“You don’t fear for your life in the middle of a storm, you can’t really afford to.”

– Ellen MacArthur

Ellen MacArthur became an icon within the sailing fraternity when she set the record as the youngest woman solo sailor to complete the non-stop circumnavigation of the globe in the 2000/2001 Vendee Globe race. She did not win the race, but her ambition, courage and determination to achieve her goals was the key. The key not only to succeed, but rather to make a difference!

Her success started at an early age (17) when she obtained her first record in single-handedly sailing the circumnavigation of Great Britain, and continued with many other achievements including, Mini Transat solo race (placed 17^th), and the Route de Rhum (placed 1^st, and in record time, in her second attempt in 2002). Ellen also captained a round-the-world record attempt for a crewed yacht (this attempt was cancelled when the yacht’s mast broke), and in June 2004 she set a new world record for a transatlantic crossing by a woman (Ambrose Light, lower New York Bay, USA to Lizard Point in Cornwall, UK), beating the previous crewed and single-handed records. Her crowning year though was in 2005 when she beat Francis Joyon’s single-handed, non-stop, round-the-world record.

Ellen also received a number of awards, including “British Young Sailor of the Year” (1995), “Yachtsman of the Year” (1998), “Sailing’s Young Hope” (1998), and she also won second place (runner up to David Beckham) in the “BBC Sports Personality of the Year” (2001), a great achievement considering this award is usually dominated by more mainstream sports. In 2005, Ellen was made a “Dame Commander” of the Order of the British Empire in recognition for her achievements, and honorary Lieutenant Commander of the Royal Naval Reserve. A more recent award was in 2008 when she was awarded the French Légion d’Honneu Knight by Nicolas Sarkozy.

Skipper Ellen MacArthur sets a new sailing record by completing the round-the-world circumnavigation, sailing 27,354 nautical miles (50,660km) in 71 days, 14 hours, 18 minutes and 33 seconds at an average speed of 15.9 knots. Photo: Liot Vapillion

In late 2009, Ellen announced her retirement from competitive sailing in order to become an eco-warrior focusing on environmental campaigning and stopping mankind from destroying the environment.   She does not regard her greatest achievements amongst her race conquests, but rather what she discovered whilst visiting South Georgia in the South Atlantic. Whilst camping on the island for 2 months to highlight the plight of the Albatross which is under threat from the hooks used in long-line fishing, Ellen had an epiphany. Her view towards life altered and she realised that we, the human race, take our resources for granted. To some, our resources are so accessible that we simply take what we want, when we want it, and how much of it we want… even if we do not need it!

When preparing for a record attempt, Ellen may only take the bare essentials. She manages what she has, down to the very last drop of fuel or water, simply because if she were to run out of something, there is no way of obtaining more. The consequences of wastage are very serious! Money has no value at sea – it’s the resources that count.

This is an important message to entrepreneurs in a business context. As a start-up, you learn to work with the bare minimum, the resources you have are exactly that – all you have… if you don’t have the finances to purchase something, you don’t…. you learn to work with what is available to you!

But what happens when these entrepreneurs reach a level where money is no longer an issue? Have they learnt the necessary lessons from when they were a simple start-up? Now that the finances are available, are resources purchased freely? Are entrepreneurs setting the correct example for their employees in this regard?

I’m not necessarily talking about bio-degradable toilet paper here. I’m talking about the resources that are needed within the business / office environment – the resources that cost you money – the seemingly small things like cash flow, supplier costs and staff costs.

The lesson to be learnt from Ellen is to stop, and absorb your surroundings. Are you, and all those within your company managing your resources properly?

Shaun White began his life with a challenge that most would not begin to comprehend. Born with a congenital heart defect, Shaun endured two open-heart operations before his first birthday. This however, did not discourage him. At 4 years of age, Shaun showed a sense of fearlessness as he raced down mountain slopes, chasing his older brother, Jesse, on skis. In an attempt to slow him down, his mother put him on a snowboard, and instructed him to copy everything his brother did. Her idea of slowing Shaun down did the exact opposite.

Shaun’s career snowballed. He entered and won his first contest, subsequently earned himself a wildcard entry into Nationals, and obtained his first sponsorship all at the age of 7. The 17 year old Shaun soon became the first athlete to qualify for both the winter and summer X Games, where he won 4 consecutive gold medals in one discipline.

Seemingly reaching the peak of his sporting career, Shaun confronted one of his sponsors, Red Bull, with the notion of competing in a single event at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, the half pipe, with the goal of taking the gold medal. “You have to keep pushing yourself as an athlete. When you’re at the top of the sport, it means pushing into unknown territory,” says Shaun.

Shaun’s thought behind this was to focus on a single entity of the sport and improve, possibly change snowboarding as we knew it. Through focusing his attention, Shaun was able to put thought into motion. “I’ve had all these tricks in my mind I’ve wanted to try. I just needed a place to figure them out.” With this, Red Bull built a custom half pipe in Colorado, complete with a foam pit, so Shaun could fully execute his new moves, without risking injury.

Prior to his gold medal winning run at the 2006 Winter Olympics, Shaun spoke about the feeling of confidence and certainty in his abilities, and on visualising his goals. This approach is something we can all learn from, not only in our everyday lives, but in our businesses and careers. Through visualising your goals and focusing on you how you are going to achieve it, you will succeed.

Learning to focus on one task is an invaluable asset. By focusing your concentration on one specific task, and eliminating distractions, your mind will be energised to completing the task at hand until completion – and ultimate success.

Ambition is what drives us to succeed. Shaun White didn’t rest on his laurels, instead he chose to push the boundaries and confront a bigger challenge and something that would push him to focus on one task at a time. Mindset goes hand-in-hand with ambition. With ambition you have a goal to work towards. With the correct mindset, you accept what needs to be done in order to achieve your goals – which steps need to be taken, and what sacrifices need to be made.

As an entrepreneur, business person, employee, employer – whichever category you fall into, you need to establish and focus your goals and work towards it. In Shaun White’s case, it was focusing on landing the Double McTwist 1260 and creating 4 other never-seen-before moves that would take snowboarding to another level. You need to ask yourself… what is your Double McTwist 1260 – and how will you direct your focus in order to achieve your success?