Serena Williams.
She is not only an international professional tennis player who has won numerous championships but she is also an accomplished Venture Capitalist and Investor. Serena's accomplishments can be attributed to many things such as her relentless training schedule meticulously developed by her father, her fierce but loving competitive relationship with her sister and championship-winning tennis player Venus and her unwavering dedication to being the best person ever playing the sport of tennis. But I believe there is one key thing that it comes down to.
Her mindset.
Serena Williams has 56 singles championships, 22 doubles championships, in addition to being a Gold-Medalist at the 2000, 2008 and 2012 Olympics. So how did she manage to stay at the top for decades?
Her dad, Richard Williams, taught Serena that tennis is 70% mental strength.
In her Masterclass, Serena shared that playing the game of tennis is about mastering her mind when playing on the tennis court.
Serena recalls playing in the Australian Open in 2010, particularly being tested when she was facing Justin Henin as her opponent in the final. Initially, it seemed like Serena Williams was going to lose.
However, in the end, Serena Williams defeated Justine Henin in the final, 6–4, 3–6, 6–2 to win the women's singles title at the 2010 Australian Open.
So what changed?
Serena shares her wisdom that in moments like that it is easy to get frustrated and get angry, which will affect your performance even more negatively.
However, instead of doing so, Serena stopped worrying about the game, the score and her opponent.
She shifted her mindset and all she focused on was the next point she was about to play. That's it. She focused on winning one point at a time and she kept repeating this process over and over again.
After adopting this strategy, Serena finally evened out the score and eventually won the 2010 Australian Open and the title.
Serena Williams teaches us that mastering your mind and developing mental toughness is key to achieving any desired outcome we set our mind to. Do not overthink, worry or self-sabotage with negative self-talk. What small step or action can you take to eventually reach your overarching goal and keep moving forward one step at a time?