Sports scientist Prof Tim Noakes is
world-renowned for his ground-breaking research and for the fact that he lives
his science. Here he shares his rules for life.
1.
Keep your brain active
Do this through physical and mental
activity. At my age (62) you really have to take care of your brain; it’s the
thing that’s going to pack up last. We all tend to focus on hearts, limbs etc,
but don’t neglect your brain. I’m always reading, asking questions and
challenging ideas. Stay curious. Never stop improving your mind.
2.
Make a difference is my motto
It resonates with me because it reflects my
father’s attitude. He left the UK at the end of WW2 and travelled to Africa,
where he made a difference by helping develop industry in Zimbabwe.
I was always conscious of the fact that I
was born into privilege. I had two choices: I could do nothing and enjoy a
comfortable but unfulfilling life, or I could push myself and try to effect
change. Privilege brings responsibility. Too many people think privilege is a
right and they destroy their lives because they don’t do anything with it. It
seems the harder you work at making a difference to other people’s lives, the
more rewarding is your own life.
3.
Self-belief is non-negotiable
You have to have an intrinsic belief in
yourself. Push the boundaries of belief. Be optimistic – you have to believe
that everything you want to achieve, you’re going to achieve.
This is crucial but with it must go
humility. There’s a great statement: You have to have the arrogance to know
you’re really good but the humility to go out and try to prove it.
4.
Push the envelope
When it comes to building your mental
strength and endurance you have to keep pushing yourself. Expose yourself to
challenge all the time. You have to challenge yourself and fail abysmally, and
keep doing it. I failed utterly as a cricketer and that was the one thing I
wanted to succeed at because my father loved cricket.
The natural of a thinker like myself is
that if you overthink, you collapse under pressure. In running, I can control
the overthinking. And the rewards are in proportion to the preparation. You
have to learn to compartmentalise and live in the moment. Focus on the now. In
any interaction, give 100 percent, or regret it.
When I die, one of my goals is not to have
a toenail on my second toe. I always lose one of my second toenails running. If
I die with my toenail not there, it means I was running right up until the day
I died.
5.
Nutrition is key
In the past we’ve had a one-size-fits-all
approach but it doesn’t work. You must question what works for you through
trial and error. I’m pre-diabetic so, to live, I have to make sure I don’t
become a full-blown diabetic. I can control that through diet and exercise.
Cutting carbs completely is working for me
– without this I’d already be on diabetic medication.
About 70 percent of South Africans could
benefit from losing weight. In my view, many of them would do better on a
high-fat and protein diet than a high-carbohydrate diet.
