Half the battle of succeeding in the sports media industry is producing quality content. The other, as it turns out, is being a well-developed human being.
Especially in the modern age of sports media, where influencers and independent content creators have more and more power, the human interaction element – both with audiences and collaborators – is becoming especially integral to growth.
What does this mean? More than anything, it means you – as a human being – need to be on top of your game to thrive in such a competitive, volatile environment.
With that in mind, here are five universal principles – principles that apply in any field or scenario – that you can integrate on your journey as a sports media professional, to make the most of your opportunity. If you’re ever searching for new ways to improve, come back to these foundational categories.
5 Universal Principles to Remember in Your Career Journey
1) Prioritize Proactive, Thorough Communication
You want to build a loyal and active audience? You want to effectively collaborate with your team members? Communicate, communicate, communicate. That’s the secret to forging valuable connections both as a creator and a coworker. Be proactive and thorough with your communication, and let authenticity be at the root of your interaction.
Poll any number of professionals in the sports media industry – or any industry, for that matter – and they’ll likely say that one of their biggest stressors is ineffective communication. In a workplace, ineffective communication can set uncertain expectations. And to your audience, ineffective or inconsistent communication can erode loyalty built over time.
In both directions, you’re dealing with human connections, and proper communication – consisting of authenticity, proactivity, and thoroughness – is the incubating force for those connections.
2) Adopt a Problem-Solving Mindset
Almost every industry is built off of a problem-solution framework. You have a problem. How do you solve it? That’s how most businesses are formed, and that mindset also holds weight in the modern sports media space.
Market disruptions and environmental fluctuations are exposing aspiring creators to new and pressing issues. Don’t tread water when the current changes. Find a way to swim with it. Find a way to adapt by adopting a problem-solving mindset.
At the root of the problem-solving mindset is critical thinking: Being able to effectively process information, assess trends, make connections, and – by extension – approach and deconstruct complex quandaries, while understanding that every situation is unique, and may call for a different solution. Be a problem-solver in your media role, and you’ll be able to resist change.
3) Embrace Creativity and Independent Ideation
This is partly related to the problem-solving mindset, but it’s also independent from the lens of content creation. If you want to thrive in the modern sports media industry, you need to embrace creativity and independent ideation. Don’t be vain and place your own perspective on a pedestal, but let your thoughts run free, and let no idea be too abstract or unconventional.
The human mind functions at its best when it’s allowed to progress freely. If you box yourself into a niche too narrow, or into a strategic framework too regimented, you may find that you lack the creative freedom to both solve problems and formulate rich, organic content. Embrace your creativity. Don’t silo it. And play up to your creative potential. All of it is needed.
4) Manage Time Like the Finite Resource It Is
An incredibly simple but nonetheless often overlooked universal skill is time management. Time is your greatest resource, but it’s always in use – and thus, it is very easy to waste. It’s okay if some projects require time to brainstorm and idle, but if you want to succeed over the long-term, you have to treat time like the precious and finite resource that it is.
Having that simple awareness – that time is a finite resource – is the first and largest step. The next is to audit your own time-spending habits. Are there any time-wasting habits that you have? Are there any time inefficiencies that you can cut down? You’ll be surprised at the amount of time you can siphon back from these inefficiencies, and you can then spend it on building value.
5) Hold Yourself Accountable
Lastly, hold yourself accountable. If you tell yourself or someone else that you’re going to do something, you have to follow through. If you make a mistake or end up being wrong on something, own up to it, and ask yourself what you can learn from it. Don’t shy away from it, and don’t let hubris hold you back from self-development.
Accountability seems like a very broad, abstract concept, but if you commit to it long-term, in every walk of your brand development, you’ll see how it pays dividends.
Playbook
- Prioritize communication
- Be a problem-solver
- Embrace independent creativity
- Emphasize time management
- Hold yourself accountable
