Well, it's being a brilliant tennis player of course, but in sport, as in life, it's not just about natural talent, or hard work but it's also a lot to do with mindset. Andy Murray, like Jessica Ennis, Sir Chris Hoy and other sports greats, is determined and motivated and has self-belief. And this is the crucial element. Whilst not wanting to 'diss' Tim Henman, did he ever really look as if he believed he could win Wimbledon? Not to me.
So where does this self-belief come from? Well, if you've been praised and encouraged as a child, it will be more natural to believe that you 'can' rather than you 'can't'. If one or both of your parents demonstrated a positive sense of self-worth, then confidence and self-esteem, will more likely be one of your characteristics. This isn't about genetics, it's about learned behaviour. From our earliest days, we were observing and absorbing ways of responding to life events, and these memories were filed away into 'folders' in our heads, that we could access later in life, when we needed to 'know' how to behave.
Does that mean that those of us who weren't brought up by confident , high achieving parents, or who experienced trauma or a dysfunctional family life, are destined to a life of mediocrity or failure? No, not necessarily. Disadvantage or difficult circumstances can be a great motivator for some. We probably all know, or know of, someone who decided that they wanted a better life and worked hard to achieve it, overcoming obstacles and challenges along the way.
For others, who have been criticised, bullied or abused, self-belief and confidence can be harder to achieve, but it can be done. No-one is born with low self-esteem, it has been learned as a response to situations or treatment by others, and because it has been learned, it can be un-learned. Now, please don't misunderstand me, I'm not minimising the detrimental effect of negative input from others, but as a hypnotherapist, I work with clients to change their limiting beliefs and I love to see them go on to do things they never dreamt they'd be able to do.
My job is to enable clients - to help them to change their internal dialogue or self talk. Many people focus on what they don't want, and talk about what they don't want, and get what they don't want. You need to be able to imagine achieving what you want, as you'll never achieve the unimaginable. Now I'm not a betting person, but I'm willing to wager that Andy Murray wasn't focused on losing when he stepped on to centre court last Sunday...
So, what would you do, if you believed you could?
