Hello my friend,
"I am winning all the time because I am smiling.
I always said that smiling for me is the key of everything. That's the most important for me, to enjoy and that's why I smile all the time.
If I don't play on instinct and if I don't play with joy, my tennis is not the same. I think life is better that way.” - Six time Grand Slam winner, Carlos Alcaraz.
Whenever we are striving for something it can be easy to lose sight of why we did or are doing it in the first place.
Why it attracted us from the very start.
Why we have dedicated copious amounts of energy and time into it.
For the joy and the fun it gave us.
When we place too much emphasis on being perfect or winning at all costs, performance suffers.
Countless studies have shown that the more tension we put on ourselves to succeed or to win the less chance we have of actually doing so.
We often put so much pressure on ourselves to perform.
On the project, on the track, in the role, or on the court.
Alcaraz is a fine example of this.
He admitted how he lost his edge for a short while at the start of this year.
In fact he revealed how he was thinking about taking a substantial break from tennis after having such a hard time on the court.
There were areas of his skillset he knew he had to work on.
But what he discovered was it was his mentality that needed the most attention.
He wasn’t having much fun anymore.
He wasn’t playing near his best and furthermore he wasn’t enjoying the game anywhere near as much as he used to.
The two went hand in hand.
The outside expectations starting weighing heavily and he piled more pressure on himself.
He would grind harder yet perform worse.
Some more bad performances and results came.
It was taking its toll.
He realised he had lost some of the ‘play’ element from his game.
The very reason he signed up and plays the game in the first place.
It was missing.
For all the incredible progress he made as a youth player to becoming a pro to winning his first grand slam.
They arrived through loving what he was doing and finding deep joy in the process despite the temporary ups and downs.
The more stress and pressure he was putting on himself to perform, the less he enjoyed it and in turn the poorer the outcomes would be.
On sunday night at the US Open final we saw how his joy and love for playing had fully returned.
His smile, his ease, his calmness shone throughout the four rounds against Sinner.
The ultimate stage, yet he wasn’t stressed. He was simply enjoying the occasion.
Playing without fear and the brutal demands to be perfect or needing to win.
When he lost points, made an error or got beaten by a passing shot, he smiled.
He was truly in the moment.
He was playing.
He was at his very best.
Someone at the very top of their craft.
This is where true greatness lies.
There is a lesson in this for all of us.
Work with me
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Things I’m learning
Everyone is right.
Most people go through life assuming they are right… and that people who don’t see things their way are wrong. We mistake how we want the world to bewith how it actually is. The subject doesn’t matter: we’re right about politics , other people, our memories; you name it. We mistake how we want the world to work for how it does work. - Shane Parrish
How to treat a bad mood.
“I walk somewhere, I run someplace, I lift something heavy, I eat something healthy, I read something good, I write something down, and only then do I take my bad mood seriously.” - DylanO
Figure out what does count.
“Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted.” - Albert Einstein
Question
If failure wasn’t as important as you think what decision would you make differently?
That’s all for this week.
I hope you enjoyed reading and thanks for being here!
With Love, Nick x