The better you think you are doing, the greater should be your cause for concern: the more self-satisfied you are with your accomplishments, your past achievements, your “right moves,” the less you should be.
The championship’s true edge exists solely in the mind, and over the years I have observed three attitudinal characteristics which are common to every superstar I have even known. They are just as applicable in business as they are in the athletic area. I have adapted them to my own business career and they are the source from which I derive most of my drive and determination.
The first is that champions’ profound sense of dissatisfaction with their own accomplishments. They use any success, any victory, as a spur to greater ambition. Any goal that is attained immediately becomes the next step toward a greater more unreachable one.
The second is an ability to reach their peak performance, to get themselves up for major tournaments and events. No one can operate consistently at his or her highest level, yet the legends of any sports era always seem to perform at their best when the stakes are greatest. This is particularly true in tennis and golf, perhaps the most mentally demanding of all the major sports, perhaps the most mentally demanding of all the major sports, and why the major tournaments in both have always been dominated by a handful of players.
Finally, it is their ability to put their opponents away. This is referred to as “the killer instinct,” but that tells you more about the result than of what is going on mentally.
In the champion’s mind he is never ahead. He distorts reality to serve his competitive purpose. He is always coming from behind, even when the score indicates he is destroying his opponents. He never believes he is performing as well as he actually is.
