How to Get the Mindset of a Wimbledon Champion
Heather, put your face in the water!
Djokovic, win the Wimbledon final!
A few months ago, my friend Heather gave me a great way to accomplish a goal. It felt silly, but it turns out Djokovic used the same method this past weekend to win the Grand Slam title at Wimbledon.
She was training for a triathlon, Heather told me, and she just hated putting her face in the water.
‘So I would tell myself to do it,’ she said, ‘I would yell at myself. “Heather, do this!” “Put your face in the water, Heather!”’ She laughed. And of course I thought, I should try that!
I’m sure a lot of you saw that amazing tennis match last Sunday – the one where Novak Djokovic lost the fourth set and his momentum. And then he turned it all around to win the Wimbledon final. In the interview afterwards, Djokovic was saying how it’s not about talent right now, it’s not about technique, it’s about mindset. In fact, it’s so...
Creating a Habit: Just Put Your Shoes On
I have a friend from NSA named Jim Cathcart. Once upon a time, he’d been very overweight and he wanted to start running. Now, he hated running, he hated every bit of it—but, he knew, it was going to be a critical component of his weight loss program.
So what he decided to do was this: just put on his sneakers, everyday, and go to the corner. That’s it. If he wanted to go further, he could, but if he didn’t, all he had to do was put on his socks and shoes and run to the corner and come back. His wife asked why he didn’t just run 1 mile or a set distance everyday. He responded, ‘Because I know I won’t do that but I know I can commit to going to the corner.’
He joked about it—one time, he was actually in a tuxedo going to some event, but he hadn’t done this yet. So, as his wife is yelling ‘Come on, we gotta go!’ he actually yelled back, ‘No! I have to put on my sneakers and run to the corner...
Point Your Boat at the Little Red House
During one of the Moti-adventures, I led a group of women kayaking to the Statue of Liberty. The workshop was about riding the currents of your life, and breaking our goals down into milestones.
As we got started, we could see the Statue of Liberty, and it looked so far away. Our kayaks felt so tiny—it was a little ominous; even I as the leader was like, oh my gosh, how are we going to make this happen?
The first thing the instructor told us was, don’t look at the Statue of Liberty. You know it’s there, you’ve seen it; you know that’s the goal; now let’s break it down. Our first destination is going to be that little red brick house on the other side of the river. Keep the tip of your boat focused on that house. And just paddle until you get there.
So that’s how we overcame that fear that arises when you’re starting something new. It can be scary, to look at your goal, your end point, maybe your whole dream vision. You might think, but...
