Athlete Mentality in Design - Pecha Kucha Presentation

This was a presentation I made in the “Pecha-Kucha” style (20 slides, 20 seconds each) about the athlete mentality in design.

Mentality:

The athlete mentality in design explores the similarities among top performers and what we can learn from them.

I’ve been lucky enough to spend time with some of the best athletes in the world, and it has changed the way I approach everything in my life, including design. Hearing someone like Cam Myers say, “I bloody love my job,” captures something simple but powerful.

My view on this mentality has changed significantly. It’s often seen as overly obsessive, high-energy, and requiring huge sacrifices. This perception exists because athletes typically have a very clear understanding of what they need to do to be great. In contrast, design and the creative industry can sometimes feel as though success is left to chance. Why is that, and how can one discipline inform the other? Perhaps the answer lies in a balance between designer and athlete.

Starting with athletes, an Olympic gold medal requires a lifetime of hard work, early mornings, and commitment. However, even that isn’t enough. Much like pit crews in Formula 1, athletes rely on carefully designed teams and systems to reach their highest level of performance. Think of Mo Farah’s double Olympic gold or the rise of Josh Kerr.

Josh Kerr, a former world 1500m champion from Scotland, competes in one of the most competitive events in athletics. He was able to beat some of the strongest fields the sport has ever seen by carefully building his team, which included psychologists, nutritionists, and even his mum as his personal physio. These roles weren’t filled randomly; like a designer assembling a project team, great care was taken to ensure compatibility and effectiveness.

In the design world, mastering your craft is no easier. Charles and Ray Eames were known for an iterative, playful, yet rigorous process, endlessly prototyping and refining their ideas. Much like athletes, they showed up every day, committed to the work, and through that consistency, became great.

The common theme here is simply showing up. In Theodore Roosevelt’s speech, The Man in the Arena, he emphasises the importance of not being a bystander or a critic, but of being the person who steps in, who dares greatly. Even in failure, there is value, because at least you were in the arena, rather than among those who neither know victory nor defeat.

Separation From Outcome:

This leads to the next point: top designers and athletes separate themselves from the outcome. Having a tangible goal, such as an Olympic gold medal, can be motivating, but it is the process that truly defines greatness. As humans, we are always chasing the next achievement, yet the satisfaction of becoming a world champion often pales in comparison to the fulfilment found in the journey itself.

Olympic running coach Mike Smith put it well: “It’s not how fast you run, it’s who you become trying to see how fast you can run.” This highlights that self-discovery is what really matters. Gold medals represent more than performance on a single day; they symbolise a lifetime of dedication, discipline, and commitment.

This same introspection exists in design. Santiago Calatrava, a Spanish-Swiss architect, is renowned for a process rooted in self-critique, emotion, and relentless sketching, sometimes producing hundreds of iterations before reaching a breakthrough.

Whether it’s refining training to run faster or improving technical skill in sketching, incremental progress is essential. The act of showing up consistently, discovering your purpose, and pursuing goals for the right reasons leads to greater fulfilment and, ultimately, better outcomes.

Result:

What emerges from this process is a result. Designers and athletes succeed not through chance, but through a deep understanding of themselves. They know who they are, what drives them, and they show up consistently, not just on the hard days, but on the easy ones too.

The crossover between athletic mentality and world-class design already exists. On Running, a Swiss brand founded in 2010, entered a market dominated by giants like Nike and Adidas. Their success was no accident. They approached design with an athlete’s mindset: constantly testing, refining, and improving. By 2026, they had captured a significant share of what was once considered an impenetrable market.

What We Learned:

So what is the overall point? Athletes and designers may appear to be driven by different goals, but at their core, they are remarkably similar. Both are obsessive in the best sense, every detail matters, every action is intentional, and success is built on commitment to the process.

In today’s world, design is often treated as a means to an end - a set of skills to secure a job. But it can be approached more like training. When you focus less on the end goal and more on doing the work well, with intention and purpose, better results follow.

One of the most important lessons is that setting limits can lead to stagnation. When you let go of rigid expectations and instead commit to improvement, creativity and performance flourish.

Greatness also requires a sense of relaxation and confidence. The best athletes often share an ability to be themselves. Despite the challenges they’ve faced, they perform best when they act with authenticity, stay relaxed, and trust the process.

Top designers didn’t succeed by accident or by simply climbing the corporate ladder. They succeeded because they loved the work. They committed daily to seeing things differently, to trying again, and to “being the person in the arena”. This process-focused mindset doesn’t need to be intense or overwhelming; it’s about consistently doing things well, both for yourself and for others.

Outro:

I recently spent a week in Boston covering the Boston Marathon, an event with over 30,000 participants. While there, I spoke to Charles Hicks, a 24-year-old American who ran the 2nd fastest time in American history - it was just his second attempt at the distance. His result seemed almost miraculous. The conditions were ideal, he felt great, there was a slight tailwind in the 2nd half and everything aligned on the day.

However, he emphasised that even the best conditions still required preparation, belief, and consistent effort. Success didn’t happen by chance - it was built over time.

In his words, “Whatever your marathon is, show up today and you might just find yourself running with a tailwind too.”