As athletes, we know the road to success is never linear. Whether it’s training highs and lows, hitting a plateau, life being life, or facing tough competition, we’ve learned how to navigate all these challenges and stay focused on our end goals. What if we could use the same resilience we’ve built in sports to face professional struggles head-on?
For women navigating careers, professional challenges can feel like swimming upstream, or running into a headwind. The established path to success—often designed for for our male counterparts—doesn’t always work for us. We have to carve our own way. But the good news is, we already know how to do that. We’ve done it in sport, and we can do it in our careers.
I want to share how the resilience I built as an athlete has helped me overcome hurdles in my career, and how you can apply the same grit and consistency to reach your professional goals.
Facing Professional Hurdles in Male-Dominated Industries
I’ve spent a significant portion of my career working in industries where the path to success was often a solid uphill climb. In male-dominated industries, there’s often a clear, established trajectory for promotions and career growth, but that path doesn’t always work for women.
It took years of swimming up this career stream before I realized that I couldn’t just rely on the traditional routes or simply work harder and expect the same results as my male counterparts. Instead, I had to work in a way that tapped into other areas of my expertise to make forward progress. I chose to draw on my experience as an athlete—where success is not just about grinding through training, but about consistency, using data, and approaching each career ‘race season’ with a strategic mindset.
Applying Athletic Experience to Career Growth
Here’s what I learned, and how I applied an athletic mindset to my career:
- Grit and Consistency
Just like in sports, achieving career success requires grit. It’s about showing up every day, even when the odds seem stacked against you. Consistency in your actions is key. I approached my career the same way I approached training: one step at a time, one goal at a time, knowing that small, deliberate efforts would lead to big results. - Use Data to Document Progress
In athletics, we measure progress. We log our workouts, track performance, and analyze our results to get better. I took the same approach in my career, documenting every success—big or small—and using data to show my value. When it came time for performance reviews or promotions, I had clear, measurable proof of my growth and contributions to the companies’ bottom line. - Share Your Progress with Your ‘Coach’
In sports, we rely on coaches to guide us, give feedback, and help us stay on track. In the professional world, this role is often played by a manager, mentor, or colleague. I made sure to regularly share my progress with my manager, positioning myself as a leader who was continually improving and adding value to the team. This – eventually – opened doors to promotions and new opportunities. - Keep the End Goal in Mind
Just like preparing for a race, many moves I made in my career had the end goal in mind. Whether it was working toward a leadership role or landing a major promotion, I approached each year with a clear vision of where I wanted to be, and I used that vision to inform my daily decisions.
Tapping into Your Athlete Mindset
For women like us—when it seems like you’re swimming against the traditional career current—we need to tap into who we are as athletes to reach our professional goals. Resilience, grit, consistency, and strategy are not just tools for training and racing; they’re the very qualities that will help us break through professional barriers.
When I started applying these principles of athletic training to my career, I found new ways to excel, even when the odds seemed stacked against me. Whether it was pushing through imposter syndrome, navigating office politics, or proving myself in a male-dominated space, my athlete mindset turned out to be my greatest asset.
If you’re facing challenges in your career, remember that you already know how to persevere you’ve done it through any training and racing cycle. Now, it’s time to bring that same energy into your professional life.
Resilience for Career Success
Building resilience in athletics has taught us how to overcome setbacks, stay focused, and continually push toward our goals. The same applies to your career. When you face professional struggles—especially in environments that weren’t designed with you in mind—don’t give up. Lean into your athlete mindset, tap into your resilience, and remember that you have the tools to succeed.
If you’re ready to take the next step in applying your athletic perseverance to your career, I’d love to help you through my Mindset Mastery bite-sized coaching. Together, we can create a plan to navigate your professional challenges and reach your career goals.
