Work like a CHAMPION

According to World Health Organization (WHO) one third of adult life is spent at work. That translates to approximate 13 years of our lives. With life expectancy rising with medical improvements and pension systems pushing  retirement age no one will be surprised to see these years of work go higher. Reaching a certain point in life and career, I started becoming more sensitive to happenings around me, to the time spend at work and I thrive to make it a good one.

Organizations definitely play a certain role in cultures  built within  that has an impact on our career experience and  I often wonder if as individuals we can build our own culture to take it with us where ever we go and if we can impact the place we are in and create a domino effect. I certainly believe we can! 

7 values from the USTA flag

Above flag was hung at the USTA Billie Jean King  courts today in New York.  It had 7 values and it was suggesting the players to COMPETE LIKE A CHAMPION. Champions ‘mind think and operate different, they tend to have a plan or a learning from every game played, every competition that takes place .

Although it’s not possible to win at every circumstance, can we also WORK LIKE A CHAMPION and  make this our own culture to take with us regardless of the workplace we are in? Can we be Confident,  Determined, Engaged, Professional, Resilient, Respectful and Tough all at once? Again I think we can!

Nowadays corporations are doing great things to ensure the employees are happy and healthy. Happy and healthy employees translate to better performance which then leads to better business results. Flexible working environments, modern working places, extended benefits for families, education for closing gender pay gap are all stellar programs. While not all corporations will be at the highest level of these programs or we as individuals won’t be at a spot to feel all these great things we can always WORK LIKE A CHAMPION regardless of where or how we work. Corporate, start up or freelance, it really doesn’t matter.

We have a responsibility

I think as individuals we have a responsibility, starting from today we can try to have all these values and start spreading. There will always be a black sheep in a group, always a manager to look down on you, a moment we don’t feel strong enough and that confidence is nowhere to be found or a colleague to be disrespectful but while keeping the minimum we can overcome these circumstances. This is all human and we will be worn down at times but we are strong enough to keep it together or bring it together.

This is my interpretation to the 7 values with a WORK and COMPETE* perspective.

	WORK like a champion	COMPETE* like  a champion
Confident	Knowledge	Trust in ability to perform/make a certain shot
Determined	Hard work	Practice
Engaged	Being connected to colleagues and topics	Loving the sports you do and being motivated
Professional	Reacting/taking decisions  with mind and not letting feelings take over	Keeping it calm under pressing moments in a competition
Respectful	Empathy and appreciating others’ effort	Accepting superior opponents  and their efforts
Resilient	Knowing how to stand up when you fall	Concentrating on the next point
Tough	Critical to question if any better outcomes are possible	Mental strong

*COMPETE part is filled by taking Tennis as the reference sports  

Hoping this all resonates with you and you also have your version of interpretation to 7 values. Whether its 13 or 30 years that we work I think we all deserve a fulfilling experience and we can make it better by starting influencing ourselves as well as others by WORKING LIKE A CHAMPION.

Best
Isil Cayirli Ketenci

You can read more of my blogs on gripshape.blogspot.com