This article is not available as a download, however you're welcome to read it here.
Before my career as a photographer, I was pretty much a full-time athlete. Now, you may wonder what sport could be suited to this skinny fellow who runs an 8 minute mile (which is not that fast in case you're wondering) and never took to team sports. Well, my light weight and long reach was perfectly suited to scaling overhanging slabs of granite and limestone. I was a rock climber.
There’s a lesson here: What may be a weakness in one area, can be a strength in another. There’s actually many lessons that we can learn from the world of athletics. So when I read this article on
Six Things that I Learned from an Olympic Athlete, I immediately thought of how they might apply to the business of photography.
Whether you’re highly athletic or a couch potato, here’s six things that you too can learn from an Olympic athlete:
1. Set a Goal and Break It Down
There is so much to do in order to succeed as a professional photographer. Even as an established pro, I often feel overwhelmed by the challenges I face. I think that one of the keys to my success has been my ability to dream big, create a concrete goal and then break down the path to achieving that goal into achievable pieces.
Starting with the dream is important. It’s in our dreams that our hopes and motivations are born. It’s in the desire to live our dreams that we grow and really live. It’s okay to dream big things!
Dreaming by itself is not enough however. The key is to take a big hairy audacious goal - perhaps being a $10,000 wedding photographer - and break it down into goals that are achievable in the near to intermediate term. As you achieve those goals, relish in your success while continually setting new, loftier goals.
Put it in Writing
Most importantly, write down the things you need to do. Start with the bigger goals, then break those down into smaller steps and then even smaller steps. Writing the steps down helps you to better visualize what you need to do. It also serves as a check list that you can look at in the morning to guide your day. Finally, there’s that great satisfaction of crossing a task off the list.
On a practical note, I like to use the program Things to manage my to do list. Sure, there’s fancier project management software out there, but I find the more simple and easy to use the program is, the more I’ll actually use it.
2. Cross Train
Don’t just work on the same things over and over. Some days (or weeks), you’ll focus on the business side of your business. Other times, you’ll focus on the photography. Not only does it all need to get done eventually, by working in different areas of your business, you’re more likely to stay fresh and motivated.
Whatever you do, don’t get bogged down in one area. Production work for clients is a realm that many photographers never seem to be able to escape from. Just like athletes cross-train to prevent injury, “cross-training” is important for not only the growth of your business, but for your own mental health. Burnout is the overtraining injury for photographers. Cross-train to stay fresh and healthy.
Beyond that, cross-train outside of photography. Engage in other pastimes or sports that challenge you and engage your mind. Read books and magazines on business and art. The learning and success that you may achieve in other areas will encourage you in your career as a photographer. Some lessons transcend the actual activity and apply to whatever you do in life.
3. Workout with Others
When athletes train together, they push each other to go faster and work harder. I’m currently an outrigger canoe paddler. When I train alone, my intensity is a fraction of what I achieve when I’m in a six-man boat with five other guys all hammering away.
As a photographer, you’ll typically find yourself working for long hours all by yourself. It can get tedious. Fortunately, there’s more options than ever to stay connected. Obviously Facebook and other social media sites are one such way. As are photography forums like the Digital Wedding Forum, I Love Photography or Miranda forums.
Don’t just wallow in cyberspace however. Work the personal connections in your local community as well. Look into joining a PPA affiliate. The price is cheap and the people friendly. Offer to second shoot for other photographers on your days off. If you don’t know any photographers, pick up the phone and make a friend! Nothing like connecting with a “competitor” over lunch.
Just this past weekend, I second shot with an excellent photographer and good friend, Parker Pfister. We had fun! It was great experimenting with new techniques, learning new tricks, and commiserating about common experiences. There’s also a certain feeling of one-upmanship where both of us are striving to get the better shot. In the end, it makes us both the better for it.
4. Create a Team
Nobody can succeed entirely alone. At a minimum, you’re working with outside vendors like your print lab, your album company, your website designer, hosting company etc. Don’t just treat them like strangers - bring in the right vendors with whom you can form personal connections that you can rely on when you need them. The big faceless corporation may be a little cheaper, but they probably won’t be there to go the extra mile for you when you need the help.
Beyond that, there’s your team of professionals. Your accountant, bookkeeper, lawyer, mortgage broker, banker and business coach. I recently went looking for a new bank. I called the branch managers of the two banks I was interested in. One came out to my business and demonstrated he was interested in helping me to succeed. The other bank only sent out a sales rep. Guess which bank I ended up going with?
Everyone you work with should treat you like you’re important. Don’t accept less than that from anyone. You won’t be able to achieve your goals all by yourself so surround yourself with people who will be there for you at key junctures.
Finally, there’s the employees that you may bring onto your team. I wrote about the process of hiring in last weeks coach so I won’t go over that again. Suffice it to say that you must surround yourself with positive minded people who will help you extend your grasp. “Good enough” should not be your standard for the people you hire. Nothing short of excellence on the part of your staff - and your duties as a leader - will carry the day.
5. Find Your Motivation
I wrote about our dreams and aspirations earlier. It’s those dreams that often provide us the motivation to work through the sacrifice and pain necessary to achieve our goals.
I’m a big fan of previsualization. Often times during my career as a rock climber, my most difficult ascents would take many tries over several days. At night, I’d turn up the music and visualize each and every move. I’d think about what it would feel like to succeed on the climb. Those sessions helped me to forget the pain of tough workouts and sore tendons. And I always got my climb. (My 5.13+ New World Order still stands among the more difficult in Joshua Tree some 20 years later.)
I do the same with my photography. I visualize the work that I want to do and the clients that I want to work with. I close my eyes and listen to music that allows me to drift on a serotonin high.
Money is not the motivation you might think it is. As far as money is concerned, we tend to operate out of fear of not having enough - which is not an effective motivator over the long run. To keep functioning at a world class pace, your motivation must come from the love of what you’re doing and your desire to continually improve.
6. Have an Olympic Attitude
There’s many parts to maintaining an Olympic attitude. Two of the keys are being continually optimistic and continually developing your mental toughness.
Being optimistic is challenging when there’s so much uncertainty and bad news around you. Nothing is more important to your success however. In survival situations, the number one difference between those who come out alive and those who perish is the perpetual optimism of the survivors. Always focus on the positive and the certainty that you will succeed.
Don’t surround yourself with naysayers and negativity. Cut loose client relationships that bring you down. It often doesn’t pay to be “right” with a complaining client because their negativity is going to eat away at your own positive spirit. That doesn't mean that you should give in endlessly to demanding clients. Instead, set your boundaries up front and stick to them. The clients who don’t respect them need to go.
Be Strong of Mind
Along with optimism, there’s mental toughness. That’s the ability to keep your eyes on the ball. Not let the mind waver. Stick to the plan. I recently read something that really speaks to the heart of mental toughness: If you know that it’s going to take ten calls to get through to a potential client, don’t bother making the first if you’re not willing to make the tenth.
So true! How many times have you given up a task after the first few steps didn’t provide you with quick success? Inside, you knew it was going to take more work, but you quit before you went all the way. Mental toughness is the food that persistence thrives on.
Mental toughness allows you to trust in your abilities no matter what the outside world may throw at you. It’s not a gift that’s handed to you however. It comes from successfully overcoming obstacles that grow in size and complexity over time and in accordance with your abilities.
My experience as a rock climber helped toughen me for photography. When I got started as a climber, my skills were terrible. Over time, I got stronger and my abilities grew. Each successful climb gave me the confidence to try harder and bolder challenges until the day came that I was successfully competing with the best climbers in the country.
That process of starting out at the bottom and working my way to the top helped instill the mental toughness necessary to make it through the many challenging days that I’ve experienced as a photographer. I can tell stories about moments in my career that would have crippled many without the breadth and depth of my experience. My ability to respond forcefully and correctly even in the most challenging of circumstances is due in large part to the sum of my many life experiences.
Think of how you can apply your own life experience. What lessons and inspiration can you draw from any experience where you overcame a challenge where success was in doubt?
---
I stopped rock climbing seriously once I decided to become a full-time photographer. My friends couldn’t understand my decision and often asked why. To me the decision, and answer was obvious. Just as being successful as a world-class athlete required 100% commitment, being successful as a professional photographer required the same level of commitment, stamina and drive. It was either one or the other, but not both.
You may not consider yourself an Olympic athlete, but the task of succeeding as a professional photographer is in many ways no less Herculean. If you apply yourself with the same intensity as the Olympic athlete, you’re sure to end up on the podium - even if that podium is the one you have dreamed up for yourself. In the end, that’s the one that matters most.
All content © 2010 John Mireles and may not be reproduced without prior written permission.
