James Mayo cares deeply about helping people perform at their best.  He holds a high standard.  James was a national mile champion in Britain and served in the army for six years.  When he started SOS Hydrate, it was driven by his passion for helping people endure the challenges of physical fitness.

What attracted me to James and my interest in inviting him to be a Designer in One Life to Lead to share his experiences in navigating life design, was how he focused on playing one game at a time.  

In One Life to Lead we talk about focusing on the current game in the chapter, Taking Action.   Focusing on the current game is about playing until the last second and not focusing on the next game until the current one is complete.  When you believe that there will always be a next game, you can put you energy into the current one.

Mayo shares his game with us in the book:

As a former pro athlete, I understand the grit that is required to stay in the game to finish the race, and this one at SOS Hydrate has been more like an ultramarathon. We came into this industry without beverage experience. We didn’t know the rules of the game, and, in some ways, that has been a good thing, because we had to chart our own course and not just do what every other beverage company has to put up with. We didn’t have the funds to launch a ready-to-drink solution, so we developed the powder packets. My coach always said, “Run your own race,” and I have to keep reminding myself of that. When I see that companies that I believe have a far less compelling offering are raising significant capital, it can throw me off.

My response is to get out there and make more sales, meet more people, and create more connections. My strategy has been to hire athletes because they are hard and gritty, know how to run a race, and know they will lose more often than they will win. And a lot of the training of the team has been around tenacity, because to stay in this game, you have to have endurance. And we do.

Action is focusing on the game you are playing.  You can define the rules and heck, you can define the game.  But once you do that, play it until the end.  There will always be another game.

You can learn more about taking action as a critical step in leadership and life design in One Life to Lead:  Business Success Through Better Life Design.  Order today!

Russell Benaroya is an entrepreneur, coach, speaker and author of One Life to Lead and Free Yourself to Work on Your Business.  To learn more, visit www.russellbenaroya.com.