do!
In order to feel organized and to keep everything in place, they keep a training book to have a look back on all their workouts.
Each and every run or training they do, they have it written down, so when it’s time to compete, they can look back and they did everything they had to succeed. We believe this is definitely a habit that would improve our lives as well.
Prioritize self-confidence
There’s a difference between being proud of yourself and being cocky, and Olympic athletes know this very well. Confidence is KEY when it comes to participating in the Olympics.
So believing you are the best may motivate you to work 10 times as hard as your opponents for the desired outcome. Of course, there’s a fine line between confidence and arrogance, so these two shouldn’t get mixed up.
If you’re participating in this kind of competition, you need to have all the support in the world, because the pressure that is on your shoulders is enormous.
Confidence is an important factor for athletes and they need constant work to maintain it, and maybe this is definitely something we should learn from them.
Don’t take yourself too seriously
We learned from Simone Biles that having the occasional laugh can be a very healthy habit. Unlike other competitors, Biles adopts a more relaxed manner and giggle before a match.
During the 2015 World Championships in Glasgow, she asked for some downtime for her and her colleagues, just to relax for a while. For example, we can learn from her is not to take ourselves too seriously.
A life based only on work and no play can wreak havoc on our productivity. So whether you take a break to have a walk in the park or you spend 15 minutes reading a book, you should allow your mind to rest for a while from time to time.
Be happy
It’s very important to keep your spirits high when you have to put up with a lot of pressure. The Olympic athletes that manage to remain on top and succeed usually try staying in a good mood as much as possible.
Being anxious and worrisome usually can affect their job and their performances, so they try avoiding it as much as possible. If you have a tendency on getting anxious about your daily to-do list, try changing your mindset.
Keep anxiety away from you and try focusing on something that makes you feel good instead of allowing bad thoughts to penetrate your mind.
Always have your breakfast
We cannot emphasize this enough: breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Do Olympic athletes agree with us? Yes, they do!
Whether it’s scrambled eggs with veggies, or a morning meal with bacon and sausages, having breakfast in the morning is one of the healthiest habits. So if you want to learn something from the healthy endeavors of athletes, make breakfast a priority.
It will help you start your day on the right foot and give you the energy you need to finish all your chores and tasks. Increasing energy is the best way to raise your productivity levels, so go get that breakfast and you’ll see the benefits.
Compete against yourself
Olympic athletes always try to simulate the competition when training, in order to improve their performance and see where they need to add improvement.
It is a known fact that they are characterized by a very competitive attitude, and most of the time they try to outdo themselves and each other. When you have to prove yourself and your work in front of so many people and in such a competitive environment, you need to work on your mental strength and be prepared for anything.
This is something that can be useful to all of us because it can remind us of how much potential we’ve got and how much work we have to do in order to achieve that potential.
Routine helps you evolve
The life of an Olympic athlete is all about routine. What they eat, when they eat, when they train, and when they sleep, so they need to focus on their self-discipline in order to achieve their goals.
Of course, we don’t need a program as strict as theirs, because we’re not competing in an international all-time competition, but we can borrow this habit from them in a lesser extent. Here’s a nice book that talks about how important it is to have a routine and how can you create one that works for you.
Researchers back us up and tell us that developing healthy habits is the secret to changing your behavior to a better one. So, a little bit of discipline and routine can’t hurt anybody, right?
In the end, what matters is you living your life fulfilled and satisfied. We may not need to dig too deep into the lives of Olympic athletes, because there’s a reason we appreciate them so much.
They are able to do what we could never imagine doing ourselves. But it’s always good to learn from the people you admire a lot and see what personality traits you could learn from them.
Athletes need to be strict and stick to all we listed above, because they have a dream to achieve and a goal to reach, and that’s something we might have in common with them.
You may also want to read 10 Reasons You Should Eat Like Your Ancestors.
