Sports stars can teach others about becoming champions in their own lives, and one Pulitzer finalist has penned a new title to explain how sports can be used as a lens to observe best practices, make decisions under pressure, grow from failure, and develop a culture of constant improvement.
Washington Post sportswriter and New York Times bestselling author Sally Jenkins joined "Good Morning America" on Tuesday in tandem with the release of her new book, "The Right Call: What Sports Teach Us About Work and Life."
In the book, Jenkins reveals what it takes for ordinary people to achieve extraordinary results, and she told "GMA" that in addition to celebrating professional athleticism, there's more we can learn beyond the entertainment value.
"Sometimes we miss the real takeaways for our own lives, and that was the point of the book," Jenkins said. "We're dazzled by them, awed by them, but what can we take home? Are there lessons there that are applicable? If we look at them close enough and if we stop being quite so dazzled by the shine of the trophies."
One myth that Jenkins points out in the book is that you have to be born with unique talent. She references as an example someone that many consider to be one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time, Peyton Manning.
"That's the biggest myth there is. Talent is just an absolute fractional factor," Jenkins said, pointing to Manning, who meticulously studied his worst moments to elevate his success.
"He was 32-32 in his third year in the league ... and led the league in interceptions. This is not a guy who walked into the NFL as a Hall of Famer. He had to figure out some real flaws," she said. "He had nervous feet when defensive linemen were diving at his feet. He looked at every interception he threw, studied tape with the assistant coach and they designed a drill where they would throw heavy bags at his feet in practice, just trying to cure this nervousness under pressure with people diving at his feet."
She continued, "Peyton Mannings don't come ready made. You don't just unwrap the wrapper and throw them on the field and they're great."
In his case, and for many great athletes, a lot can be said for the impact and relationship of their coach like Tony Dungy who helped lead Manning to greatness.
Another myth about athletes that Jenkins dives into: "Failure is not an option."
"Lets face it, failure is the most common experience in the world," she said bluntly. "We've all failed. Find me a person who hasn't been cut or fired. Just like athletes. My favorite statistic at every Super Bowl is to count the number of people on the roster that weren't even drafted coming out of college."
She added, "These are the things that we miss that I wanted to tackle in this book in an organized way."
Jenkins also shared suggestions from her studies that can help others apply athletic principles to become champions in our own lives, such as studying their habits.
"How organized [athletes] are in their habits. We could all prepare better. We could practice better in the face of resistance," she said. "Most of us run around -- or get pretty good at something and then we plateau. We don't really address our incompetencies or our unconscious incompetencies."
Going back to her Peyton Manning example, Jenkins added that "he dug really deep into his own performance."
"Manning not only studied the tape of all of his interceptions, he studied tape of the passes he threw that should have been interceptions but weren't because he got lucky or that should have been touchdowns but weren't because he did a little something wrong ... It's an uncomfortable feeling and comfort is not the only thing worth seeking. That's what you learn from athletes."
Jenkins quoted famed women's basketball coach Pat Summitt to close the book: "People don't care how much you know, until they know how much you care."
"That's a critical factor in leaders ... and probably the big separator between people who think they can be leaders and leaders like Pat, who are transcendently good leaders, is their communication and their ability to convey that they actually care about the people. Because you don't succeed alone. You succeed through other people."
She added, "You can't impose success on people and Pat knew that. Pat knew leadership is getting a group of people to agree that they want to do something great."
Jenkins' book compiles even more learnings from great athletes and coaches, from Laird Hamilton to Tom Brady, analyzing their willpower, motivation and more to elevate their game.
Conditioning
Practice
Discipline
Candor
Culture
Resilience
Intention
Jenkins' new book is available now wherever books are sold.