017. What's the secret to success?
Once upon a time, there was a tennis player who wanted to become a champion. He had been competing for several years but never won a tournament. He came close, but he never placed better than second.
Frustrated, he often wondered why he lost so many important matches. He couldn’t figure out why he couldn’t become a champion. He ran, he lifted, went to summer tournaments, and yet, he still couldn’t do it.
At a particular summer tournament, he got beat in the first round and was so upset, that he was about to quit tennis altogether. He packed up his equipment, left the facility without changing, and headed for his car.
While he was heading out, a coach he had heard a lot about was walking toward the gym. This coach, now in his early 60s, was a tremendous champion himself. The story goes that he would have been an Olympic champion if he had not suffered a severe neck injury. Now, he was a successful coach at a small college where he was best known for taking average high school tennis players and turning them into collegiate champions.
The tennis player went to the coach and said, “Coach, you don’t know me but I need to talk to you.”
“What can I do for you?” the coach asked.
“Well, I’m quitting.”
“Oh, really? Why?”
“Well, I work hard but I do not get any results.”
“Results? What do you mean by results?” the older man asked looking puzzled.
“I mean I don’t win any tournaments.”
“Oh, those kind of results. Tell me, what would happen if you did win a tournament?”
“It would be great,” the tennis player said. “I’d be so psyched. Having the trophy around would make me feel like I accomplished something.”
The coach paused and then said, “I think I understand… but let me tell you how I see your situation. I have been in this sport for a long time. I’ve known a lot of champions. Seen them develop. Known them for years, but even though there are a lot of individuals who play tennis, as far as I’m convinced they all fall into two categories: the 98 percenters or the 2 percenters. The 2 percenters are the champions and the 98 percenters are everyone else.”
“I guess I’m a 98 percenter,” said the tennis player.
“Not so quick,” countered the coach, “The best kept secret in tennis is one that all the 2 percenters know and none of the 98 percenters know. This secret is the sole reason that the 2 percenters become champions and the 98 percenters do not.”
“What’s the secret?”
“Well, it is very simple. You see, the 98 percenter keeps waiting until he becomes a champion before he will start acting like a champion. The 2 percenter starts acting like a champion well before he actually becomes one."
“I’m not sure I follow..” the tennis player responded.
“Let’s look at it this way. Suppose I had the results of next year’s national championship right here,” he said, lifting the newspaper he was carrying. “Imagine that you saw your name listed as national champ. Now let me ask you this: If you knew that this would definitely happen, how would you feel right now?”
“Fantastic. Absolutely fantastic,” the tennis player replied.
“If you knew that this would be the case,” the coach asked, “how much more self-confidence would you have right now?”
“A whole lot more.”
“Would an early season loss bother you?”
“No, not that much.”
“How much harder would you train?”
“I’d go all out!”
“How much more committed would you be?”
“Forget it. I’d be so psyched.”
“Now you’re talking like a 2 percenter,” complimented the coach. “This reminds me of a story I always tell my tennis players about the shivering old man and the potbellied stove. The old man sits in front of the stove yelling, ‘Give me heat! Give me heat! And then I’ll chop the wood.’ You see the 98 percenters, like the old man, have it all backwards. First you have to think, feel, and act like a champion, and then you become one.”
The young tennis player looked like a light bulb just turned on in his head. “You mean acting as if I already were a champion would make it more likely that I would actually become one?”
“That’s right. You got it. Having a strong belief that something is going to happen makes it more likely that you will do the things necessary to make it happen. A strong belief, and of course a lot of hard work, can produce what is called a self-fulfilling prophecy. Do you follow what I’m saying?”
“Yes I do, I really do,” the tennis player replied.
They kept talking. Then the tennis player said, “Lets go to the courts. I want you to see my next match.”
Act the way you want to become and you will become the way you act.
