How is Success Defined?
Success is defined in many ways but success shouldn't be defined by monetary gain. Many athletes are successful without making a substantial living from their sport.
The key to success is to be motivated and inspired and you must surround yourself with people that make you feel this way. It is very important to have a team behind you that you have 100% belief and confidence in. You are in control of your own destiny and you must be in control with what you say, what you do and how you react both on and off the court. You have to believe and have a clear understanding in what you are doing, during training ask questions and get advice when possible. To succeed you must be happy and that only comes from satisfaction of having people that believe in your ability and want the best for you so you can then enjoy what you are doing!
Everything is connected to everything else: What happens in your personal life has a huge effect on your performance during training and competition. Learning to control the emotional storms of life away from the game is one of the greatest challenges for an athlete. To reach your ultimate level you must learn to love it all, the grinding, the pushing and the struggle as success will follow.
I would call myself an experienced player and with a current injury I am learning from my mistakes. I can say you must understand the importance of rest and recovery to be successful. I have learnt that you must listen to what your body is telling you and ignore the guilt feelings of taking a rest. As an athlete you need to understand that you have to take periodic breaks from your sport to let the body recover. As my coach Vicki would say “Guilt is a useless emotion”.
Self-discipline is another very important component to being successful. Having the discipline to do whatever you have to and make whatever sacrifices necessary to perform at your best when in competition. I can give some advice from previous experiences once again, you need to make sure you are eating the right foods it is sometimes hard when you are at tournaments and you are greeted with buffet breakfast and dinners but while you are competing you need to be discipline and digestion is a huge part to making sure you are feeling 100%.
Success is peace of mind, having self-satisfaction that you did your best and that you have achieved your goals that you set out for yourself. Goals are a must as you then have direction to what you’re doing and where you’re going, without these you get the feeling of being lost, floating along which is a feeling I hate the most. It is a non-productive feeling and it is easily avoided if you have goals set for short term and long term that are specific and realistic.
Success is consistency, Passion, dedication, hard work and being smart.
