As I was watching Michael Phelps last night in the 100M butterfly, I was struck by the life lessons that can be taken away from his performance.

For those that have not seen the race in question, Michael Phelps was unbelievably far behind and appeared to be in a hopeless situation with 10 meters to go. But somehow, he miraculously reached the wall first by .01 of a second. Every single person at the Water Cube and watching TV thought he had lost, but in the slow motion replays, he had won. It also showed that he had done something that most butterfly swimmers are told not to do, he shortened his last stroke in order to extend a little faster to the wall. He said, after the race, that he took the calculated risk because he knew he was behind and had to take a chance. Well, like most great ones, his risk paid off and he is now the greatest swimmer of all time.

The lesson learned from all of this actually play out at start-ups as well. Many are struggling behind large competitors, who have distinct leads in customer base, team size, funding, etc. But great start-ups have to think like a “great one” and find ways to win. In accomplishing this greatness, start-ups have to take risks. They have to use areas of advantage (e.g. large, happy user base or a nimble culture) to steal victory. There will be times when people think the chances that they have to take are daunting or even make their jobs less comfortable.

In taking these chances you will have your turn on the podium, and someone will be putting gold medal being around your neck.

There is a rule as an entrepreneur, “Don’t run out of money.” As long as you still have cash in the bank, you can adjust and change your plans enough so that you still can be in the game. Part of not running out of cash at your business is to be a personally frugal person. If you are wise with your personal money, you probably will be wise with company expenditures.

A great story about frugality comes from Josh Childress. Josh is a professional basketball player that shocked the world by signing a $10MM per year deal to play in Greece and by-passed the NBA. Besides understanding the fundamentals of a pick-and-roll, Mr. Childress also understands the power of watching every dollar, as demonstrated by this quote:

The next time you have to spend money for your business, maybe you can remember the monetary efficency of Josh Childress.

“I have no idea how people hit the snooze button, you have a chance to be better today.”

This is a quote from a Tiger Woods interview that I heard on ESPN. It really struck a chord with me because it made me realize that the reason Tiger is great is all wrapped up in this statement. Tiger doesn’t play golf to make money or get the recognition. He plays to be great. That is why he works as hard as he does. It is 100% complete inner drive and focus. He wants to improve every day because he will be a better golfer, even if he is the only one that recognizes he is getting better.

Entrepreneurs should look at their companies the same way. Make things better because you know you can make them better. Thinking something is just good enough when things are going well leads to a discontinuation of inventing and creating. Every day is an opportunity to make your company better.

So the next time you are tempted to hit the “snooze button” on your business, think of Tiger and his relentless pursuit of perfection.