There’s no doubt about it – athletes are some of the most determined people on the planet – and obviously all their hard work pays off. Achieving success is vital to an athletes’ career, but the mindset required for this can be applied to many careers and situations -not just sport. Here are 5 tips on how you can think like an athlete and motivate yourself into success.

1. Set achievable goals, and make sure you know when you have achieved them!

Setting realistic goals in whatever you do in life is incredibly important to achieve success in the long run. This is particularly evident in the world of sport where athletes stop at nothing to become the best version of themselves. Unlike them, however, you can set yourself smaller milestones and be sure to track your progress on a regular basis. Once you hit that sweet spot – reward yourself and keep pushing until you reach the next milestone.

2. Be eager to learn

Having a desire for more knowledge will ensure that you strive to keep improving. Keep investigating the best way to improve your skills, and keeping pushing to make sure that you achieve them. It’s not always a bad thing to not have all the answers, and in fact could be the key to your success.

3. Positive realism

Having a positive realism will help keep you grounded, without being too harsh on yourself or causing stress or injury, as well as not focusing on the negative when bad things happen. For example, when an athlete trains too hard and gets an injury, they might ignore the pain and keep going even though that’s not necessarily the best thing to do. Instead, it’s about realising that you need to stop, and picking yourself back up to start your training again when you’re ready, and not letting setbacks get you down.

4. Humility

Athletes often receive praise, and sometimes in a position of success it can be hard to see how far you’ve come and how far you have left to go when all you’re hearing is that you’re amazing. This might not be happening to you in your current situation, but the lesson here is to know yourself what you’ve done and what you still need to do in order to achieve your goals and be successful, rather than listening to what others are saying about you.

5. Dedication

To be successful at anything, you must be dedicated. You must be prepared to throw whatever you have at your goals and stick at it – this way you’re bound to achieve them. Whether you’re a professional athlete or not, dedication is crucial to achieving success.