LEARN FROM THE CHAMPIONS:THE PHILOSOPHICAL SECRET OF THE EXTRAORDINARY MINDSET OF NADAL AND DJOKOVIC

RESISTANCE TO ADVERSITY

Few players could have resisted the nightmare scenario that Djokovic experienced at the start of the year in Australia and find the resources to bounce back and win Wimbledon six months later. Who but Nadal could have won Roland Garros with a foot injury and qualified for the Wimbledon semi-finals with an abdominal tear?

THE TWO PRINCIPLES OF STOIC PHILOSOPHY

What is the secret of these two exceptional serial winners? What is it in their mindset that allowed them year after year to collect so many Grand Slam titles (22 for Nadal and 21 for Djokovic)? In fact their success is based on their philosophical approach of the competition. Both of them remarkably impersonate the two Stoic principles of Acceptance and Action. Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic have a unique ability to accept the obstacles that come their way and to focus their energy in the actions that are under their control. Both are point-by-point oriented which allow them to stay focused in the present and avoid ruminating on the past or projecting themselves too far into the future.

SELF DESTRUCTION ON WIMBLEDON CENTER COURT

To better understand what differentiates them from ordinary mortals, just look at the Wimbledon final. On the one hand, Kyrgios, a brilliant player who outclassed Djokovic in the first part of the match but then self-destructed in the middle of the 3rd set by not accepting the fact that a spectator was shouting during a point between his 1st and 2nd serve which ended for him into a double fault. He put himself dwelling on this incident over and over, wasting his energy and losing his concentration. On the other side, a stoic Djokovic after the loss of the first set who devoted all his energy to find a way to raise his game level on serve and return. For the Stoics, acceptance is not synonymous with resignation. On the contrary, it is the prelude to action. It allows you to stop wasting energy in losing battles and invest it where you will be able to turn it into action and results!

TRANSPOSITION INTO LIFE AND BUSINESS

Applied to life and business, Stoic thought is an invitation to first accept the fact that the world is constantly changing and that many aspects of our personal and professional lifes are totally out of our control and secondly to focus on all the actions we can undertake to adapt to the situation. If we cannot control everything around us, we can still have the last word over our actions and considerations, and we may choose for instance to follow in the way of Marcus Aurelius, Roman Emperor and Stoic philosopher, as he wrote: "Give me the intelligence to see what I can change, the strength to do it and the wisdom to accept the rest."