The Pressure To Be The Best

I’ve spent the last two weeks keeping tabs on the Australian Open.  If you’ve been around here for awhile you know that I love the game of tennis and secretly have a dream to be a tennis pro once I retire.

I was disappointed with the loss of my favorite, Roger Federer.  Fed is currently ranked #2.  In my opinion he’s not #2.  He’s the greatest player the game has ever seen, but the stats don’t lie and he no longer holds any of the major titles.  The first time since 2004.

I wonder about the pressure he faces to uphold his titles, his rank and public opinion of his game.  At 29 they are starting to call him “old”.  It’s understood that his days on the court, at least in the majors, are waning.

When Fed doesn’t make it to the semis or the finals in a tournament I start to fear that he’s not as good as he once was.  Maybe that’s the case, but maybe it’s just a bad day.  Maybe there was something more important on his mind.  Maybe his twin girls kept him up all night and he just wasn’t “on”.

While the stakes seem higher for someone like Roger, you and I face this pressure to be the best everyday. We become afraid of not living up to our performance from yesterday.  We’re afraid that we won’t make a smarter, wiser decision than the last one.  We’re afraid the message we teach won’t carry the same impact as the last time we spoke.

How do you reconcile the pressure to be the best?  It’s pretty much impossible to out-perform the previous day, every day.  Life is full of ups and downs.  Some days you win, some days you lose.

What happens when you are no longer #1?  When you’re no longer the best?

What happens when you’re no longer the most popular or sought after speaker?

What happens when you are aging out of things you love to do?

How do you find confidence in who you are without rank or title?