How to Sustain Elite Performance: Insights from an Ex-Pro Athlete Turned Leadership Coach

Building Resilience and Strategic Recovery for Long-Term Success

Achieving elite, sustainable performance isn’t about nonstop work and grinding yourself down. These techniques will help you and your team build resilience and maintain high performance. Instead, it’s about combining purposeful training with strategic recovery to cultivate the right mental state, particularly a growth mindset. Central to this approach is building resilience, which allows us to bounce back from setbacks and view failures not as endpoints but as steps toward our goals.

My experience as a professional athlete and coach has taught me the importance of resilience, rest, and leveraging support. In my coaching career, I’ve helped over 350 high performers achieve their goals and become the best versions of themselves. The challenges and successes I’ve faced in sports and business have given me a deep understanding of what it takes to perform sustainably at an elite level.

Studies have shown that resilient people cope better with stress, which preserves their health and wellbeing. Additionally, my academic background in psychology provides a solid foundation for understanding the mental aspects of performance. This blend of academic knowledge, professional expertise, and personal experience allows me to provide valuable, tested insights and practical strategies for sustainable high performance. And the journey begins with resilience.

Building Resilience

Resilience is paramount in achieving long-term success. It’s about how we perceive failure and setbacks. Thomas Edison’s journey in inventing the lightbulb is a prime example. Edison didn’t see his 1,000 unsuccessful attempts as failures but as steps toward his ultimate success. This mindset is crucial in the workplace, where expectations rise, pressures mount, and demands increase. Building resilience helps us navigate these challenges more effectively.

How many of us can fail 1,000 times and still keep going? Emotional regulation plays a significant role in resilience. Studies have shown that resilient people cope better with stress, which preserves their health and wellbeing. A study conducted on 2,063 individuals demonstrated that resilience had a protective effect against depression, sleep loss, absenteeism, and burnout. By reframing failure and separating it from our identity, we can view challenges as experiments, moving closer to success with each attempt. It’s essential to ask ourselves what really happened, what our thoughts were about the people involved and the event itself, and what our thoughts about the future are concerning the situation.

It’s important to ask ourselves: “Am I able to reframe failure in a way that keeps me going?”

To build resilience, we must question our automatic thoughts and assumptions. Often, our resilience is challenged because we don’t question our thought processes. It’s essential to ask ourselves what really happened, what our thoughts were about the people involved and the event itself, and what our thoughts about the future are concerning the situation.

We often think in all-or-nothing terms, such as, “I will never succeed” or, “I am always a failure.” When we are more mindful of how we speak to ourselves and question our automatic thoughts, we can develop a more resilient mindset. For example, a client of mine, Sarah, felt demoralized in her entrepreneurial journey as her first business venture failed.

During sessions, I frequently heard her express thoughts like, “I’m a complete failure” and, “I’ll never succeed in business.” During our coaching, we began working on identifying these all-or-nothing thought patterns. In doing so, Sarah realized she was generalizing one setback as her entire identity and applying it to prospects. Here are some of the techniques we used to question her automatic thoughts:

1. Evidence Examination: We looked at Sarah’s past successes in her career and personal life, challenging the notion that she was ‘always a failure’.
2. Reframing: We practiced rephrasing thoughts like, “I’ll never succeed” to more balanced statements such as: “This venture didn’t work out, but I’ve learned valuable lessons for my next attempt.”
3. Mindfulness Exercises: Sarah learned to observe her thoughts without immediately accepting them as truth, creating a nonjudgmental space between her automatic reactions and responses.
4. Balanced Thinking: We worked on recognizing partial successes and the complexity of situations, moving away from black-and-white assessments.

Over time, she developed a more resilient mindset and began to view her first business attempt as a learning experience rather than a definitive judgment of her abilities. This shift allowed her to approach her next venture with more confidence and a growth-oriented perspective.

By becoming more mindful of her self-talk and questioning her automatic thoughts, Sarah was able to break free from the paralyzing effects of all-or-nothing thinking and develop a more nuanced, resilient approach to entrepreneurship that will help her in the long-term.

Resilience involves staying connected to our long-term goals and purpose. People often focus too much on outcomes rather than on who they want to become in the process. By keeping the end goal and purpose in mind, we can stay motivated and on track, even when faced with setbacks.

Rest and Recovery

The myth of ‘no pain, no gain’ or ‘I’ll rest when I die’ is counterproductive. True elite performance goes beyond merely working harder. It’s primarily about working smarter. Purposeful training and strategic recovery are crucial for maintaining high performance over the long term without burning out. Integrating rest and recovery into your routine ensures sustained high performance.

Leaders should model this behavior by disconnecting during vacations and not replying to emails when on break. This sets a standard that helps prevent burnout and improves overall wellbeing.

This concept was recently explored with one of my coaching clients, Mark, a 45-year-old CEO of a growing tech startup, who came to coaching initially because he felt overwhelmed and close to burnout. He was working 80-hour weeks, constantly connected to his phone, and hadn’t taken a real vacation in years. His team was showing signs of stress, and turnover was increasing.

Through our coaching sessions, Mark realized the importance of setting boundaries and modeling healthy work habits for his team. He decided to make these significant changes during his upcoming family vacation:

1. Pre-Vacation Preparation: Mark notified his team in advance that he would be completely offline during his two-week vacation. To ensure things ran smoothly, Mark designated specific team members to handle different responsibilities during his absence. Additionally, he set up a detailed out-of-office message explaining he wouldn’t be checking emails and providing alternative contacts for urgent matters.
2. During the Vacation: Mark completely disconnected from work emails and calls. He resisted the urge to check in, trusting his team to handle issues and instead focused on spending quality time with his family and recharging.
3. Post-Vacation: Upon return, Mark found that his team had managed well in his absence. He publicly praised the team for their independence and problem-solving skills. To model a healthy work–life balance, he shared with the company how refreshed and energized he felt after the break.

The impact of Mark’s actions was significant. By taking time off, not only did he model attributes of what it takes to thrive as a high performer, but he also provided an opportunity for team empowerment. His employees reported they felt trusted to handle important responsibilities, boosting their confidence and skills.

It also began an important cultural shift. After Mark’s vacation, other leaders and employees began to feel more comfortable taking real breaks from work. By sharing that he felt less stressed and more productive after his vacation, Mark opened the door for the rest of his company to begin doing the same, improving the overall wellbeing of his company. This led to higher retention, improved employee satisfaction, and overall higher and more engaged performance while decreasing turnover rates.

The Role of Team and Mentorship

Support is crucial for elite performance. Every high-performing athlete has a coach and a supportive team. This principle applies beyond sports; leveraging the right support is vital. Support can come from family, friends, mentors, or professional coaches. Having someone to hold us accountable, cheer us on, and help us stay committed to our goals is invaluable. Behind every successful individual, there is often a network of support. For instance, women who manage both careers and families often rely on supportive partners or family members to help them balance their responsibilities. This support system is essential because it allows individuals to give their best without being overwhelmed.

A supportive community, whether it’s family, friends, or colleagues, plays a significant role in leveraging our talents and achieving our goals. Ask yourself, do you have a support system?

Fostering a Resilient and High-Performing Team

Creating and sustaining a culture that builds and supports resilience, rest, and a growth mindset can start today. Below I’ve shared six practical steps to get started:

1. Build Resilience: Help individuals reframe failure as a natural part of growth. As a leader or manager, this is best done by sharing your experiences with resilience and how you’ve bounced back from setbacks. This encourages a mindset within your team and yourself that views challenges as opportunities for learning and growth.
2. Encourage Breaks and Model Rest: Don’t glorify busyness. Lead by example by fully disconnecting during vacations and setting boundaries around work time. Show your team the importance of rest and recovery by practicing it yourself.
3. Foster a ‘We’ Mentality: Ensure everyone feels supported and part of a team. Create a collaborative environment where team members feel valued and included. Encourage open communication and provide regular feedback to help team members stay aligned with their goals.
4. Provide Resources for Growth: Offer coaching or mentorship programs to provide a safe space for team members to explore their growth and development. This support helps individuals take risks, learn from failures, and continuously improve.
5. Celebrate Efforts and Achievements: Recognize and celebrate both efforts and achievements. This boosts morale and also reinforces a culture of growth and resilience.

The Path to Elite Performance

Elite, sustainable performance is about more than just hard work.