During an interview with 'The National' after her win over Victoria Azarenka at the US Open 2012 final, Serena Williams said something that went viral and has been quoted again and again many times after:
I really think a champion is defined not by their wins but by how they can recover when they fall. I have fallen several times. Each time I just get up and dust myself off and I pray, and I'm able to do better or I'm able to get back to the level that I want to be on.
Interestingly (and pragmatically) enough, for Serena Williams the opposite of a win is not a loss or a failure.
The opposite of a win is a fall. And that's very powerful indeed.
A failure or a loss is difficult to grasp, to smell, to taste.
It is what nightmares are made of, for many people, and yet it is something abstract that can be different for any person.
How about a fall?
A fall is something concrete, visual, easy to understand.
Each of us has fallen at least once. We know how it feels, how it sounds, how it hurts.
And we also know that we can also stand up again, get up again, walk again. More often than not with some bruises, either in a literal way or to our ego, and yet we can pick up the pieces and keep going.
I think Serena Williams is right when she says that how we get up after falling defines us more than falling in the first place.
Everyone falls. How we get up, and whether we get up at all, that's the real deal.
Coaching question of the day:
"How do you get up after a fall?"
I really think a champion is defined not by their wins but by how they can recover when they fall. I have fallen several times. Each time I just get up and dust myself off and I pray, and I'm able to do better or I'm able to get back to the level that I want to be on.
Interestingly (and pragmatically) enough, for Serena Williams the opposite of a win is not a loss or a failure.
The opposite of a win is a fall. And that's very powerful indeed.
[Considering something a fall instead of a failure
can help us change the main narrative
and build up resilience]
A failure or a loss is difficult to grasp, to smell, to taste.
It is what nightmares are made of, for many people, and yet it is something abstract that can be different for any person.
How about a fall?
A fall is something concrete, visual, easy to understand.
Each of us has fallen at least once. We know how it feels, how it sounds, how it hurts.
And we also know that we can also stand up again, get up again, walk again. More often than not with some bruises, either in a literal way or to our ego, and yet we can pick up the pieces and keep going.
I think Serena Williams is right when she says that how we get up after falling defines us more than falling in the first place.
Everyone falls. How we get up, and whether we get up at all, that's the real deal.
Coaching question of the day:
"How do you get up after a fall?"
Tags: Coaching question, Self-coaching, Self-awareness, Self-reflection, Resilience, Quotes, Serena Williams, Growth mindset
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