Winning is the ultimate gamble on yourself

February 22, 2023

Winning is everything. Every minute there is the potential to recognize an opportunity to try harder, to let go of the insecurity and fear, to stop listening to what others are telling you and to decide that you own this moment. And not just this one moment, but the next and the next. And before long you owned the hour, the day, and then the month. Once again. Once again. That’s how you win!

That’s the mentality of 22-time Grand Slam winners like Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal. It doesn’t all happen at once. But if you can stick with it, if you can survive the battlefield in your mind, if you can tolerate fear and doubt and loneliness… winning is the ultimate goal.

Winning is the ultimate gamble on yourself. Winning drives you forward. All big stars know this secret. Why weren’t Djokovic and Nadal enough for 10 Grand Slams? Because Federer had more big titles for a long time! In the end, however, Federer’s record was broken by his big rivals because they always wanted more. Maybe Federer was the more brilliant tennis player, but Djokovic and Nadal had the greater will.

Sometimes you do these steps one at a time, sometimes two at a time. Some days you feel so good you want to sprint, other days you’re on your hands and knees gasping for air and wishing you’d never started that race. All big stars know that feeling.

Winners don’t need to be told how. You find out and execute.  22 Grand Slam victories for Djokovic and Nadal speak for themselves. All winners hunt something. A record. A paycheck. A legacy. A ghost.

Even if you’re comfortable with sacrifice and pressure and criticism and pain, if you can learn to focus on the result instead of always focusing on the difficulty…you can chase victory, fight for it, and defend your right. There is no map, no light, no sidewalk. It is the way to paradise, and it begins in hell. Winning makes you different, and difference scares people. Crazy – combined with a willingness to take risks – is the secret weapon of winning.

It was about understanding the difference between knowing how to think and knowing what to think. Every great creation and invention began with people who knew how to think and couldn’t be told what to think.

Own thinking creates personal independence. If you can’t decide without consulting mentors and thought leaders…you’re being told what to think. You may get a lot of great guidance and knowledge until you question it, adapt it, and find out for yourself if it works for you. Knowledge is power, but only if you use it.

Source:

Grover, Tim, and Shari Lesser Wenk. Winning: Wie Du Den Kompromisslosen Wettlauf Zu Wahrer Größe Gewinnst. FinanzBuch Verlag, 2022.