Today I have the pleasure of speaking with Adam Kreek, an Olympic gold medalist, entrepreneur, and top executive and business coach. He is also the author of The Responsibility Ethic. From winning an Olympic Gold medal to coaching leaders of Fortune-500 companies, to making an impact on people and businesses, Adam talks about having the mindset and focus to do what you really need and want to do.
Let’s dive into this episode and find out how the mindset of focus can elevate your career and life to the next level.
[00:01 – 16:29] Opening Segment
Before he was an an author and a business coach, Adam was first a young athlete who has his mind set on training to be a better athlete. Part of the training he set for himself even included working in an oil rig company after high school. According to Adam, the hard labor involved in drilling for oil made him a better athlete. However, like myself and several other guests in this show, Adam also wasn’t very convinced that rowing was really the career path for him.
Aside from his athletic journey, Adam also talks about his journey to find his true passion as well as some other things that he thinks influenced his mindset like how his parents brought him up and his birth order.
[16:30 – 26:19] The Mindset of Focus and Mentorship
You’ve already heard a lot of stories about former coaches being influential to the life of the athletes they used to coach even after they’ve left the sport—Adam is no exception. Adam’s former coach is Mike Spracklen. Mike, according to Adam, is a very loving coach but is also very tough on himself and his athletes. Because Mike Spracklen gets offended when you don’t show the same level of commitment that he shows, this helped Adam develop having the mindset of focus. “Focus is doing what you say you’re going to do,” Adam says.
Adam also talks about the pecking order/hierarchical environment that is based on performance that he had with his team and his coach. This is an environment where you get to move up and down the hierarchy based on your day-to-day training, he says. In addition, Adam also talks about how this concept also applies in the work and business environment and how it was able to help him help one of his clients when he became a business coach.
[26:20 – 37:19] From an Olympic Winning Strategy to Successful Business Strategy
In this part, Adam further elaborates on how creating a hierarchy and pecking order in the work environment makes it easier to manage people. When you know where you rank, you get to use the people beside you as competition and target point. He also shares about how he coached his client who wants to move up the hierarchy, up to the C suite.
Part of Adam’s coaching with his client was finding out what he really values. Because of this, they were able to find out that it’s not really the position that he values but being respected so he ended up helping his client how to make the most out of his position.
Since we’re already talking about values, Adam also gives an advice on how you can identify and rank your personal values, how do you know what’s really important to you, and how do you reverse engineer your life to do that.
[37:20 – 41:56] The FOCUS FIVE Segment
The FOCUS FIVE are five questions I ask every guest on my show. Keep on listening to find out what book Adam gifts most often; who would he talk to if he can get an hour of any person living or dead, from the past or the present, and why; that one thing he believes but most people will disagree with; his morning routine; and lastly, where are the best places we can connect with him online. (See the links below for Adam’s social media links!)
Tweetable Quotes:
“Even if you have big goals, focus on the next thing you need to do.” – Adam Kreek
“Values can help to direct us in the right spaces.” – Adam Kreek
“Focus is doing what you say you’re going to do.” – Adam Kreek
Resources mentioned in the episode:
- The Responsibility Ethic: 12 Strategies Exceptional People Use to Do the Work and Make Success Happen
- Mike Spracklen
- The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey
- Schedule a call with Hans
You can connect with Adam Kreek on LinkedIn , Instagram, and Twitter. You can also contact him personally via email at www.kreekspeak.com/.
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