The Police, pro athletes and aging with excellence

Sting, Stuart and Andy became successful for the same reasons Serena and Simone, Lionel and LeBron, Bruce Lee and Billie Jean King did. Learn from them.

I recently stumbled upon a 75-minute video of a 1983 Police concert in Montreal, when the band was at peak popularity. Sting performed in a gauzy chest-cloth. Andy Summers wore a jacket with shoulder pads. Stewart Copeland, black electrical tape binding his fingers, drummed in his underwear, working harder than a gravedigger in January.

But the most revealing parts of the video were the cutaway interviews with Sting, Copeland and Summers, from probably 2-3 years earlier. Each man spoke — in the unguarded manner in which even global rock icons talked, 20 years before social media — about the psychological habits that made them successful.

From these pixelated interviews, two minor epiphanies came to me:

• The mental and emotional qualities these guys were describing four decades ago are the same as those that distinguish world-class athletes today.

• Anyone committed to aging with strength and excellence — mentally, emotionally and spiritually — should cultivate them as well. It just takes effort and creativity.

So, what are the defining characteristics of the psycho-emotional operating systems shared by these three icons of early-80s New Wave and legions of sports champions?

1 | They possess enduring self-belief and are ultra-confident in their ability to perform. “We were driven by immeasurable optimism, and arrogance,” Copeland says. “We were convinced that we were much better than any of those other groups, and we’re still convinced of that.” Professional athletes exhibit the same unshakeable optimism and belief.

In his YouTube video on the mental habits of elite athletes, Sam Martin, a mental conditioning coach, says they speak in definitives (“I will…, I can…, I am…”) about who they are and what they will achieve, and rarely fail to execute on those verbal intentions. By contrast, Martin says, amateurs tend to speak in possibilities (“I’ll try…”, I might…”, “Let’s see…”) and don’t project a sustained, verbalized intentionality.

the lesson: Self-confidence and speaking in definitives are elements of a self-reinforcing cycle that leads to action. People who take action rise to the top.

how to apply it: Cultivate Copelandian levels of self-confidence. That starts by taking care of your body; being kind to yourself (and others), and practicing positive self-talk.   

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2 | They are intrinsically motivated and remain connected to their purpose. In his cutaway interview, Sting, noticeably younger than his Montreal concert self and sporting an outfit halfway between Dune and The Matrix says: “We got together and we still remain together because…we like the music we play. It is an accident — I swear this — that it is also pleasing to a vast number of people.” And then his consequent phrase: “I write songs to please myself. The band plays to please itself. If there were no one out there, we’d still be playing in someone’s front room.”

Pro athletes share this same, highly motivating purpose, Martin, the performance coach, says. Everything stems from a profound desire to consistently perform at peak levels. Adversity, roadblocks and hardship get reframed as challenges to overcome.

the lesson: If you need external validation, you're not intrinsically motivated. Winning and achieving aren't the right goals; the goal is having the biggest impact that matters to you, with absolutely no regrets. 

how to apply it: Think about what compels you to excellence, and act on that. Maybe it's work spreadsheets...but more likely it's what you would do every day or week for free for life. 

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3 | They embrace clarity and explore deeply. Summers, a consummate musician, said this about his spare, three-man band: “In the case of The Police, the simplicity and the openness of the three-piece sound is an exciting quality.” He added, “With us, you got the bass and the drums and the guitar in the middle holding the harmonic area, and there’s a lot of clarity. And it excites people.”

He ends on a lovely metaphor: “It’s amazing what you can just keep finding all the time within three pieces. It means you have to really go deeper into your instrument.”

Similarly, top athletes, Martin says, adopt an “internal locus of control” by taking ownership of only what they can do or influence, and tuning out the rest.

the lesson: Summers said it best: go deeper into your whatever "instrument" demonstrates the excellence you want to contribute to the world.  

how to apply it: Pick one thing you want to be consistently excellent at — being a better friend; archery; banana bread; whatever — and make that thing your mission for the month, or however long you need to go deep and explore the boundaries you can't even yet see. 

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4 | They take risks and continually aim higher. Later on, The Police concert video cuts back to Summers: “You’ve got to really have that belief in yourself and you’ve got to be wiling to take chances and risks, and that’s so important. You’ve got to be willing to abandon a lot of things and, sort of, stand on a rock in the middle of the sea away from everybody else and just sort of wait and, you know, stick it out.”

I think every athlete who’s ever trained for a competition knows what he means. The best of the best, in any professional category, carefully avoid the pitfall of perfectionism and exhibit a tireless need to achieve more.

Tom Brady, after winning his third Super Bowl, told 60 Minutes in 2005: “There’s gotta be more than this.” He was right.

the lesson: If you can win seven Super Bowls, don't be satisfied with winning only three.  

how to apply it: What are you willing to patiently stand on a rock in the middle of the sea to achieve, assuming no one will pay you or even notice? Do that thing.