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Federer’s fifth-set stumble at the Australian Open

Written by: Ross Fattori

Article Overview: Confidence and skill are the by-products of a trusting mindset

Federer’s fifth-set stumble at the Australian Open

In his book called Achievement: The New Model for Exceptional Performance, author Dr. John Eliot talks about a phenomenon called the “trusting mindset.”

The trusting mindset is an unconscious impulse or state of state of mind that allows people to perform at the highest levels without thinking about what they’re doing.

Working professionals have it. Successful athletes and businesspeople have it. In fact, most people have an aspect of it in their lives.

Whether you’re a brain surgeon, an airline pilot or a professional athlete, you put many hours of training and practice into perfecting your particular skills, so that you can almost do it blindfolded (okay, maybe blindfolded is the wrong word here).

I was thinking about the trusting mindset while watching the Australian Open final between Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal. It was an epic battle between the two top-ranked tennis players in the world.

There was a lot riding on this match for both players. Nadal was hoping to win his first Australian Open, and to become the first Spaniard to win that coveted prize. Federer was trying to win his 14th Grand Slam event, which would have tied Pete Sampras’s all-time Grand Slam record. For Federer, there was the added pressure of trying to avenge his loss to Nadal at Wimbledon last year.

In that final set at the Australian Open, when his back was against the wall, I think Federer lost his trusting mindset. He made too many mistakes, which ultimately cost him the match.

Federer might have been thinking too much about his backhand spins, about the thousands of fans in the stadium, about the millions of people watching on TV, or about his place in history. Whatever it was, it served as enough of a distraction to throw Federer off his game at a critical point in the match.

What happened to Federer in that final set happens to people in all occupations, in business and in all walks of life. You’re on the verge of closing a big deal and you start to think too much about what’s at stake, and you lose your competitive edge.

You’re performing a task that you’ve completed thousands of times before, except this time you are aware of your actions and start to make mental errors.

Great athletes have admitted that during a career-best performance, their minds went temporarily blank. Not totally blank, but blank in the sense that all extraneous thoughts and information were pushed aside to allow the unconscious parts of the brain to operate without any distractions.

When you’re in the game – pitching to investors, closing a new deal, giving a presentation to industry peers – the trusting mindset is all important.

The next time you’re expected to operate at a high level of performance, don’t think about it. As the famous Nike ads tell us, “Just Do It.”

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Article Tags: airline pilot, australian open, backhand, brain surgeon, businesspeople, critical point, dr john, epic battle, grand slam event, grand slam record, john eliot, mindset, new model, pete sampras, professional athlete, rafael nadal, roger federer, spaniard, tennis players, walks of life



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