To Be A Champion, Become A Child

Want to know the secrets to resilience, adaptability and success in life? To be a champion, you must think like a child.

Have you ever wondered what successful people have that makes them successful? Well, let me tell you a secret. No one starts out as a Champion.

Most people start out just like you and me. So what is it that makes a Champion different from the rest?

Champions have an attitude, a mindset that sets them apart from the rest. But most of these qualities are not exceptional.

Indeed each and every one of us possesses these qualities when we start out in life. But somewhere along the way, we tend to lose them and diminish our own potential.

To be a Champion, you must first become a Child!

Let me explain:

1. Champions Are Willing To Learn

Children come into this world with an innate desire to learn, to understand the world around them.

They have a sense of wonder that helps them be open to learning everything there is to know about the world around them.

They're like sponges observing and absorbing every fact, every reaction. Because they know that their very survival depends on it.

One of the most important and oft-repeated, qualities we need to succeed in business is a willingness to learn - to be teachable.

You must be willing to admit that you don’t know everything, and have the willingness to be mentored and learn from others more experienced than you.

To become a champion, you must be willing to educate yourself or be educated, to read about, learn, and absorb all the things you need to know, even if they are completely new to you.

If you’re not willing to keep learning and become a lifelong learner in this age of fast-moving technological change, you're doomed to fail from the start.

2. Champions Are Willing To Act

Have you noticed how children are completely geared towards action? As soon as they learn a new skill, they want to put it into action.
Champions are the same. They don’t overthink their next move. They take inspired action and put their newly learned skills to use.

As a businesswoman, this may involve taking concrete steps to improve your performance, so you can take your business to the next level.
Champions know that they must act on what they have learned, even if they haven't perfected it. This brings me to their next quality.

3. Champions Are Not Afraid To Fail

Just as a child picks itself up again and again, every time it falls while taking its first steps, champions are not afraid to fall down or fail.
They know that failure is the best teacher. They learn from their mistakes and keep fine-tuning their methods till they succeed.

Champions have the courage to fall down and not be discouraged. They don’t beat themselves up over a fall. They pick themselves right up and keep trying.

4. Champions Are Willing To Adapt

Survival is not for the fittest, but for the most adaptable. As children, we adapt to long-term change relatively easily. We are more willing to accept changing circumstances and adapt our behaviour accordingly.

Unfortunately, as we grow older, we become more rigid in our thinking, unwilling to change and accept that there may be better ways of doing things.

In a changing business scenario, resistance to change makes us obsolete. We end up losing out to players with a better understanding of changing trends.

Champions know that change is the only constant. They adopt a winner mindset throughout their lives and are willing to adapt themselves and their business to changing trends.

5. Champions Are Willing To Innovate

Children are extremely inventive beings. They come into this world with no preconceived notions of doing things. In their minds, there are no limits to what they can do or how they can do it.

Champions apply these very principles to take their ideas and turn them into reality. They not only learn from what has been done before but find ways of doing it more efficiently, more cheaply, more successfully.

For example, visionaries like Elon Musk bring a fresh new perspective to old ways of doing things, disrupting entire industries in the process.

You don't have to be like a child in all respects to succeed. It's probably not even desirable. But there’s a lot we can learn from children about following our dreams without fear of failure.

So, if your pre-conceived notions, fears and hesitation are preventing you from reaching your goals, try looking at the world through a child's eyes.

At best you will improve your chances of success. At worst you'll remain young at heart.