I was sitting down for coffee today with a new DP who moved to Austin. He wanted to learn more about Backstory’s style of work and the industries we work in the most.

That answer was simple: Sports, Health and Fitness.

It’s no accident that we focus on Sports, Health and Fitness more than other industries. Majority of the people who work with us at Backstory have a deep passion for sports that traces back to their childhood. From playing pick-up basketball to lifting weights with our Dads, it’s something we value and make a point to do. As adults, we now get to run around with cameras filming what we never got to be: Professional athletes.

No surprise here…we generally can’t cast actors to portray athletes. You have to be an athlete to play the part well. So we either work with a professional athlete, everyday athletes from a gym/program or fitness models that look the part of a full-time athlete. No matter who makes up our cast – we’ve learned a few things from all of these athletes that is worth sharing.

 1) Get your day started early.

Being an athlete isn’t all glitz and glam. Athletes are up at 5 AM and on their way to early training sessions all the time. Or they are travelling cross-country with their teammates on a chartered flight bright and early. Or it’s an overnight flight after the game ends to make it to the next arena (ever heard of a red eye?)

Athletes are the perfect example of choosing the right time to work over the convenient times.

Almost every successful athlete we’ve worked with has a morning routine that gets them in the right headspace. This routine is non-negotiable for most. Whether they train at 5 AM, Noon or 5 PM – they are going through the routine to be ready to put their best foot forward.

From journaling to meal plans to physical therapy, athletes prioritize performing and feeling their best over sleeping in and short-term comfort. They get to focus on themselves when no one else is even awake and make progress that others aren’t.

There is legitimacy to waking up early and winning the day before it even begins.

2) Embrace The Suck

Does anyone really enjoy running 26.2 miles? What about at a 5 minute mile pace?

Even if I could run a record-breaking, sub-two hour marathon performance, there is nothing “fun” about the pain that experience would bring me. Legs pumping with blood to a point of numbness. Lungs gasping for air. No thanks.

But the bigger a reward gets, the more demanding the work to get it becomes. Hoisting up a MVP trophy or World Record medal is an unbelievable accomplishment, but the only people who will ever get to do that have embraced “the suck” far more than I could comprehend.

Injuries, training sessions, nutrition plans, painful losses.

I don’t like when I have shin splints for a week and I’d have to imagine the world record holder of the fastest marathon has experienced far worse conditions than me. And complained a lot less.

Athletes have an incredible ability to accept the fact that greatness is only achieved by leaning into discomfort and making it out the other side. They work when no one is looking and accept the fact that the final result is more than important than the present day experience. I think we all can learn a thing or two about ignoring short-term satisfaction to get to long-term achievements.

3) Weaknesses can become strengths

If every athlete who had a weakness gave up on themselves I would have no idea what to do for fun. No more NBA, NFL, CrossFit Games, FSU Football. Athletes would be unbelievably mediocre at every sport known to man and the entertainment value would tank. Sports are only interesting because everyone playing them at a professional level is constantly working to eliminate their weaknesses.

Take CrossFit for example. Most people view it as a workout methodology, but there is a select crowd that has taken it one step further to turn it into the sport of Fitness. The first “Headlining” competition was back in 2007 when lots of athletes with lots of weaknesses showed up to compete. There was an event called the CrossFit Total where competitors had to do a 1 Rep Max Back Squat, Shoulder Press and Deadlift. The “strongest” woman at the time lifted a total of 530lbs. In 2018, the same event was repeated and the winner lifted 835lbs on the same three lifts. That’s 305lbs stronger….

Weakness is by no means a correlation to inability.

There are countless examples of athletes who have taken a weakness, worked tirelessly to improve their skills, and in the end become even better at a particular task than the majority of the competition around them. Most athletes I know choose to view weaknesses as holes in their game that can be plugged over time. Without hard work and grit, a weakness likely won’t become anything more than a touchy subject – but when the right attitude is brought to a problem it is often something that can be overcome and beaten.

4) Competition drives you to be better

There’s always a bigger fish. There are people that are more skilled in almost every single facet of life. Yet, athletes compete daily knowing they might LOSE. They compete daily having LOST time and time before and being reminded that someone else is better. That they aren’t the most fit. They compete and train daily to improve themselves so that one day they might be the most skilled person up to bat. Competition doesn’t destroy them or beat down their self esteem – it enables them to reach their own potential and become a version of themselves they would have never otherwise become.

At Backstory, we’ve taken this to heart and constantly remind ourselves of why we do what we do. We aren’t the best in the business yet, we aren’t the only production team to choose from and we surely don’t get to do every project that we want to. We know that, but we also let it drive us. Drive us to become better at our craft, better at connecting with our clients and better at adding value to the people around us. We may not be where we want to go quite yet, but we surely appreciate the competition that drives us to discover the best version of Backstory that may otherwise never exist.

5) But…everyone needs teammates

While competition can be a great driver, it can also blind you. Competitors can become enemies and your focus can be become singularly driven – to beat everyone around you. Even those in your corner.

But in our experience, very few athletes have this mentality. And the ones that do are often lonely and depressed. Athletes are surrounded by coaches, trainers, nutritionists, teammates, friends, etc. and know how to lean on others for support. They use their inner circle to make the process of doing hard work and exposing weaknesses enjoyable. Even for individual athletes who don’t have traditional “teammates”. Whether it be Lebron, Dwayne, Carmelo and Chris riding on a banana boat together or Venus and Serena going head to head in singles practice their entire life – competitors are there to help fuel you, not destroy you.

We’ve found that competing is healthy when the goal is to improve yourself and not just beat others around you. There has to be competition to see where you measure up, but the competitors can be your friends. Sometimes even your teammates. What is important to keep in view is that the focus has to be internal. Competing isn’t personal and competition often brings the best out of everyone involved. Even though it could be easy to avoid competition all together, there isn’t a good excuse for not reaching your full potential.

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The best athletes don’t compete for fans and fame. The ones who go on to compete at the highest level are there first and foremost because they love the hard work and personal sacrifice it takes to be the best. I’ve got nothing but respect for athletes and constantly learn from every single one we have the opportunity to work with.