In sport, as in life, there are always ups and downs, victories, and failures. When we find ourselves in a hole, the first rule to get out is to stop digging. The key to getting out of a moment of crisis is simply to continue to behave the same forgetting about the results, which inevitably create pressure.
We need to stop overanalysing our mistakes and just keep going.
“Learn from the past. Prepare for the future. Perform in the present”
Very often when we try a little less, we end up releasing tension and become more relaxed.
The result is that the performance becomes fluid and more natural, until we return to the fullest extent of what we can achieve.
“The probability of achieving the desired result increases when you get rid of the need to achieve it”
Sport often celebrates strength.
Coaches require their athletes to give 110%, but sometimes trying too hard, as tennis players often do when under pressure, backfires. In tennis when we play, we continuously move our muscles, but they are arranged in opposite pairs.
So, when we strike, the movement is more effective when some muscles contract while others relax. BUT WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE SUCCESSFUL? Modern western society is always obsessed with success, in all its forms. If one fails to achieve a certain status or goal, one’s often considered a loser.
We must, therefore, redefine the concept of success.
“Truly, life is about failure. If you don’t fail, it’s probably because you’re not trying hard enough”.
A winner is a tennis player who ends his match knowing he did his best, regardless of victory or defeat.
Being the winner of a tournament or a match makes us winners in a phase of our life. But it’s what we do after we win that really matters. Successful people want to win. Obsessed people want to win at all costs. In this regard, Gary Mack’s “mirror test” is excellent: if we can look in the mirror and honestly tell the person we see in there that we have given everything and done our best, then we have won.
We shouldn’t worry about the judgment of others and the expectations that the outside world has of us. What matters is knowing we’ve done our best on and off the pitch, both as a person and as a player. Our greatest victory is the victory over ourselves.
“Look for improvements, not perfection”
