Success is relative, feelings are not!

Good day. Good morning. Good evening, wherever in the world you are. This is David Sammel, coming to you from the UK after a short trip to Paris, where Liam lost a very close, second round qualifying match. He started poorly, but fought back well, and seem to be on top, when a little bit of luck, and good play from the opponent ended up in him losing his serve and unable to break back went down 64 in the 3rd set. He had a couple of break back chances but buoyed by the partisan French crowd his French opponent was inspired and it just didn't fall for Liam, which brings me to the subject of relativity. It doesn't matter how successful you are, there are always setbacks and the best people in the world in any field, understand this, and know that you don't get it right all the time, that you don't win all the time. So, when somebody looks at a career, such as Novak Djokovic’s, and thinks, how amazing, with everything that he's achieved, it is easy to think that he had very little disappointment. Relative to most players this is true, but for him as an example looking at a tournament like the French Open, his record is won two out of six finals in 17 attempts and Roger Federer one win in five finals in 21 years. Many players like an Andy Murray lost more Grand Slam finals, than won. If you look back in history, this is not uncommon. Whatever level you're playing at losing is disappointing and often when you're striving for something it's only afterwards that you realise how long it has actually taken for you to achieve the result that you wanted. The famous “I’m a twenty-year overnight success” has been uttered by many stars. The other thing to come to terms with is it's not all in your hands. Other people have great desires for success and working equally hard, trying everything that they can to win, to succeed. Certainly, in tennis, there can only be one winner each week. But with everything in life, you're not going to win every deal, you're not going to be able to succeed in everything that you try. Whilst success is relative, feelings are not!Just because someone is extremely successful, their feelings of disappointment are no different from anyone else. When a 16-year-old loses a final, her feelings don't have more or less depth than a pro losing a final, given that both wanted desperately to win. Feelings are feelings, and as human beings it doesn't matter how wealthy or good at anything you are, you will have feelings just as angry, disappointed, sad, or happy as someone who is poor. Feelings are not linked to success or wealth; feelings are just feelings and therefore everything is relative to the depth of emotion invested in a situation rather than the result. Whatever happens what we feel is the same. As for me and Liam it is onward to the grass court season, the disappointment of the French quickly transformed into a desire to get some success on the grass. Thanks, and please follow the podcast and any reviews more than welcome as are suggestions about topics for the future. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices