Outlier TV Bonus Educational Lesson Interview With Nathan Faavae 6 x World Adventure Racing Champion
Share this Inspiring Episode:
Are you a Coach, Consultant, Entrepreneur & Business Owner who wants to share your Gift, Message & Business with the world so you can enjoy the Authority, Impact, Profits & Success that you deserve!
Then book in for your Free Unleash Your Inner Outlier Strategy Session (valued at $495) at the bottom of this page.
Andrew McCombe:
Hey guys, Andrew McCombe here from Outlier. We had such a fantastic full Outlier episode with Nathan Faavae that we’ve decided to do a little bit of bonus work because he’s got so much wisdom, so much insight to share, we thought it’d be crazy not to. Nathan, a huge passion of yours is passion. Why is that so important to the young Outliers out there and entrepreneurs who are looking to, I guess, embark on their own journey?
Nathan Fa’avae:
I think the reason why I really promote the importance of being passionate about something, it’s quite cliche, but I think you can achieve so much more if you’re excited to get outta bed in the morning and go and do a task that really engages you in multiple ways. I think back on the significant things I’ve done in life, and they’ve largely been driven by passion. They’ve been things that really interest me, excite me, to engage me and in all senses. So yeah, I just really encourage people to figure out what really is they wanna be doing and then just figure out how you can spend most of your time doing those things.
Andrew McCombe:
How do you do that? Cause it’s easy for us, we’ve already been there, done that in a lot of sense, right? But how do you know you’re passionate about something?
Nathan Fa’avae:
How do you know you’re passionate about something? I think it’s really what’s in your heart, as what you would really like to be doing if you were given the choice. Maybe one way of asking the question or thinking about it would be, if you didn’t have to work, what would fill your days? What would it be that you’d go and spend your time doing? And for me that would be outdoor adventure sport. I just love being in the outdoors, connecting with nature mentally, physically, getting out there and being amongst the elements. That’s what I actually strive to try and do most of my time. And so if I can figure out a way of creating a lifestyle or essentially a life out of spending more time doing the things I enjoy and less time than the things I perhaps don’t enjoy so much, then I’d see that as a pretty successful outcome. So, I think it’s just, what is it that really squeels your wheels or rocks your boat, however you wanna say it. But it’s the stuff that in your heart, the thing that you’d really like to be doing.
Andrew McCombe:
So use that as one of your key pillars, you mentioned it in the full interview about the triangle where passion was an extremely important part of that, but that’s obviously a fundamentally important part of everything that you do.
Nathan Fa’avae:
Yeah. Well, I guess essentially if you’re doing something you’re passionate about it, I think the energy just flows a lot more naturally. So, there’s lots of things you can do to fill in your day. But if it’s something that you’re not actually that engaged in or, I think passion is the right word, if it’s something you’re not that passionate about, then I think it will become labourous and tiresome and it becomes a chore, or it really does become a job. Whereas, you can do some very hard things if you’re passionate about it and you’ll find (or I find) that, I just get an abundance of energy around those things, because it’s just stimulating in so many different ways, that it works.
Andrew McCombe:
So an example that I can think of there is, you’ve done 23 hours in a race, a six day race and you haven’t slept, and you’re about to have an hour of sleep. You have your hour’s sleep and you wake up, is that where passion’s going to come in to support you?
Nathan Fa’avae:
Probably not that point of time, it’s probably commitment and resilience and a bit of tenacity that’ll get you through some of the hard points of it, on an adventure race at least. But I think overall, if you look at the complete experience, I think having a passion for adventure, having a passion for exploring new places, having a passion for being part of a high performing team, having a passion for doing challenging things. That’s how you can exceed in the sport of adventure racing by having the desire to be out there.
Andrew McCombe:
And for the young Outliers out there, they talk about resilience these days, it’s quite a buzzword, the ability to overcome external pressures or challenges, is that something that can be taught? Or is it something that is innate?
Nathan Fa’avae:
I think resilience is something that’s taught. I think you grow from doing the things you thought you couldn’t do. So I’m always an encourager of people to stretch themselves, to challenge themselves and to expand their comfort zone. And a lot of that can come about by, first of all, expanding your perceptions. So going well, let’s not limit what I can do. Let’s be more creative about things and step up there and challenge yourself. And I think the more you embark on challenges and the more you achieve those challenges a natural outcome of that is learning some of those core values, or essential behaviours such as resilience or tenacity or those sort of things. I think by doing hard things, you naturally just become a tougher person and a tougher person will just deal with a whole lot more challenge and adversity I think.
Andrew McCombe:
If you look at that concept, so effectively what I’m hearing is if you take action, that’s slightly out of your comfort zone, you shift your reality and then that expands your potential and you then feel that and start to believe that then you shift it again, all of a sudden you’re a different person essentially. When you look back at your journey from say, a teenager, to everything you’ve been through, do you feel like a different person or just an evolution of the same person that already existed in the first place?
Nathan Fa’avae:
I think as you grow and develop, life in many ways is a journey of self-improvement. Right from the time you’re born, you’re kind of learning all these new things. You’re learning to walk or crawl, and walk and run, and you’re learning to talk and you’re learning how to survive in the world. So I think naturally as human beings, we do get a lot of satisfaction and probably comfort from being on that journey and I think what’s unfortunate for a lot of adults is when they get bogged down by the modern world and the rat race is they feel like, and they probably aren’t in many ways on that journey. And that’s why I think sport is so great because people get out and they’re learning new things and they’re improving and I think by nature, we are a being that does perform better if we are actually out there and challenging ourselves in whatever way that may be. And for me, it’s often been physical challenge, but I think it’s hugely satisfying when you learn a new skill or you realize that you’re actually getting fitter or you realize you’re getting stronger, or you realize you’re losing weight or whatever your goal was, that you’re actually achieving that. And what I really like about sport in particular is it’s very measurable. You know, you can put in some hard work for a few weeks and then you’ll start to see some sort of results. And, I think my life has largely been a lifetime of self-improvement. I’ve always sought new challenges. I’ve always kind of stretched that bubble, I guess you could say of the comfort zone.
And what’s interesting about stretching your comfort zone is that there’s certainly been some big challenges in my life, so something will pop up and I’ll go, well, that’s going to be a very difficult thing to learn or to achieve, but you go down that journey, you go through the frustrations, the process of learning a new skill. And then there’s a point in the future where no longer is that particular thing, a challenge. It’s now a part of your bubble of comfort, which you just made bigger and bigger and bigger. And I guess I’m nearly 50 years old now. And after 30, 35 years of stretching that bubble, I now have a really big bubble. So my comfort zone allows me to go into a whole lot of stuff that a lot of people would probably consider foolish or dangerous. But for me, it’s just somewhat normal.
Andrew McCombe:
You mentioned some big challenges you’ve had to overcome. Can you give us an example of one of those and the process that you use to overcome those and do they change each time, or do you have a pretty similar system each time?
Nathan Fa’avae:
Well, I think overcoming obstacles on your journey is always a little bit different. I think as a person, fundamentally, it’s going to be your sort of values and strength and your mindset, that’ll get you through things. Challenges come up in all sort of shapes and forms. I think the biggest one for me, without a doubt as an athlete is that I was diagnosed with a heart condition. Atrial, fibrilation in 1999, which coincidentally was the first year that I did expedition adventure race. Totally unrelated, through my sporting career at times that has been quite a difficult thing to deal with because the heart condition, while not fatal, it does limit how much I can do physically sometimes. So it’s very hard as an athlete when you’re training for peak performance at an elite world level, and you can’t do 20% of your training because of a heart sort of problem. So I’ve had three surgical procedures to my heart, and right now it’s great. It’s normal. I basically live a normal life, but there are periods where, it can come back again and things. So it’s tough, and I think when something like that’s going on, there’s obviously some physical things, but it is actually more emotional cause you realize, I realized that I’m no longer living my dream because of these things I can’t control directly. And as an athlete, it’s very to stay positive because when you’re losing 20% of your training, you have to start asking, how much of my performance am I losing?
Because of that, is it 20%, is it more, is it less and mentally and emotionally, it’s just a hard place to be. But I think the way through it is, is that you just have to trust that time is a great healer and that problems are often a lot bigger in the moment than they are in the future. And that you just have to trust that there’s be a point in the future some time when what is right now, this major problem will actually have solved itself, gone away or just been diminished over time. And I think that helps a lot. I think in life, no one is immune to tragic things happening. Terrible things happen to all of us at some point during our life and while there’s a grieving process and a time of hardship, you just have to trust that this will pass and there’ll be a point in the future when everything will rebalance out again and not to get too bogged down, think in the present and just do what you can, do your best and know that things will get better.
Andrew McCombe:
We have a term in our Outlier Coaching that is, feeling is healing. So you mentioned about how emotion comes up under certain duress or under certain challenges. They talk about emotional intelligence, but when you are under stress in a race, for example, and things aren’t going well, and you’ve got the team to think about, et cetera, et cetera, how do you deal with the emotional side of things?
Nathan Fa’avae:
It’s a good question. I think in a racing environment, the’re probably the toughest times and if you feel yourself emotionally struggling or feeling very emotional for certain reasons. The main thing for me is not to suppress or ignore those feelings. I think that it’s really important to acknowledge what’s going on for you at the time and be okay with it and it’s okay to be upset about things or if something comes into your mind and you’re at a vulnerable point, and for some reason you can get a bit emotional about things. I think for me, it’s important just to accept that and experience it. And then just at the right time, shelve it for a for the later to deal with, or you may not even need to.
But I know from experience that denying that those emotions are there is not a healthy thing and they’re not gonna go away. So it’s actually better to sort of celebrate those emotions and I guess to give us some context, when I think about that, my parents were in a really horrific car accident some years ago in 2013, and my mum was killed in the accident and my father was seriously injured and not long after that, I had to make the hard decision whether or not to go and compete in the world champs. And my father said, “Look, I really think you should go because it’s a big part of who you are and your mother would not have wanted you to kind of miss out on these amazing opportunities that you have because of what’s happened.” So I went but it was really tough for me. It was a real emotional time because you are out there racing, you don’t have much in the tank at times and you are vulnerable and those things come up. But I learned from that when those times come up, it was actually just good for me to say to, “Hey guys, I’m fine. I’m just a bit emotional right now.” So just be gentle so just they know. And then things go back to a bit of a normal and then you move on.
Andrew McCombe:
And that’s a really good point you make about team and the environment. So obviously there’ll be times where you are going through the ringer in some form and you’ll have your own process. And then as a captain of a team, how do you deal with your team’s emotional process, under duress ? Because it happens a lot within a six day race it’s going to happen many times, isn’t it?
Nathan Fa’avae:
Yeah, that’s right. When I look at management of a team, I think, what I’m doing in a race, pre-race as well, and sometimes even post-race is just really monitoring where my teammates are at. And I sort of believe that because I’ve had a career working with people in the outdoors, either in tourism and guiding or as an outdoor instructor, is I have considered myself to have quite a high level of awareness of where people are at. And so I do spend quite a lot of times observing and getting a feel for where my teammates might be emotionally, physically, mentally, all that kind of stuff. And often it’s just a matter of just checking with people, just taking a bit of time to just have a quick chat and ask a few questions, how’s it going?
How’s your day? I mean this is during a race, and just engage with them a bit and you see where that goes, or sometimes it might even be a little bit more to the point. I might say, “Hey guys, I just noticed you’ve been real quiet this morning, is everything okay?” And they might say, “I’m actually a bit homesick or a bit worried about this or, they’ve gone somewhere else for a few hours and just a bit of healthy discussion and things are usually fine. They’re not usually major things, but it’s just quite nice as a team captain, I think to know that you care about your teammates and you can connect on these different levels.
Andrew McCombe:
Is that something you as a team actively work towards knowing it’s gonna come up at some point, you have a framework around collectively, hey guys, if something does come up, we are gonna be open with communication or is it just something that naturally evolves during the moment?
Nathan Fa’avae:
I think the communication within our team sort of naturally evolves, but it has come from years and years of racing together and a lot of work. And I think one of the things that helps our team culture or certainly aids it, is, I’ve spoken to our team or facilitated quite a few discussions around intent and think that’s a real powerful thing in a performing team. And probably when I say that, what I’m meaning is not only creating a high performing team, but not creating a dysfunctional team. And I think intent is a really important thing for people to think about, especially in a team because when people say things in an intense environment like adventure racing, especially on day 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, things can get misinterpreted pretty easily and that’s not a great thing.
So one thing I’ve really instilled in the team culture. Well, I think I have. Is the intent and the purpose behind things. And what that essentially does in the teams is it gives people license to ask things pretty personal or pretty direct or potentially pretty confronting or controversial provided their intent is in the right place. And then the rest of the teammates are just trusting that this other person’s purpose and intent here is actually pure. And it’s for the good of the team. And they’re actually asking these questions because they’re either trying to help the person to help the team. It’s not doing something malice or evil or a put down in any way. So I think that license to kind of sort of communicate quite freely is definitely helpful when the teammates know that if someone says something to them that is a bit of a weird thing.
Well, that maybe a bit uncomfortable or far out that’s pretty to the point, their reaction might be to resist or to rebel against that. But they just need to quickly remind themselves that hold on a minute, the intent of what this person is saying or asking is actually really good. So I may have misinterpreted things. So let’s just slow things down, ask for clarity or don’t get into that kind of resistance. And I think that’s worked really well for our team that people are not afraid to share what’s on their mind. As long as they know that whatever they’re gonna be putting forward is from a place of helpful intent.
Andrew McCombe:
Do you find with people being more open to vulnerability, it’s more powerful for a collective goal and the team as a whole?
Nathan Fa’avae:
Absolutely I think if there’s one other core thing to have in a high performing team is that people are actually comfortable with vulnerability. So they’re actually in that constant state of knowing that they might be given some advice or critiqued or asked to do something or asked to improve or whatever it is. So that it’s: we are trying to be the world champion team here and if any one of us is got a way or an idea of making that happen, then let’s share it. Let’s get it out there and don’t be offended if you don’t like what the person’s saying, just take it on board or don’t take it on board, but at least keep those channels of communication open.
Andrew McCombe:
Six time world champion and many many other amazing wins and podium finishes. Has there been a collective intentional purpose every time you go out? Do you set an intentional purpose per race or is it collectively like a legacy type purpose that you wanna leave something better by the time you move on?
Nathan Fa’avae:
Yeah. I think the collective purpose or goal, or intention of every race we go into, I think now it’s almost unspoken and because we’ve been racing together as a core team for so long and some of our relationships within the team go back so far, it’s friends and colleagues and different things that really, when we line up in race now, a lot of that stuff is just pushing play on what is already there. We’ve already manufactured the framework for a high performing team. So it’s just a matter of unleashing that again as we go and race, but the the underlying mission is to be a champion team and perhaps even beyond that is to race like a champion team.
And that’s not really measured by whether we win or get second or third or fourth or fifth or whatever our placing is. That’s more about perception. That’s more about when we are out there racing like a champion team that we know that we are going at the highest end of the sport. We know we are moving through this terrain as fast, if not faster than any other team, because we are so focused and in the moment and doing all these things right, And then also for us to go with the goal of being a champion team is the perception of others, is what they see. Pre-race when teams see us around and the gear checks and the race briefings and the safety talks and all that, we are very clear and defined about what we want to portray and what we want our competitors to see.
And that as a team, that is relaxed and calm and composed, they get on well, they’re jovial, they’re joking, they’re not stressed, they’re looking confident, they’re strong, they’re fit. Well, we actually do want to send that message out to the rest of the field that hey, it’s great you guys are here to try and win the race, but we are the team that is probably going to make that really hard for you to do. And they will be looking at us. So when we go to a race, our mindset is to race like a champion team. But a lot of that is not only how we perform on course, but it’s also about out how we portray to other teams. And it’s really important because as a racer, we haven’t always been as dominant. There was a lot of times when we were the team that was trying to reach that level.
And, we would look around and get quite intimidated by some of the other teams because we would go, “whoa, those guys just look like a champion team.” And then we would see the opposite. We would see a team that on paper, should go quite well, but we might even observe them having breakfast together as a team and you could tell that they don’t even really look like a unit.
Andrew McCombe:
They’re not a team.
Nathan Fa’avae:
No, there are just four individuals sitting as table having breakfast. So I think there’s a lot in how you are, how you perform, how you behave for your team internally, but also externally as well.
Andrew McCombe:
Clearly that intimidation factor, it’s like the All Blacks, right? They’re almost, the teams have beaten before the, they turn up when they know they’re playing the All Blacks. And it’s the same thing you are trying to portray there.
Nathan Fa’avae:
I think so I think so, a lot of of it comes with legacy. So when you’ve been gifted, a legacy like we have, and like the, All Blacks with rugby where you are pretty much just a continuation of this amazing machine that’s been created that just to be there, pulling on an All Blacks jersey you’re in our sport you know, racing for our team is sort of the equivalent, you could say. So with that, I think comes a whole lot of natural confidence any anyway. But then it’s still really important to show that you are worthy of being in that position as well. And yeah, just keeping the legacy alive is definitely a big motivating factor. That comes with a real sense of responsibility. And I like that. I enjoy that.
Andrew McCombe:
How important are mentors to you? And then how important is being a mentor to others to you?
Nathan Fa’avae:
I think it depends what you define as a mentor. I don’t have a sort of specific mentor as such, but there’s been many many people at different times of my life that have been very influential. And some of those people, I may have only come into contact with for a very brief moment of time, but I thought, wow, that’s really quite enlightening or that’s really powerful, or I’m going to adopt that. Like, what I’ve seen in just these few minutes is a behaviour that I would like to have. So I guess I’m kind of looking around and being inspired by people. And I have this philosophy that everyone has something to teach you. So if you actually get to know people and talk to them and understand their story a bit more, you realize that that’s quite interesting.
Yeah. I like that idea. Or I’ll think more about that. So there’s definitely been people out there that have pushed boundaries and they show you that if you just really go for it in your chosen field, it’s incredible what you can achieve. And this is right across the board of music, art, business, technology, sport, whatever it is, but it is always inspiring seeing people at the top of whatever it is that they’re doing. And I think I get a lot of inspiration from those people and just say, “Wow, it’s amazing they’ve dedicated themselves to this, they’ve achieved this,” and I can take strength and inspiration from what they’ve done.
Andrew McCombe:
How would you surmise that? What does it take to be the top in your class, in the world at your game?
Nathan Fa’avae:
I think what’s got us to the top of adventure racing, fundamentally has to be a belief. You have to be able to believe that it is possible. That’s number one i think. But then there has to be a realistic amount of work and preparation and effort and sacrifice that goes into essentially giving that belief some credibility. So, I think it’s a little bit false to say to people that you can achieve whatever it is you set your mind to. Like, I think that’s partly true, but I’ll bring it back to my kind of model that it’s probably partly true as long as you’re passionate about it, and you’ve got skills in that area and that somehow you manage to have the time to develop those things.
I think with adventure racing, with our team, we’ve just been fortunate that we have all had a real passion for the outdoors. We’ve spent a lifetime gathering skills and experience, which is all very applicable to that sport and the legacy that has been passed to us from the New Zealand adventure racers that came before us, sort of said to us, “You guys are capable of winning the world championships and these major events so go out there and do it.” You have that confidence coming through as well. And then it’s just a lot of hard work. Like I think it’s easy to watch an adventure race on TV or watch it in person, but just be on the sidelines and go, “Man, these guys make it look easy, it can’t be that hard,” or whatever it may be, but what they don’t see is the late nights out raining or the early mornings or the big days juggling family and work and trying to make it all happen. And I think that people just need to remind themselves that nothing comes easy. There’s a lot of work that’s going on in the background and it’s why I think it’s really important that whatever you choose to do, if you wanna be successful at it, that you do have to be passionate about it because, it’s going to take a lot of effort but be patient. And I think the important thing is that you’re on that journey. You’re on that pathway.
I know lots of young adventure racers at the moment who are on that pathway. They’re gathering skills, they’re doing races to gain experience. They are sort of sponges of information about everything on adventure racing and one day they may get there. They may win a world champs, but I don’t really think it really matters if they don’t because the real benefits that they’re getting is more about the lifestyle and the healthy living and they’re physically and mentally well, and they’re exploring their country. They’re exploring the world. They’re learning about teamwork. They’re learning about goal setting. They’re learning about overcoming disappointment. There’s all these other things. So it’s more about being on that pathway and I think when once people are on that pathway, no one really measures it at the end by results, I don’t think. It’s more about the experiences that make up the whole.
Andrew McCombe:
The self-fullfilment side of it.
Nathan Fa’avae:
I think so. Yeah.
Andrew McCombe:
So when you look at your journey, so much of it’s been focused on yourself and the team, but you also do so much more for others. Giving back. You’ve got a trust. You talk at schools, you’ve written your book. Which one’s more important to you now that I guess your career’s coming to an end or a transition point?
Nathan Fa’avae:
Yeah. I think yeah, my life has been in cycles, I guess you could say. And certainly for the first 20 years of my life now, well, that’s, not true, I’d say for the first 30 or 40 years as a child being raised, I think life is a lot about receiving and taking and that’s fine. You’re growing up and you you’re absorbing all this stuff, but for me, what was important is that somewhere, throughout that period, that they had to transfer a bit and then it needed to be some sort of giving. For me, it’s just about the yin and yang of balance of things. I really like that philosophy and parenting is a great start. You start raising children all of a sudden, you’ve got these takers who are just absorbing whatever it is.
I mean, obviously they give alot back but essentially, as a parent, there’s just a huge amount of giving. And so for me, why it was really important was for Jodie, my wife and I, we have been the benefactors of sport. We have a really happy lifestyle. We get to do the things we enjoy. We’ve got a healthy family. And if we look at the mechanics behind that, it’s largely been sport, that’s helped us create that. And sport is made up of people who are willing to step out of being participants and actually creating these opportunities for people to go and race. Fifteen years ago we decided to set up an events company and our mission was to be able to put energy back into an area that we had taken so much from.
And we’d also had the luxury of racing internationally. Jodie my wife was a New Zealand mountain bike representative as well. So she has raced all around the world. So we’ve actually traveled around the world, looking at events, looking at great events, looking at bad events as being participants and all these different things. So to be able to come back to New Zealand and go, let’s set up an events company, let’s combine all the things that we think are cool and leave out all the things we think are dumb and create opportunities for more New Zealanders to experience what we had. And I think from then things have just kind of stemmed out. I end up doing these other roles because I guess through sport, your profile increases and you realize you do have some social responsibility or just some influence, and then it’s like, well, how do I use this influence in a positive way? And yeah, just how it’s unfolded.
Andrew McCombe:
So when you look back at all of the journey you’ve had, what do you think the fundamental purpose was for you? And then how important is purpose for others when they’re embarking on their journey?
Nathan Fa’avae:
Yeah. I think of sort of life and purpose and things, I mean, probably what comes to mind is, is just health and happiness. Like, I really think if people are fundamentally getting up each day and doing the things that bring them the most joy health and happiness for most of the time, then they’re probably doing something right. So for me, that’s something I’m a really big promoter of. I think your biggest asset in life is your health and prioritizing that. So whatever that takes really, I think is probably a pretty important thing for people to be thinking about. And especially if they’re living a lifestyle that they know is unhealthy. That’s what I I’d probably be having concerns about. What it is you’re doing or the pathway you’re on. And yeah, if I look at a theme through my life, it’s definitely been about being healthy and finding happiness, by doing the things I enjoy doing and just trying to spend more time doing that than the anything else. And yeah, it works out pretty well.
Andrew McCombe:
You’ve done a pretty good job of it. Haven’t you? Final question. How do the lessons you’ve learned through sport apply to business for the young Outliers and entrepreneurs out there who are embarking on a journey and they want to learn maybe a little bit more before they embark on it. What would you say, from what you’ve learned?
Nathan Fa’avae:
I think as a whole, that the key components to success are pretty much the same fundamental building blocks for whatever it is, whether it’s sport, whether it’s business, whether it’s family life. I think there’s a model that you can transfer one between the two. And why I kind of know this is because I’ve seen some very successful sporting people take that fairly basic model and apply it to business that have done very well, but I’ve actually also seen some really successful business people bring it across to sport and do pretty well, and I think those are basics sort of pillars and it’s obviously having a goal and knowing what it is you are trying to achieve, like defining what success looks like to you in any different sort of thing.
So, you know, with any business or with any sporting event, there’s obviously a goal in mind, whatever that is, for whatever level people are at. And then I guess it’s about looking at what happens between this point and that point? So, if it’s a sporting event, it’s like, okay, well, I have to train for this event to reach this goal that I’ve set and in the business, it’s like, well, we need to grow the business to this point. And I mean, training essentially is conditioning your body to adapt to what you want it to be able to do in your sporting event. So I guess if you apply that to business, then your day to day kind of business routine is essentially the same thing. It’s training your business to build towards this end game or goal you’ve got, with your company or business or project, whatever it is.
And then, I think it’s actually quite that simple. It’s just setting the goal and then starting on that journey to achieving that goal. And in sport, you’ve just gotta focus on that. That is about basically getting fitter and stronger and building stamina and things just by doing the thing that you’re gonna be doing in the competition. And that is just basically putting down the foundation, it’s just brick by brick by brick and building it up until you’ve got all the complete pieces, I guess. And, I suppose that model was no different to business. It’s just about, as an athlete, when I’m really in the zone, I guess you could say about training for a big race.
I mean, I do ask myself a simple question at the end of most days, probably every day, but the end of most days is, and the question is, what have I done today to take me closer to my goal? Now, as an athlete, that’s real easy because if I lie in bed at night, and the last thing I think about before I go to sleep is what have I done today, to take me close to my goal? Well, I’ve been for a four hour run or I have been for a two hour run and I had a massage or I read a really interesting article on nutrition and I’ve been for a five hour kayak or whatever it is. So it’s usually quite measurable. What I’ve found in my business is that it’s a little bit harder, but it’s equally as important.
So, growing the businesses I have, it’s asking the same question at the end of each day or the end of each week; what have I actually done to kind of take me closer to my goal? And there are days or periods where you struggle to think about something and that’s okay, as long as you identify that. And then rectify it somehow. So, yeah, I guess how would you sum that up? It’s probably just constant evaluation you know, having measurable targets, taking things step by step, being patient, not getting daunted by the big picture, and focus on what’s in front of you in the moment.
Andrew McCombe:
Yeah, so trial, error, fail, learn, repeat sort of stuff.
Nathan Fa’avae:
Yeah, I think so. Pretty much. I mean, obviously you want to try and minimize the amount of mistakes you make, but know that mistakes are great opportunities to learn. So, they happen and you accept them, adapt, move on. You don’t dwell, don’t waste time. Just keep moving forward. think having that momentum is really important. So, once you get that momentum going, just do everything you can to keep it going that way.
Andrew McCombe:
Nathan Faavae 6-time world champion. Thank you so much for sharing your wisdom and massive appreciation from myself and I’m sure from the viewers. You’ve got so much to offer and obviously you’ve got so much more coming in the future. So I just wanna say a big thanks on behalf of Outlier. Thanks for coming on the show.
Nathan Fa’avae:
Cool. Well, thank you. Thanks for seeing some value in coming and chatting to me. And it’s always great speaking to people like yourself because you end up thinking about a lot of things that perhaps weren’t front of my mind. And I just hope that some of the stuff we’ve discussed today is of benefit to people who are listening and I wish them luck and a lot of fun on their journey.
Andrew McCombe:
Awesome. Thanks mate. Really appreciate it. You’re a legend.
Nathan Fa’avae:
Cool. Thank you.
Are you a Coach, Consultant, Entrepreneur & Business Owner who wants to share your Gift, Message & Business with the world so you can enjoy the Authority, Impact, Profits & Success that you deserve!
Then book in for your Free Unleash Your Inner Outlier Strategy Session (valued at $495) where we will help you:
– Get full Clarity and Direction around your unique gift, message or calling, with a…
– Personalised Plan that will allow you to be true to yourself, turn it into a business and live your dream on a day to day basis, so that you can make a significant difference to the world.
Register for FREE at www.Outlier.tv/StrategySession
It’s Time to Find and Fix the One Thing Sabotaging Your Business Success, in 15 minutes or less in this FREE Unleash Your Inner Outlier Lesson.
Watch Now at www.outlier.tv/unleash-your-inner-outlier-lesson/
Connect with us on our Social Media Pages below:
