| Most sports are full of lessons for the discerning. | | | | win against Nieminen. He commented:"I was not in |
| Tennis is no exception. Wimbledon 2005 is over now | | | | form but I was proud of myself for making do with |
| but hopefully some of the lessons described below will | | | | what I had at the time."A large part of success is |
| live on for ever.In the first week of Wimbledon on June | | | | "making do with what we have at the time."On |
| 20th 2005, a commentator asked why Venus Williams, | | | | Thursday June 23rd 2005, Andrew Murray, the |
| a former Wimbledon champion, was only fourteenth in | | | | possible Scottish replacement for Henman, who was |
| the women's circuit.As one might expect, John | | | | ranked 312 in the world woke up with a headache and |
| McEnroe had the answer:"It is too easy to turn down | | | | sore throat but he made do with what he had and |
| the chance to workout for an hour in favour of a | | | | went on to beat Radec Stepanek, the Czech ranked |
| chance to see Michangelo's David."In other words, | | | | 14 in the world, on the same day that Tim Henman |
| Venus was goofing off by enjoying world culture | | | | went out of the competition.On Wednesday June |
| instead of keeping her nose to the grindstone and | | | | 22nd 2005, Mike Litman, one of my favourite |
| working hard like the other girls. In the end, however, | | | | motivators, sent out his ezine containing his comments |
| Venus won Wimbledon and regained her championship | | | | on a Forbes Magazine article about the tennis |
| and her form.Maybe McEnroe was wrong and her | | | | sensation, Maria Sharapova, who is already a huge |
| talent and previous hard work were enough to bring | | | | attraction at WimbledonMaria is from Russia and she |
| her the rewards. Maybe she was working out in | | | | won Wimbledon last year. It was a huge upset that |
| secret! Maybe she had already put in an hour's | | | | catapulted her to stardom. She made 20 million dollars |
| practice and was free to follow her other | | | | last year and is only seventeen.Mike Litman was |
| interests.However, whether right or wrong, McEnroe | | | | fascinated by the 3rd paragraph of the article which |
| highlights one of the great success secrets of all time. | | | | starts with:"This is the payoff for 12 years of six-hour |
| We have a choice about how we spend each hour of | | | | practice days and constant travel...."Six hours of |
| the day.If we spend hours a day watching TV, we will | | | | practice a day is no fun. It might be for an hour or so |
| usually accomplish little but if we spend one hour a day | | | | but after that it becomes sheer graft. Constant travel |
| practising a skill like copywriting or playing the flute we | | | | is no fun either after the first few journeys. It is a tough |
| will gradually become an expert at that skill.After six | | | | and lonely business. Not only Maria but her family also |
| months or even less, we should be able to make | | | | have made huge sacrifices. They have earned their |
| money at these skills or, at least, teach them to | | | | money.Mike Litman comments:"I come across so |
| others.If we spend an hour a day reading a book on | | | | many people that expect success and money to |
| how to make money, our chances of making money | | | | happen in 2 minutes. I admit that I used to be like that |
| will increase. If we walk for an hour each day our | | | | too. You start something, 60 days go by and no big |
| health should improve. The power of the hour is | | | | payoff; you quit, start something new, and the same |
| enormous.It has been suggested by Al Secunda, | | | | thing happens over and over again. It's a vicious |
| author of 'The 15 second Principle', that we should | | | | circle."Everything changed for Mike when he started to |
| spend at least 15 seconds a day learning a skill we | | | | pay the price, improve his discipline and make his goals |
| wish to master. Another 15 seconds could be spent on | | | | smaller. He also is doing very well now and is well |
| dealing with an overwhelming task like filing all that | | | | known in internet circles. He insists that we all can be |
| paper that has amassed so swiftly. A third 15 second | | | | highly successful if we are willing to pay the price.On |
| period could be spent on achieving one of our goals.If | | | | Friday, 24th June 2005, Taylor Dent of the USA gave |
| we keep up this habit of working for 15 seconds a | | | | a great performance of spinning his racket as well as |
| day, we will probably eventually upgrade to an hour a | | | | playing tennis. I am sorry that I missed much of this but |
| day. We will spend an hour learning a new skill, an hour | | | | was delighted by the little bit I did see.I congratulate |
| dealing with an overwhelming task and an hour | | | | Taylor on giving that bit of extra value to the |
| achieving one of our goals.If you like acronyms you | | | | spectators. He or she who gives extra value will soon |
| could use SOG to remember those three hours i.e. Skill, | | | | be valued highly themselves.The first five days of |
| Overwhelming task, Goal. Even if you only spend three | | | | Wimbledon 2005, then, can teach us to work hard for |
| hours a day on these three things, you will have | | | | an hour a day at a skill, an overwhelming task and a |
| accomplished far more than most. If necessary start | | | | goal. We can learn to SOG off rather than to goof off! |
| with just 15 seconds or five minutes for each of the | | | | Sorry, I couldn't resist the corny word play. It might just |
| three objectives and then gradually increase the | | | | help us to remember the point better.We can learn to |
| amount of time spent.On Tuesday 21st June, the | | | | make do with what we have on the day even if we |
| second day of Wimbledon, Tim Henman, who usually | | | | are not at our best. We can learn to pay the price of |
| manages to lose a match before he gets into the | | | | success and we can try to give extra value by doing |
| semi-finals of Wimbledon, was playing the talented Finn, | | | | more than people expect from us. If we do all this we |
| Nieminen, who had put Agassi out of the first round of | | | | shall surely become champions of living and become |
| the Paris Open.Tim lost the first two sets but regained | | | | an inspiration to others. |
| his form, composure and belief in the nick of time to | | | | |