Friday Focus: A Champion Mindset

As a business owner or entrepreneur facing internal challenges and adversity is all part of the journey towards success. In fact, some may argue the internal struggles either personally or within a new company itself are the most dangerous and if not navigated effectively can lead to a business collapsing before it ever has the chance of getting started.

The key to navigating these types of adversities lies in the ability to look within, take a fair and concise assessment of the issues at hand and ask the question: how can I improve things internally? The buck always stops with you, as an entrepreneur you are the principle or owner of the business, you are the driving force, the man behind the wheel.

In Formula 1 there are 10 teams each with 2 drivers and every season two categories are crowned as champions. The Constructors Championship, awarding the team with the most points and the Driver’s World Championship awarding the one driver with the most success throughout the annual 24 race circuit.

The Mercedes F1 team dominated the majority of the last decade winning 8 Constructors’ Championships and having their drivers take 9 World Championships combined. Their drivers during this historic run of dominance; Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg.

Rosberg a world class driver of racing heritage, his father a F1 world champion himself, joined the Mercedes Team in 2010 enjoying great success alongside his then team mate the legendary Michael Schumacher. With Schumacher’s retirement in 2014 Mercedes signed Hamilton, already a World Champion and considered to be one of the greatest drivers on the circuit.

Because of the way Formula 1 is structured having 2 drivers per each team, resources are split and often times when one driver is having greater success during the season, on a particular racetrack or is closer to a world championship win than the other teammate, often times team strategy or planning is drawn up or implemented in that driver’s favor. Sometimes going as far as having a teammate give up a position on the track to help the driver chasing a championship or with a chance at a win that race day.

Both now on the same team, Lewis and Nico battled neck and neck throughout the first couple seasons where Lewis was just getting the best of Rosberg and with that the benefit of more focus from the team. Lewis went on to win 2 World Championships in his first 3 years with Mercedes and would eventually go on to tie the all-time record with 7.

After Rosberg narrowly lost out on the driver championship to Lewis in 2015, he had to make a choice, look outward, blame, make excuses on or look within, focus and analyze. He chose the latter and took time to reflect, look within, he realized that in order to win and get past his rival and teammate Hamilton, he would need to improve and make changes himself, after all it was him, when the lights turned down, he had control of the car on the track.

Nico studied everything intently both his car’s performance and his own, mentally, physically and spiritually he sought to improve. From hiring a coach to gain mental strength and guidance psychologically and emotionally, running complex memory exercises to sharpen his decision making on track, to changing his diet and exercise regimen to optimize physical performance during races, Nico did all of this with intense detail and dedication.

Rosberg went all in, hours a day of film and study, meditation and mental exercises, to strengthen his mind, reflex training, flash cards, memorizing complex systems and intricacies of the car. He also focused on his breathing and oxygen uptake throughout racing, by refining breathing patterns through exercise and technique he identified that he was able to cognitively function more efficiently on track.

When it came to training, he completely restructured his body composition, staying light weight while strong, gave up his love for cycling and focused on strengthening his upper body, head and neck to withstand the intense G forces drivers face while racing optimizing physical performance.

He also developed a complex understanding of every track and corner he would race throughout the F1 season creating a system where he would adjust his car’s mid race performance on each turn, via selections on his steering wheel a complex and physical as well and mentally demanding task going 200 mph in traffic as drivers do each race.

Nico even went as far as removing the paint off his helmet to save merely ounces of weight on the overall car, everything was done to get the max performance out of himself and translate that to each race at an extreme.

When the 2016 season started Nico had the advantage, not from his team or car in particular but due to his commitment, focus and determination. He created his own advantage, didn’t have to sit back and rely on fate or external circumstances, Nico was able to put the power back in his hands and truly be the one in the driver’s seat determining his own destiny.

After a grueling season, it came down to the last race of the year. Rosberg needed a top 3 finish to secure the Championship. On the final laps, with Hamilton ahead of him and then 4-time world champion Sebastian Vettel closing fast behind, Nico, through his mental, physical and strategic strength he built through sacrifice and internal focus was able to stave both of them off and secure the World Championship victory, a lifelong dream and mission had finally come true.

This example translates directly to you and entrepreneurship as a whole, maybe you are not physically flying down a straightaway at 200mph, while often times running a business feels that way, with all the stress and danger associated. It’s important to remember to look within, and understand how you or your company can do better, take an internal audit, identify opportunities and areas for improvement then go all in on optimizing, strengthening and refining your processes just as Nico Rosberg was able to do in by his example, invest in the process at becoming an expert in your field. Get obsessed, make the sacrifices to grow and learn, that’s the champion mindset.

- Since retiring from Formula 1 as a world Champion Nico now lives with his family in Monaco, and has brought attention to detail, focus and work ethic to the world of business and entrepreneurship via his company Rosberg Ventures.

To gain personalized guidance for your business on this topic and others contact us.

- Vince Calace

Founder - Venture Business Development