The 'Daily Cup' of Motivation: How to be Great like Roger Federer

Do you ever wonder what makes people like Roger Federer so absolutely great and successful? There are countless people like this all over the world in every industry and every time I come across one of them I always try to dissect what makes them tick and figure out what their 'secrets to success' are.  I want to learn.

Before I explain, let me please list what this man has accomplished. At the tender age of 28 Roger Federer is: the greatest Grand Slam champion in the history of tennis;  he is the highest earning tennis player of all time with $50 million US dollars from on court earnings alone;  he has been in 21 consecutive Grand Slam semi-finals;  he has been in 16 of the last 18 Grand Slam finals; he has won every Grand Slam tournament on circuit and completed the career Grand Slam...

Lets keep going...he has won 16 Masters title, 1 behind all time leader Andre Agassi; he was ranked Number 1 for a record 240 something weeks consecutively;  he is only the second man in history to regain the Number 1 ranking after losing it and he is the only man in history to win 2 Grand Slam tournaments 5 times in a row (Wimbledon and the US Open).  Wow.  This is only half of what he has accomplished and the list goes on and on.  How does someone achieve something like this? 

So, what makes Roger Federer the greatest tennis player of all time and possibly the greatest sportsman of the modern era? Obviously his talent, but a combination of his Talent, his Mind, Belief, Persistence, Hard Work, his 'Positive Energy Creation', his perspective on his Role in the game, and most importantly his Love for the game makes him the greatest of all time;  this has all contributed to his 'greatness'.

Lets address the obvious factor, he is mega-talented. He is simply a magician and a wizard on a tennis court and undoubtedly has reams and reams of talent to work with. Of course we know in life this is sometimes not enough, how many people do we know who are talented yet never seem to put it all together and succeed? We say 'shame, what a waste with all that talent'.

This is not the case with Roger Federer. What really makes his talent succeed and flourish for him is 2 things: he not only builds his game around and practices reinforcing his strengths; he is NOT AFRAID to play the game his way, and he is not afraid to be himself and impose his style on the rest of the field. He optimizes his talent at every opportunity rather then trying to be something he is not.

He plays a very elegant and finesse game in an era of sterioids, muscle building and physical training. Rather then trying to get bigger, stronger and more muscular, he builds his mind, builds his stamina and inner-strength, and continues to broaden and build his arsenal of shots;  he doesn't promise to be anything other then Roger Federer. He makes the most of his talent.

His mindset is probably the single most important factor in his success. He believes every time he steps on the court that he will win. He has the belief that even when he is behind (which isn't often) that he will win. Even when his game is off and he is missing shot after shot, he still attacks and goes for it; he backs himself no matter what and this is the single greatest asset in achieving long-term success.

Obviously to be the number one target in the world for so long, the strength of mind is crucial. Everyone wants to make a name for themselves against him so the pressure to always win and to never make mistakes is immense. His career has taught us that to truly be great you need to handle pressure well and learn how to think positively and don't let negative comments and thoughts (from the media per se) get to you and derail you off your objectives. Practice to strengthen your mind and confidence and you can't go wrong.

What Roger Federer also shows us is that even though you are hailed as the greatest and most talented player of all time, this does not discount you from hard work and putting in all the hours to succeed. The game has changed over the last 10 years, but what has stayed the same is that Roger Federer is still at the top and is still the man to beat. Why? Because he changes with the game within reason and respects its new direction.

He doesnt necessarily change his style as we mentioned before, he remains true to himself, but with so many younger and stronger players in the field like Andy Murray and Rafael Nadal, he has made the necessary adjustments to his game, and minor tweaks to still compete and win against these guys; really Federer shouldnt be Number 1 and is defying history and logic every day that goes by. We must learn from this.

His consistency at Number 1, and his consistency in winning over the last 5 years is a testament to his talent, his hard work and training, but most importantly his belief that he belongs and that he deserves to dominate. He may not dominate the way he used too, in the style he used too, but as he got older he focused more on his serve and attack and less on his base-line rallies; he focused on the areas of his game that gave him the best chance to win later in his career.  His belief that something in his game would always allow him to win is astonishing in itself.

So what makes Roger Federer so popular around the world? Why does everyone want Roger to win? Why is he always voted the ATP most Popular Player every year? Does this help him succeed? Absolutely!

It is no coincidence that wherever you go or wherever you play, if everyone admires you and wants you to win, you will do so. This I like to term 'Positive Energy Creation' and Federer is exceptional at creating this. Whether he does it on purpose or not I can't say for sure, what I do know is how it is created.

Roger Federer may be the greatest player ever and may demolish opponents left, right and centre all the time, but he does not for a minute believe he is bigger then the game. He loves the tradition of the game and puts tennis above who he is. Rather than talk about his achievements or how great he is, he talks about what a privilege it is for him to be a part of the game,and he promotes tennis and his opponents at all costs whether he wins or loses.

Roger has also seized his status and transformed himself into an ambassador for the game. How many guys do you know who are great but seems like they were just in it for themselves: Tiger Woods and Pete Sampras come to mind. They are great champions with great talent, but what do they really do for the sport outside their respective battlegrounds. They are great guys and with tremendous talent have entertained us for years, but they will both tell you they aren't role models and in my mind have not done enough with their god-given status and role in society.

Roger Federer is different. He has used his his Number 1 ranking and status in tennis to not only build the game of tennis, but to advocate improvements and positive direction for other players in the sport; he is an elder statesmen always giving hope and advice to other players for them to get better and improve their game. Roger Federer is not above the game in his own mind.

His off-the-court demeanour and classy behaviour has made him such a great ambassador and role model and likeable guy that everyone wants him to win. He will refer more to Rod Laver and Pete Sampras, and the tradition of Wimbledon, than refer to himself.His love for the game, and his place in the game which he carved, makes it hard for anyone not to love him. All this positive energy coming his way is crucial for his success; how can you build this in your life? How can you get your business suppliers to feel the same way about? What can you do in your own life to build this positive momentum?

Finally, Roger Federer truly loves the to play tennis. With all his success and all that he has achieved, he still plays tennis because he simply loves it. As the greatest champion in history, you can still see that the thing most important to him is playing tennis, and being the best possible player he can be. He knows and understands that if you love what you do and play hard than the results will come. Although I don't believe Roger Federer ever got into tennis to be the greatest player ever, he certainly entered the sport with all the attributes necessary to be the best and capitalized on them.

As Roger built on his attributes, I ask you, what are you great at?  And are you making use of your talent like Roger Federer has? Do you do what you do for love? Are you the greatest champion of all time in what you do? I hope so. If not, I suggest you watch the US Open, pick up a racquet, open a book, open your heart, open your mind and get ready to be the greatest payer of all time in your world!