If you ask any great athlete about what they are focused on when they’re competing, they’re intensely in the moment. They’re in the process of executing. The one thing they’re not doing, they’re not focused on the outcome while they’re competing if they’re going to be successful.
An extreme example would be taking a downhill skier. When you’re going down 60, 70, 80 miles an hour, they can’t be focused on the outcome. They’ve got to stay right there in the moment.
In tennis, let’s say you’re serving for the match. Of course, you really want to win, but how are you going to give yourself that opportunity. That’s by playing one point at a time. So, in the process of competing, it is not the time to be focused on an outcome. You can’t control the outcome.
You want to focus on the things that are going to give you the best chance to get the outcome you want and the best chance for you to grow and be all that you can be.
Having said that, when I say guaranteeing success, you have to clarify what you mean by success.
For me, success is when somebody is putting in the effort of preparing and they are focused. They’re really trying to be the best they can be. When they’re doing that, they’re in the process of achieving success.
It may not convert into a victory on that particular day, but they’re going down a road of quality, of personal growth, of development. A lot of good things are going to happen from when you go down that pathway. So, I like the kids to execute what they can control to the best of their ability, which to me is an indication of success.
There are many times we’ve all seen an athlete playing a tennis match and they’ve won, but it was not a successful outing. Their attitude wasn’t great. Their effort wasn’t great. Conversely, we’ve all seen somebody competing, busting their butt out there, trying to execute, and they come up short and they lose the match, but you can really look them in the eye and say, that was a real successful outing.
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