The Leap: Part 1
and the two things that are helping me most in my transition from Rugby
Welcome to the first instalment of “The Leap”, a 6-part series where I share how I’m going about changing careers, after retiring from professional sport.
Today, I’ll share the two things that have helped me the most, and dive more into the specifics over the following weeks. Enjoy!
1. “You have to trust in something… your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever… because believing that the dots will connect down the road, will give you the confidence to follow your heart… even when it leads you off the well worn path, and that will make all the difference” - Steve Jobs.
If you stop reading, then at least you’ve heard one of the messages that’s helped me most during the stressful time of having to start my career again.
I loved playing Rugby, but trying to transition from it to another career that’s as emotionally fulfilling has been tough.
Despite knowing what I wanted to do, “taking the leap” from Rugby to start the next chapter was daunting, and while the quote from Apple co-founder Steve Jobs gives me hope that everything will work out, wishful thinking and quotes alone won’t make my career transition happen.
I still have so much to do, but I feel I’m now making good progress and a successful transition is within reach, and believe that I have journey to share that could help anyone who’s looking for a fresh start.
2. Make your health your top priority
In 2010, the Brumbies assembled the Real Madrid of Australian Rugby, and despite the star studded roster, 2011 was the worst season in Brumbies history.
But within 2 years of Jake White being appointed as coach, we nearly won the grand final in New Zealand, and with a much younger squad.
That experience taught me a lot, and while everyone played a part in turning the club around, the bloke who I believe was most responsible was head fitness trainer Dean Benton- who is the current Head of Athletic Performance at Rugby Australia, after successful stints with the Melbourne Storm and England Rugby.
A notoriously hard task master, Dean hired a chef, created a sleep room for the players, and trained us bloody hard during the 2012 preseason.
But what I remember most was a conversation we had and how it changed my life:
“DB, I’m trying bloody hard here mate. I don’t think I can keep this up”- I cried, after a gruelling fitness session hoping he’d show some mercy.
“Benny… I don’t care how hard your training mate. Just go away and focus on your eating and sleeping, and your training will take care of itself”.
So instead of focusing on training hard, I went away and focused only on my food and sleep, and overnight, I started training better and went on to play the best footy of my career.
It was such a simple switch in priorities, but it taught me that if I just prioritise by focusing on “the things that impact my health”, then I’ll have plenty of energy to do the work that’s needed to make progress, and achieve something special.
To me, the definition of being healthy is to “consistently have energy”, then how you chose to spend that energy is up to you.
Whether you channel it towards work, exercise, family, friends, hobbies, whatever, and I think being tired and having low energy is the biggest thing that holds people back from achieving what they want.
But it’s hard to focus on my health all the time, especially when my work is causing stress, and I just want the stress to go away. And when I focus solely on work, I start cutting corners with my health, and I eventually become overtired and run down.
Then as I become more tired, I begin to doubt myself, procrastinate, and do less work, that’s usually to a quality below of what I’m capable of.
Then, I start dealing with the stress caused by my poor work in ways that only make me more tired, like drinking lots of booze and binge eating.
But none of that seems to happen when I prioritise my health above my work.
I don’t spend all day thinking about my health, but I make sure I’ve done the basics that give me energy, and that’s something my wife and I focus on everyday, as it’s helping us both navigate thru the stressful time of trying to get our ideas off the ground.
And of course there’s more to it than that, but if you’re thinking of changing careers: 1- have courage to take the leap, and 2- prioritise your health so you have the energy to make it happen, are only two things I think are necessary to make a successful career transition happen.
Thanks if you read this far.
Next week, I’ll dive into specifics of how I prioritise my health, and if you have any questions, please leave a comment below.
Cheers!
Well done Ben, a good read!
Great read Ben, & I couldn’t agree more. Focusing on health and fitness is paramount for every aspect of life… especially the older you get (believe me!)