Mental exercise is better than physical exercise – or is it?
bythemethod | July 15, 2008In the days of the U.S.S.R. a study was made on athletes preparing for the winter Olympics. They discovered that having the right attitude was far more important than physical training.
As the Soviet team were preparing for the Winter Olympics of 1980 they split their elite athletes up into four groups.
Group 1 spent all their time on physical training.
Group 2 spent 75% of their time on physical training and 25% on mental training.
Group 3 spent 50% of their time on physical training and 50% on mental training.
Group 4 spent 25% of their time on the physical training and 75% on mental training.
The order of success from each group was 4, 3, 2 and then 1.
This was a big revelation for many at the time. It seems that being prepared mentally was more important than being prepared physically.
Now I do need to point out that they did all do some physical training. You can’t be a successful athlete on mental capacity alone you also have to train for your sport.
Having the right mental attitude is vital for success
This study on athletes also applies to the world of life and business. Time and again it has been proved that having the right mental attitude is more important than having the right skills. Just like an athlete you can’t have success without any skills so in business you need to acquire the right skills. But without the right attitude joined to the right skills you will not succeed.
I’m not going to talk about what that attitude is here. I’m going to cover that in other blog entries. However you should know that the only way to success is to develop the right mental attitude.
