What Canoe Polo Has Taught Me About Business
It’s freezing. Bitterly cold. I watch as the rain hammers down on the dark water of the lake. 5 minutes. I countdown. I paddle hard. Faster. Complete focus. A beep. My breath catches up with me. I see it in the air. The water around me, rippling softly from my paddles. A beep. 3 minutes.
I go again. My paddle strikes the water. Breathe. My muscles burn. A beep. My heart pounds against my rib cage. I refocus. I await the signal. A final push. 1 minute. I count the strokes. I only focus only on this. Nothing else. The rain falls harder. A beep.
I thought canoe polo was a past endeavour for me. Having played professionally for New Zealand from 2007 – 2011, and coached the New Zealand team from 2013 – 2016, I had a sporting career I was proud of.
Moving away from it to focus on my aspirations to start and build BBT has seen the company grow into New Zealand’s fastest growing digital marketing agency in the past 5 years. Today, my team are stronger than ever, and as a business, we are continually evolving. Outside of the office, a flick of the switch. A return to water.
Because alongside growing BBT, my drive to always be upping my fitness game has never wavered. Getting back into the sport has been a challenge. But a challenge that has taught me more than I could have anticipated. In the game, but in business too.
1. Always Set Goals
I know what I want to achieve by returning to canoe polo. I started this process by setting myself goals, and it is these that continuously drive me forward. They give me structure, discipline and clarity of mind when training. Without these, my drive would falter.
This mindset can be applied in the workplace too. At BBT, each member of my team, myself included, is set quarterly EBI’s. We establish these in an open forum format that allows for visibility across the board. Everyone with their own objectives, with an aim for tangible results.
2. Maintain Complete Focus
Once you’ve set your goals, it’s about focus. And this is about a practice of removing distraction, which may in turn, means sacrifice. In order to build my fitness back up to what it once was, I have had to reevaluate my lifestyle, and make choices in order to sharpen my focus.
Sacrifice forces you to centre your energy on something else. The more your invest and the more you’re willing to part with, the more you’ll reap the rewards. Sometimes, if sacrifices aren’t made, success simply isn’t possible.
3. Constantly Check In With Yourself
The canoe polo training process is a constant sense check for me. My breathing. My body. My mind. I’m listening to myself, and making decisions based on those instincts, it’s a process of (fast) observation and reaction. Adapting to a situation, and working through it.
Due to demand, and a need for immediacy in business, it can sometimes be easy to feel you need to charge at something. But much like in sport, the moments you take to check in with yourself can often help you rationalise, and see a problem from a different angle.
4. Concentrate On The Now
In the game and training, it has taken time for me to stop competing with my former self. Forgetting the past, and focusing on what I can do now is a vital mindset. At BBT, we build for the future, but our focus is on the now. My team hit their efficiency goals because they concentrate on the task at hand. Previous successes don’t define us, with each new project comes a new opportunity to prove, and improve what we can do.
Since returning to canoe polo, I get stuff done. The game has honed my drive, not only on the water, but in everything I do. I’m healthier, sleep better, and have more focus than ever before. What I thought was a completely separate entity from work has transcended into how I run my business and how we work with our clients. Driven by simple, powerful ideas with a results driven outcome.
