After winning her Wimbledon semifinal match in 2016 – and right before taking home the championship – Serena Williams was asked what it meant to reach three major tennis finals in a row. “For anyone else in this whole planet, it would be a wonderful accomplishment,” she said. “For me, it’s not enough. But I think that’s what makes me different.”
She stopped, then added for emphasis: “That’s what makes me Serena.”
Serena is a powerful force of nature on the tennis court and one of the fiercest competitors in the history of the sport. This past January, she surpassed Steffi Graf with 23 career grand slam titles to her name.
But what’s her secret to success? And just what does success mean to someone who keeps pushing herself harder and higher?
Mastering the SCIENCE OF ACHIEVEMENT
In 2015, Serena won 53 of the 56 matches and three of the four Grand Slam events. Sports Illustrated named her the 2015 Sportsperson of the Year, a title that no individual female athlete has been given in more than 30 years. In 2016, she continued her impressive performance, smashing the competition both in singles and doubles matches. Instead of coasting, she continues to push herself. When a reporter asked what she thought of talk about “going down as one of the greatest female athletes of all time,” Serena’s response was decisive: “I prefer the word ‘one of the greatest athletes of all time.’”
When you get on top, sometimes you have to fight even harder to win.
But winning and tennis are just part of Serena’s life today. After a crushing injury caused her to plummet from her #1 spot to #172 in 2011, she seemed to become a totally different player. Serena didn’t lose her talent or her drive, but she lost her focus. She spent too much time and energy thinking of her losses and being paralyzed by fear, instead of letting her hunger for future wins take over when on the court and training.
Cue Tony Robbins. As he says, “where your focus goes, energy flows.” If you focus on your negativity and fears, those thoughts will consume you and suck all of your energy, just as they did for Serena. When Tony started to work with Serena, as her life coach, his task was not just to remind her to stay hungry and re-focus on her game, but also to remember that life is more than just her time on the court. Like Tony says, “Success leaves clues. People that are the most successful in the world over and over again are not lucky.” They have found what works and doing that consistently leads to consistent success.
