EIGHT STEPS TO EXCELLENCe
I've always encouraged the players I've worked with to keep these eight steps below close and to read them on a regular basis. A few years ago, the family of a boy I was coaching invited me around to their place for dinner. I had to use the bathroom so went in, shut the door (had to be polite) and these eight steps were stuck to the back of the door for perfect toilet time reading. So press the print button, get some blu tac and stick the below steps to a wall or door! - Mat
1. HAVE A VISION : ALL GREAT SUCCESS STORIES ONE DAY BEGAN WITH A VISION.
You dream a dream one day. You decide to make this dream a reality. This is how all legends are born. We call this dream « Vision » for it will not remain that way. Once it has become tangible it will be your source of inspiration by propelling you into your future. From that moment on, your path is laid out and as the saying goes:
2. FOLLOW YOUR BELIEFS : SILENCE THE WORLD AROUND YOU AND LISTEN TO WHAT YOUR SOUL IS TELLING YOU. FOLLOW WHAT YOU HEAR RIGHT AWAY!
We all believe in something....in our abilities, our qualities, in what pushes us and repulses us...we believe in what the future can bring....we have confidence in the details that need perfecting and in the people who can guide us in our Vision. Many answers are buried inside of us. First listen to them; understand them; and then, follow them.
A Champion is a man or a woman who believes.
A Champion is a man or a woman who takes his responsibilities.
3. SET GOALS : ON THE PATH TO YOUR VISION, FIND THE PORTS WHERE YOU CAN ANCHOR YOURSELF.
Vision is the final goal to be reached at all costs. Buoys must be positioned as reference points on this long journey through the execution of daily goals. This reassures by verifying that you are on the right path. By adhering to a daily mission, every day you take another step towards your goal. In tennis, confidence is necessary if you want to perform. You win your confidence everyday on the court by reaching your goals.
4. WORK HARD : WHEN OTHERS ARE EXHAUSTED, FOR YOU THE WORK HAS JUST BEGUN.
Great achievements inevitably start with work. If you like to work, to feel the pleasure of improving at each moment, if you delight in feeling your body become tired by the effort, if you love perfection and search for it constantly, then you will advance faster than others and have a feeling of accomplishment that will lay the foundation for self-confidence.
5. HAVE AN ATTITUDE : SHOWING THE ATTITUDE OF A CHAMPION IS THE FIRST STEP IN BECOMING ONE.
What distinguishes an average player from a very good player depends in large part to attitude. What distinguishes a very good player from a champion depends in large part to attitude.
Your attitude in sports is essential for it is all you have left when your game abandons you. Your attitude reveals who you are and informs others of your mental capabilities. If you are in trouble on the court, your attitude is the only thing that can save you. Working on attitude is a required step in forging self-confidence. Your attitude only depends on you! It is up to you to construct yourself in order to hold your head up high when leaving a court.
6. FIGHT TO WIN : THE MOST BEAUTIFUL AND DIFFICULT OF VICTORIES ARE THOSE WON ON A DAY WHEN EVERYTHING SEEMS DIFFICULT AGAINST AN INFERIOR PLAYER.
Once we step onto a court to play a match, only one objective must be present in our minds: to win. It does not matter if you give a quality performance or not. Its beauty lies in the outcome and in the ability to find the path to victory, including on those days when things do not function the way we would have wished.
So do not be mistaken; once on to the court we only have one enemy: ourselves. We have only one way to fight it: accept not being brilliant but fight to win.
7. DARE : THOSE WHO DARE BELIEVE. THOSE WHO DARE ACT. THOSE WHO DARE PUT ALL THEIR ENERGY BEHIND THEIR DREAM.
In most cases, a match is won by he or she who dared the most : dared to play their game, dared to set the pace, dared to show their desire to win. A tennis match is a metaphor for life. Not to dare is to give up, to accept domination by others. The true champion will have the courage to claim who he is and what he is pursuing, without fearing the fight to obtain it.
8. NEVER GIVE UP : NO ONE CAN MAKE YOU FAIL....ONLY YOU CAN IF YOU ACCEPT DEFEAT.
All great champions are great fighters. Your personality is molded by the difficulties you encounter and in your capacity to overcome them. As the saying goes :
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1. HAVE A VISION : ALL GREAT SUCCESS STORIES ONE DAY BEGAN WITH A VISION.
You dream a dream one day. You decide to make this dream a reality. This is how all legends are born. We call this dream « Vision » for it will not remain that way. Once it has become tangible it will be your source of inspiration by propelling you into your future. From that moment on, your path is laid out and as the saying goes:
- The whole world steps aside for a man who knows where he is going.
- The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.
2. FOLLOW YOUR BELIEFS : SILENCE THE WORLD AROUND YOU AND LISTEN TO WHAT YOUR SOUL IS TELLING YOU. FOLLOW WHAT YOU HEAR RIGHT AWAY!
We all believe in something....in our abilities, our qualities, in what pushes us and repulses us...we believe in what the future can bring....we have confidence in the details that need perfecting and in the people who can guide us in our Vision. Many answers are buried inside of us. First listen to them; understand them; and then, follow them.
A Champion is a man or a woman who believes.
A Champion is a man or a woman who takes his responsibilities.
- The only thing that stands between a man/woman and what he/she wants from life is often merely the will to try and the faith to believe that it is possible.
3. SET GOALS : ON THE PATH TO YOUR VISION, FIND THE PORTS WHERE YOU CAN ANCHOR YOURSELF.
Vision is the final goal to be reached at all costs. Buoys must be positioned as reference points on this long journey through the execution of daily goals. This reassures by verifying that you are on the right path. By adhering to a daily mission, every day you take another step towards your goal. In tennis, confidence is necessary if you want to perform. You win your confidence everyday on the court by reaching your goals.
- Obstacles are those frightful things you see when you take your eyes off your goals.
4. WORK HARD : WHEN OTHERS ARE EXHAUSTED, FOR YOU THE WORK HAS JUST BEGUN.
Great achievements inevitably start with work. If you like to work, to feel the pleasure of improving at each moment, if you delight in feeling your body become tired by the effort, if you love perfection and search for it constantly, then you will advance faster than others and have a feeling of accomplishment that will lay the foundation for self-confidence.
- Genius begins great works, labor finishes them.
5. HAVE AN ATTITUDE : SHOWING THE ATTITUDE OF A CHAMPION IS THE FIRST STEP IN BECOMING ONE.
What distinguishes an average player from a very good player depends in large part to attitude. What distinguishes a very good player from a champion depends in large part to attitude.
Your attitude in sports is essential for it is all you have left when your game abandons you. Your attitude reveals who you are and informs others of your mental capabilities. If you are in trouble on the court, your attitude is the only thing that can save you. Working on attitude is a required step in forging self-confidence. Your attitude only depends on you! It is up to you to construct yourself in order to hold your head up high when leaving a court.
- Great souls have wills, feeble ones have only wishes.
6. FIGHT TO WIN : THE MOST BEAUTIFUL AND DIFFICULT OF VICTORIES ARE THOSE WON ON A DAY WHEN EVERYTHING SEEMS DIFFICULT AGAINST AN INFERIOR PLAYER.
Once we step onto a court to play a match, only one objective must be present in our minds: to win. It does not matter if you give a quality performance or not. Its beauty lies in the outcome and in the ability to find the path to victory, including on those days when things do not function the way we would have wished.
So do not be mistaken; once on to the court we only have one enemy: ourselves. We have only one way to fight it: accept not being brilliant but fight to win.
7. DARE : THOSE WHO DARE BELIEVE. THOSE WHO DARE ACT. THOSE WHO DARE PUT ALL THEIR ENERGY BEHIND THEIR DREAM.
In most cases, a match is won by he or she who dared the most : dared to play their game, dared to set the pace, dared to show their desire to win. A tennis match is a metaphor for life. Not to dare is to give up, to accept domination by others. The true champion will have the courage to claim who he is and what he is pursuing, without fearing the fight to obtain it.
- What you do speaks so loudly that I cannot hear what you say.
8. NEVER GIVE UP : NO ONE CAN MAKE YOU FAIL....ONLY YOU CAN IF YOU ACCEPT DEFEAT.
All great champions are great fighters. Your personality is molded by the difficulties you encounter and in your capacity to overcome them. As the saying goes :
- Good wood does not grow easily. The harder the wind blows, the stronger the tree.
- Sometimes by losing a battle, you find a new way to win the war.
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