This Issue: Think Like a Champion

For what is the best choice, for each individual, is the highest it is possible for him to achieve.

-- Aristotle

Some champions are born and some champions are made. A champion may be someone who shows marked superiority, someone who always places first in competition. A champion can also be someone who comes out on top, overcoming obstacles and beating the odds. We’ve all seen Olympic champions on television. What comes to mind when I watch these amazing athletes perform at their personal best is the amount of training they have endured, the sacrifices they’ve made, and the focus they had to have to get where they are. Endurance, self-sacrifice, and determination are the qualities of a true champion.

They also wanted to achieve something special. Ordinary wouldn’t be enough for someone who has the mindset of a champion. Champions think big. Champions work toward big goals. Champions are focused. Champions are disciplined. Champions think like champions. As Jack Dempsey said, “A champion is someone who gets up when he can’t.”

When I’m having an especially tough day, I often think it’s like a race and I’d better have the endurance to reach the finish line. Somehow the endurance carries me through because I want to win. Billie Jean King said “Champions take responsibility. When the ball is coming over the net, you can be sure I want the ball.” I understand what she was talking about because I’m the same way. I want to play ball.

I have a box at the U.S. Open. Every year I love to watch those champions go at it. You can learn a lot from watching the pros, whether you’re interested in sports, the arts, or whatever. One thing they all have in common is the same mindset--they want to win, they want to be the best, not the runner-up: the best. That’s a very important quality. I’ve seen very talented people fail because deep down they were afraid of winning. Winning comes with responsibility. Champions rise to that responsibility. Search yourself carefully to make sure you’re ready and capable. If you’re not, do something about it. It’s an important element of success.

Most of you know that I’m a golfer, and I own four amazing golf courses in the United States. I’ve always said that golf is a brain game, which it is, but it is a demanding sport technically and it's a game of finesse. You cannot play golf halfheartedly and expect to get anywhere with your game. You have to concentrate and you have to have patience. As the legendary golfer Bobby Jones said, “It is nothing new or original to say that golf is played one stroke at a time. But it took me many years to realize it.” We win in our daily lives by being careful with every day, by having a champion’s view of each moment.

Let’s go back to that quote by Aristotle. That is self scrutiny at its highest. It really is the best choice to go for the highest achievement possible. Why set your goals too low? Did you ever hear a child saying they want to be nothing when they grow up? They are full of dreams and plans and rarely are they mediocre aspirations. They want to be presidents, doctors, astronauts, scientists, and so on. They’re on the right track and have the right mindset. If you need to, bring yourself back to when you had high achievement as a goal. Not everyone can be the world champion at something, but you can strive to be the best you can be. That’s the first step, and a daily responsibility.

Champions go the extra mile. We all know when we’ve done just enough and when we’ve really exerted ourselves. Make an effort to exert yourself--every day. Don’t fail because you never allowed yourself to get started! Don’t avoid success because you think the responsibility might be too much. Just focus and get going! You’d be surprised at what intelligent effort can produce. Alexander Graham Bell said something that I have always remembered: “Concentrate all your thoughts upon the work at hand. The sun’s rays do not burn until brought to a focus.” Pay attention to these things and you will be on your way to thinking like a champion--and becoming one.

People who set big goals and follow their dreams are called successful when they reach their goals. To the individual pursuing a dream or working to accomplish a big goal, they see success staring them back in the mirror, whether they reach their dreams or spend a lifetime trying. Everyone has his or her definition of success and happiness. It could be a high-paying job, a promotion, a fancy car, or achieving work-life balance. Unfortunately, not everyone has big plans for the future. I see it everywhere I go--people in their twenties, thirties, forties; people of all ages just drifting through life disillusioned, and wondering why success has passed them by. Success doesn’t just happen. The common denominator of successful people is that they dream big and then translate those dreams into attainable goals.

Vision alone does not yield greatness. To be successful requires honing the habit of thinking like a winner throughout the journey from nothingness to prominence. In his classic book Think and Grow Rich, Napoleon Hill explains how attaining wealth in any amount you desire happens as a result of your will power. Norman Vincent Peale’s all-time bestseller The Power of Positive Thinking is founded on the principle that positive results start with positive thoughts. Shad Helmstetter and Wayne Dyer are few of the many other well known authors who have also written best-selling books on the power of the mind. Some call it self-talk, others call it positive thinking or intention, and still others use terminology like visualization or manifestation. Call it anything you like, it all means the same thing--success starts in the mind.

What works harder and longer than you do? Your mind does. While you are awake it is consciously buzzing away with thoughts and ideas and while you sleep your subconscious continues to produce thought after thought. What’s your mind working on while you are in the shower, commuting to work, or sitting in a meeting with a client? The words and pictures you feed your mind carve the path to achieving big goals. Almost every Olympic athlete can testify to a time when they visualized themselves winning the Gold or when they told themselves they would set a world record and they did.

Champions are regular people who confidently tell themselves day and night--through their thoughts and mental images--that they can and will reach their goals. As Napoleon Hill says, “What you can conceive, and believe, you can achieve.” Conceiving big things and believing they are possible is the dividing line between the mediocrity of the masses and greatness of champions.

The bigger the goal and the wilder the dream, the more resistance there will be on the journey. Have you ever had someone tell you that you lack the education, money, experience, connections, or [fill in the blank] that is required to reach your goal? This is one of the primary reasons people do not step outside their comfort zone and pursue their dreams--they aren’t thinking like a champion does, their mind cannot withstand the resistance. Champions are determined to reach their goals and their mind is conditioned to see obstacles as well as opportunities on the journey.

Champions are not born, they are not made, and they can be hard to find in any business. Keep an eye out for them, they come in all ages, genders, shapes and sizes, but between their ears they all have something in common--they think like champions.

Even if you haven't triumphed in the past, that doesn't mean you won’t win the next game. You just have to have the right mindset: the mindset of a champion. If you’re ready to think and act like a champion, success will come from, rather than be thwarted by, the challenges ahead. As you take the risks and push the limits needed to beat your competitors, you also have to stay focused on the goal, and the goal is to come out on top.

Still, champion deal-makers like star athletes know that preparation is the key to success. The difference between someone who is successful and someone who isn't is not about talent; it's about preparation. Winners make their luck by studying the competition, planning a strategy, and anticipating the risks. Preparing to meet the competition enables the champion to move ahead, stay ahead, and achieve victory.

When a fraction of a second makes the difference between winning and losing, the most highly-skilled athlete knows that the only way to beat his closest competitors is to have that mental edge: the ability to focus on the end-goal when the pressure is on. Athletes who have advanced to the Olympics are often at the same skill level and have already demonstrated the discipline to train and prepare for competition. The one with the champion's mindset, however, is the one who is most likely to win.

Star athletes seem to possess an almost unnatural ability to handle pressure, control doubt, and come through when the chips are down. Some people may be born with the confidence needed to win, but most people acquire that self-confidence through a powerful combination of ambition and discipline. The imagination to dream big combined with the focus and self-discipline needed to realize the dream is the mark of a true champion.

Gold-medal winners often talk of having visualized triumph; seeing victory clearly in their minds well before the actual contest. When they are so focused, it’s almost as if they have gone beyond thought itself, their minds cleared of anything superfluous. They know what they have to do so they can let their instincts take over. Clearing the mind of all thought and simply allowing the body to operate on pure instinct is called being in “the zone.” The zone is a familiar place to true champions. Getting into the zone, may sound somewhat mystical, but it is something you can actually learn to do even as you hone the more obvious skills needed to beat the competition.

Champions also know how to handle losing better than the average competitor. When they lose they do not become distracted or demoralized. Instead, they turn the failure to their advantage by learning from it. The loss does not define the athlete. Rather, it teaches him or her what not to do the next time around.

Ordinarily, people tend to be risk-averse because they're terrified of failure. But champions don’t think in ordinary ways. They're willing to push the limits to beat their personal best, to achieve something greater.

How can you gain the confidence of a champion competitor? First, take advantage of the living lessons role models provide. To become a winner you have to be willing to learn from those who have been winners themselves. Study their habits and find out which ones work best for you. By observing the best people in your industry, you'll learn what their routines are, the mistakes they make along the way, and the challenges they face on a daily basis. Then not only can you imitate their approach, but you can also match (or beat) their results.

To be a champion you have to think like a champion. You must believe within yourself that you deserve to win.