Growing up, sports were my thing. I played basketball and tee-ball as a kid, swam competitively and ran track as an adolescent, and played volleyball and soccer all the way into high school. Playing sports was always a release for me — something I did to have fun and escape my schoolwork — but looking back, I think I learned just as much on courts and fields as I did in any classroom.

A lot of people don’t realize how many lessons you can learn through sports, even if you never play at a collegiate or professional level. And not just vague aphorisms like “play hard” or “try your best.” I’m talking real, applicable, actionable knowledge that can make a tangible impact on your adult life.

For me, the learnings I picked up playing sports have translated seamlessly to my career — I believe I’m a better writer and a stronger teammate thanks to those early-morning practices and late-night games. Want to learn those lessons for yourself without taking a single soccer ball to the face? I got you! Keep reading.

1. Teamwork wins championships.

In team sports, it doesn’t matter how talented you are if you’re not cooperating with the people around you. As a teen, I played so many soccer games against teams with star players — girls that, on an individual level, were stronger and faster and had better footwork than me or any of my teammates. But we were still able to beat those teams when we worked together.

Similarly, in advertising, it really doesn’t matter how smart or strategic or creative you are if you can’t work with your fellow writers and designers. So check your ego at the door. Listen more than you talk. Don’t shoot other people’s ideas down; build on them. Because you might have good ideas, but I guarantee you that your teammates can make them even better — if you let them.

2. You’re gonna get a lot of feedback.

In sports, you don’t just play a game, go straight home, and sit silently in a dark room until your next game. You debrief with your coach and teammates. You watch game tape to see what you did well and what you could improve on. You practice until it’s time for your next match. As creatives working in advertising, it’s the same deal. We don’t just deliver an assignment, wash our hands of it, and pat ourselves on the back. We ask for feedback. We listen to that feedback with curiosity. We use that feedback to improve the work. And then we get to do it all over again.

3. Practice makes progress.

Perfection is a myth, but in my experience, practice leads to progress 100 percent of the time. Want to be a better soccer player? Run laps. Do dribbling drills. Shoot 100 free kicks every day. Want to be a better writer? Volunteer to write blogs. Offer to join brainstorms on other teams’ projects. Come up with 100 headlines for your next assignment. If you stick with it, you’re going to see improvement. And what’s more rewarding than that?

4. You’re not going to be good at everything — and that’s ok.

I’m 5’5” on a good day. I was never going to be a record-breaking hurdle sprinter or a star hitter on the volleyball team. But if you need a reliable middle-distance runner or a scrappy libero, I’m your girl. As far as writing goes, I struggle with whimsy and wackiness, but luckily, that’s where a close colleague of mine shines (hey, Morgan!). But when it comes to being direct, pithy, and a little bit wry? Put me in, coach!

In other words, don’t freak out if you’re not the best at every single writing style or design technique. Practice to make improvements (see Lesson 3), but also lean on your teammates (see Lesson 1) and understand that sometimes it makes sense for them to play to their strengths and you to play to yours.

5. Losses come with lessons.

I’ve made so, so many mistakes — both as an athlete (dropped relay batons, out-of-bounds serves, missed goals) and as a creative (didn’t read the whole brief, wasn’t prepared for a presentation, reacted badly to feedback) — but with every one of those mistakes, I’ve learned how to be better the next time around. Don’t hang your head in shame after a bad day. Make a note of how you can avoid making the same mistake in the future, and move on.

6. Push yourself — but not at the expense of your health.

Challenging yourself is admirable, but a shiny trophy — whether it’s for a sports tournament or an advertising competition — is not worth your physical or mental health. I stopped playing soccer after a string of concussions left me shaken. My copywriting career hasn’t given me any concussions, but sometimes it does give me a headache. When that happens, I shut off my computer and go for a walk, without feeling an ounce of guilt. When I get back, I’ll be ready to take on the world.

7. Make time for rest.

But sometimes, you need more than a walk around the block. You need a day on the couch, a weekend off the grid, or a whole week on the beach. Do it. Just like athletes have an off-season, you deserve a break, too. Because if you don’t pick a time to relax, your body will pick it for you — and it will probably come at the worst time imaginable. So take the dang PTO, and remember what Austin Kleon wrote in his best-seller Steal Like an Artist: “Creative people need time to just sit around and do nothing. I get some of my best ideas when I’m bored.”

8. When you’re the star player, it may be time to find a new team.

Have you ever looked around and thought, “I’m the smartest person here”? I have, but only once, and I was at a frat party in college. I’ve never felt that way in my career. I’ve always had the privilege of being surrounded by brilliant, accomplished coworkers who had so much to teach me. If I ever felt like I was the star of my sports team or my work team, I would think seriously about making a move — because when you’re head and shoulders above your teammates, you probably aren’t being challenged like you should be.

9. Attitude is everything.

If my experience playing sports taught me anything, it’s that attitude can be your biggest strength — or your greatest weakness. It’s the same in advertising: If you go into a meeting or a presentation or a brainstorm thinking “This is awful, I have no idea what I’m doing, I should have been an engineer like my parents wanted,” you’re gonna have a bad time. If you go into the same exact meeting or presentation or brainstorm thinking “This is going to be fun, I’ll figure it out like I always have, I would have hated being an engineer because of all the math,” you’re gonna be just fine.

Hold your head high, listen to your favorite song, and walk into your next meeting like the Chicago Bulls walked into Game 6 of the 1997 NBA Finals. You got this.

10. Remember what really matters.

At the end of the day, a game is just a game. An ad is just an ad. Don’t ruin your whole day or week or month over a dropped baton or a bad serve or a missed typo or a flubbed presentation. Consider it a learning experience (see Lesson 5), and go hug your spouse, or have dinner with your friends, or play with your kids, or pet your dog. They’re the reasons we work so hard anyways, right?

Writing this blog has reminded me of so many things. The time I kneed myself in the face during a high-jump event and gave myself a bloody nose. The summer my dad taught me how to play tennis using a minuscule wooden racket from the 70s. The weekend I spent camping out under the stars with my soccer teammates after a crucial win over our archrivals.

But more than anything, writing this blog has reminded me of how lucky I was to play sports at all (thanks, Mom and Dad!). Because even though a game is just a game, what you learn from that game can be life-changing. I know it has been for me.

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