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Business Athletes: Inès Makula
Elevate Your Game w/ Inès Makula, co-founder of Clemi’s Market & MadeIT Podcast
Hello and welcome to Business Athletes everyone!
Each week, we’ll explore the athlete-like habits behind a different business leader. In less than 5-minutes, we aim to provide you with practical tactics that you can quickly apply in your day-to-day.⚡️
In the second edition of Business Athletes, we sat down with Inès Makula, co-host of the MadeIT Podcast, one of the leading entrepreneurship podcasts in Italy, as well as the co-founder of Clemi's Market, a food brand that makes healthy eating easy and delicious.
Read time: 4 minutes 34 seconds
Pre-Game Preparation
When A Morning Routine Is Magic
I try to wake up at 7:30 am, but I can’t say I'm perfect at this. It really depends on what time I go to bed, but I’d say I manage to keep this discipline 80% of the time.
In the summer, I manage to wake up a bit earlier. But in the winter, it's much harder. And because I work from home, I’m guilty of pressing that snooze button sometimes.
Straight after I wake up, I drink some hot water with lemon to get my metabolism going. I then have my breakfast, and usually, I try to get some meditation in after that, which is something that really helps me handle the pressure of everyday life much better.
And then I get dressed and I go out with my dog for a walk, which usually goes for about an hour.
When I get back home, I make myself a coffee and start my day.
Controlling Time So It Doesn’t Control You
Every morning, the best preparation tool for me is spending 15 minutes looking at my calendar and organising my to-do list before anything else.
I try to calendarize everything I need to do for the day. Literally everything. From each task, to my lunch, to my breaks. If I don’t do that - because I work from home - it’s easy to lose focus and get caught up in chores or distractions.
Gameday
Becoming Comfortable With Discomfort
Before any high-stakes situation - be it an interview, a presentation or an investor meeting - the first thing I’ll say is that I used to be a lot more stressed out about them. And I say this because the more I'm in high-pressure situations, the less high-pressure they feel.
I think this can apply to everyone. By just constantly putting ourselves in these situations, outside our comfort zones, we build confidence, just like any skill.
Nobody’s cut from a different cloth
When Inès feels under pressure, she starts thinking that everybody feels this way at one point or another. If we don’t, we’re probably not pushing ourselves enough.
She also leans on the classic - when public speaking or facing nerve-wracking situations, try to think of the audience, sometimes naked or like in their vulnerable moments. This cements the idea that they're human, just like her.
Gameplay
Re-Centring When Under Pressure
When things get tough, I try to take a break - meaning, I try to do something different, and then come back to the problem I’m facing with a different mindset.
This is key because in these challenging moments, we can get angry and very negative sometimes.
Never be too hard on yourself in those moments. It's so easy to be hard on ourselves and to blame ourselves for many things, but that’s never helpful. Always try to keep that in mind.
Post-Game
Rest That Regenerates
I feel I know myself really well. Maybe because I'm a Libra and balance is extremely important, I know when I need a break.
So sleep is crucial for me and I always try to make sure I get enough of it. Also, just stepping out of work to do something that gives me energy, like a workout or a yoga class, helps me keep the stress off.
But then, I'm someone who also really values my friends and my social life. I need to spend time with my friends, and with my dog and my husband in the evenings, they always makes me feel calm and fresh for the next day.
I know sometimes have social activities may not look like rest, but it completely takes my mind off of the problems and responsibilities of my day-to-day life. I believe they can co-exist with my work.
Checking-In
More sporadic restful activities for Inès include massages. When she feels she needs one, she books one and treats herself to the things that make her feel good.
Now, what’s that for you?
Reviewing Game Film To Improve
Given that I have a podcast, I always like to re-listen to myself to see how I can keep on improving. I want to check if I was speaking clearly enough, if my tone of voice was nice, every little detail.
I’ve done hundreds of recordings by now, so this method of reviewing and analysing my performance has been key for my growth as a founder and public speaker.
Where does it show for you?
For Inès, it could be her podcast. It’s quite visible. She can see improvements in their content, the guests they attract and even more, like the charts.
The Business Athlete Mindset
Sports That Inspire
I'm obsessed with sports documentaries. Specifically, those about athletes coming back from injuries, where they were told they were never going to be able to do that, and then they come back even better.
I love those stories of grit and perseverance. I just kind of think about their mental resilience, and think - if they were able to get through that - which is much, much crazier than most things we go through day-to-day - it helps me put things into perspective.
What Does Being A “Business Athlete” Mean To Inès
I would say it's all about training. Putting in the reps, just like how athletes train.
And it's about doing… about pushing yourself to learn new things every single day and put them into practice.
It's about putting yourself out there - doing things that are out of your comfort zone, getting better at them and just kind of seeing yourself improving.
“Winning” means something different to each of us
For Inès, it’s about getting better and better. It’s about accepting that there’ll always be a new challenge, a new performance…essentially, always thinking about the next thing.
About Inès Makula
Inès is the co-host of Made IT Podcast, one of the leading entrepreneurship podcasts in Italy, as well as the co-founder of Clemi's Market, a food brand that makes healthy eating easy and delicious.
Before launching her ventures, she worked for almost a decade in the world of cosmetics, mainly for the Estée Lauder Companies in London and New York.
Today, Inès lives between London and Milan, if she isn't working she is traveling around the world looking for new adventures.
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