Winning: The Andre Agassi Way

One of the more fascinating tennis players to watch in the 1990s was American tennis sensation and heartthrob Andre Agassi.

Who could forget that young, handsome, and energetic man sporting long locks  and a tennis fashion sense that was anything but old-fashioned?

No wonder the brand Nike skyrocketed during his time. His image projected that of a tennis rebel (not wearing the traditional all-white tennis ensemble) and the youth just went gaga with it!

The admiration that he got from the public and the media was overwhelming earning him celebrity status especially with his endorsements but although he had his share of winnings, he craved to establish a stronghold in the world of tennis. He wanted to win some more.

I still remember that time when he had to find a new coach who also trained him to do a change of mindset or some mental toughness training. To make the long story short, slowly but surely, he eventually became unceasingly amazing as a tennis player, match after match after match. And the rest, as they say, is history.

What is fascinating to learn, however, after all these years, is how that one dinner conversation with his apparent prospective coach then, Brad Gilbert, dramatically gave Agassi a change of mindset and changed the way he played his tennis.

In a recent Newsweek article, The Science of Triumph, that supposedly dinner encounter with Gilbert went on like this:

Frustrated and rudderless, Agassi agreed to have dinner with a prospective new coach, a man whose tennis he didn’t much admire. Brad Gilbert was the anti-Agassi, a moderately talented junker who in his own career had eked out matches he had no right to win. His book about tactics, just published, was titled Winning Ugly. At dinner in Key Biscayne, Agassi wanted an honest assessment of his game. Why did he keep losing to less skilled players?

Gilbert excoriated him for trying to play with perfection. Instead of risking a killer shot on every point, why not keep the ball in play and give the other guy a chance to lose? “It’s all about your head, man,” Gilbert said, as Agassi recalls in his memoir, Open. “With your talent, if you’re fifty percent game-wise, but ninety-five percent head-wise, you’re going to win. But if you’re ninety-five percent game-wise and fifty percent head-wise, you’re going to lose, lose, lose.”

Further, in the same article, Timothy Gallwey, author of books about the mental side of tennis, golf, and other pursuits was quoted as saying: “One way of looking at it is that winners get in their own way less. They interfere with the raw expression of talent less. And to do that, first they win the war against fear, against doubt, against insecurity—which are no minor victories.”

In the field of business especially network marketing, what can you learn from Agassi’s change of mindset?

In making sure you’re on the winning side, does your choice of a coach or mentor really matter in how you play the game?

Have you conquered your war against your own fear, doubt, and insecurity?

Are You Now Ready For A Change Of Mindset?

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To Your Success,
Elmar Sandyck