What Makes Champions Champions?

Welcome to Love Mondays More the weekly LinkedIn newsletter that delves deeper into the ideas and concepts driving my Love Mondays email newsletter series.

Why ‘Love Mondays’? Mondays are often the low part of the week, earning the title of “worst day of the week” by the Guinness World Records. So I aim to provide a 4-minute caffeine hit of content to fire up the other 10,076 minutes of your week and stave off the Monday malaise. Don’t just live Mondays, love Mondays!

Bring on the Olympics! I can barely contain my excitement about being less than a month away from watching incredible athletes across the world achieve extraordinary feats in Paris. I think there’s something magical, whatever the setting, about watching people?push their boundaries and showcase the results of years of dedicated work, and the Olympics is a smorgasbord of exactly that. You can’t help but be inspired.?

What sets these Olympic champions apart isn’t just their physical prowess; it’s their mental resilience. Over the years, in my conversations with many elite athletes, a common theme always emerges: master your mind, and you can conquer anything.

A study involving ten Olympians found that mental toughness was one of the highest-ranked psychological characteristics that determines successful performance. Psychologists describe mentally tough athletes as those who understand they can't control everything that happens to them, but they can control how they respond to those events.

So how can we, as leaders and corporate athletes, learn from these champions and apply that same mental toughness to our professional lives?

The Mental Game of Champions

I had the incredible opportunity to speak with tennis great and former Olympic champion Venus Williams at the ATD International Conference and Expo in May. Venus, with her characteristic grace and wisdom, shared insights into how she uses various mental techniques to overcome obstacles, stay strong in tough moments, and build unshakeable self-belief.

What struck me most was how deeply Venus understands and uses the power of the mind in shaping outcomes. She has meticulously trained her mind to stay focused and resilient. Venus talked about the importance of visualisation, a technique her father instilled in her from a young age. She explained how she would sit on an empty court before anyone else, picturing every possible scenario—from the thrill of victory to the pressure of being down a point. This mental rehearsal made the real-life, on-court pressure feel manageable and familiar.

I’ve spoken to aerial skiiers, big wave surfers, sprinters and NFL footballers over the journey who’ve shared the same reflection—cultivating the ability to visualise is a core ingredient in their recipe for success.

Venus also shared her philosophy on failure, believing there is some comfort to be found in failing. She views losing not as a setback, but as a vital part of the journey. "Losing means you put yourself out there, that you’re trying something new. If you never lose, you’re not taking any risks," she said. This mindset not only helps her cope with defeats but also makes her victories even more meaningful.

Roger Federer, another tennis legend, recently echoed this message in his inspiring speech to the graduates at Dartmouth College. It’s a fantastic speech—you can watch it here. He said,

?“You can work harder than you thought possible and still lose. I have many times. In the 1526 singles matches I played in my career, I won almost 80% of those matches. I won only 54% of points—in other words, even top-ranked tennis players win barely more than half of the points they play. When you lose every second point on average, you learn not to dwell on every shot.”

I could spend some time unpacking this, in fact, I did in a session with a group of high-performing athletes in a workshop last week, but a big part of what I love about it is the perspective it provides on ‘moments’. I think we assume a champion wins 80%+ of their points, as Federer’s data articulates perfectly, they don't.?

What champions become great at is resetting themselves after a point is lost to contend again in the next moment. They develop an ability to stop negativity in the moment before it gathers momentum and sweeps your whole game, or day or week away. They prepare for those crucial moments before they even arrive, so they can manage the emotions in the moment.?

Whether you’re leading a team, running a business, or chasing your personal dreams, developing mental techniques to support your optimal performance and give yourself strategies to lean on in challenging moments is crucial.

So, as we watch the Olympics and cheer on these phenomenal athletes, let’s also be curious about the applicability of the strategies of athletes to our own lives as corporate athletes.?

1. Be more visual: Take a page out of Venus’s book and visualise your goals. Picture yourself achieving them, anticipate challenges, and mentally rehearse your responses. Whether you call it manifesting or visualising, it’s all about prepping your mind for success.
2. Be more comfortable with failure: Like Venus and Roger, see failure as a sign that you’re pushing your limits. Don’t universalise difficulty (i.e taking a lost point and conceding the game mentally); instead keep it specific (i.e. I lost that point, the next one is still winnable)
3. Be more confident in yourself: Champions trust in their abilities because they have prepared diligently and practised consistently. As leaders, investing time in thorough preparation and continuous learning can build the competence and confidence needed to tackle any challenge. Believe in yourself because you've put in the work.
4. Be more prepared to train your mental techniques: Athletes train to maintain their composure under the intense pressure of competition. If we haven’t trained, we shouldn’t place unreasonable expectations on ourselves to be able to cope.? Developing strategies to manage stress and stay calm during high-pressure situations can lead to better decision-making and performance. Techniques like mindfulness, meditation, and visualisation can be incredibly effective—start getting some training sessions in.

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