Champions Take Responsibility and Try to Control Their Destinies
EXCERPTED FROM “THE WINNER’S MIND”
High achievers possess a characteristic termed by psychologists as an “internal locus of control.” If we throw out the big words and translate this into English, it means that champions feel they can personally control the outcome of events. This feeling empowers them. They believe that their own efforts will ultimately produce results, and they feel responsible for success or failure.
This is in contrast to the less effective person who has an “external locus of control.” These people believe that the outcome of events is determined by factors beyond their control – by other individuals, society as a whole, the government, their employers, or just luck. Why? Because fear of failure impels them to dodge responsibility. Their insecurities delude them into believing their own excuses, and, attributing failure to factors other than themselves, they learn little from their losses. So they lose more often than they should. Fearing that they will lose, these people try to avoid the pain of that loss by shirking responsibility for it.
This does not mean that the champions are so irrational as to really think that everything is under their control? Certainly not. They are well aware that good and ill-fortune exist. They have had ample empirical proof of it because they have lost in the past, so they would not bet their lives on the outcome of any particular contest. But the crucial distinction is that they act as if they had this control. In their cores they are self-reliant. They unconsciously assume that they have the power to force a win if they apply sufficient effort, even though they know rationally that there is risk of loss. It is somewhat schizophrenic in that these two conflicting ideas co-exist at different levels of consciousness. At the conscious level they know they could lose, but at the unconscious level they feel they will win.
A corollary belief of the champions is that losing is their fault. This makes losses hurt more, but it also motivates them to try harder as well as to analyze their performances afterward for mistakes or weaknesses. They mentally rehash their actions to figure out what they did wrong. Once they have zoned in on their mistakes and weaknesses, they can work intelligently to improve and can avoid making the same mistakes again.
HOW DO WE MEASURE IT?
Psychologists use a “ring toss” game to differentiate individuals with an “internal locus of control” from those with an “external locus of control.” The game’s objective is to see how many rings out of ten a subject can toss over a peg at a distance. The experimenter allows the subject to choose the distance. They have found that the people with an “internal locus of control” choose a reasonable but challenging distance. They choose a distance where their efforts can be effective. The people with an “external locus of control” tend to choose distances that are either so close that they can hardly miss or so far that success is a matter of chance only – thus reducing the risk that their efforts will be the cause of any failure.
One former member of my Pepperdine team, lets call him Jeff, exemplified the “external locus of control” mentality. Jeff appeared to have everything going for him. He came from a wealthy family, had great physical talent and was good-looking, bright, well spoken, and extremely successful with the ladies. Unfortunately for him, he was also extremely insecure.
This led to his becoming unpopular with his teammates. He was self-centered, shallow, and critical of others. Appearances were overly important to Jeff, and he was quick to blame anyone but himself for his problems. On the tennis court he had a tendency to choke under pressure, yet he could not squarely face this and take steps to counter it. He preferred to fake it and pretend that he did not choke.
In a broad sense, tennis is a game of controlled risk. The successful players take the minimum risk necessary to accomplish their objectives. Along these lines, they know their own limitations and virtually never hit the ball so hard that it is out of control, sensing that in doing so the percentages are against them. Bystanders may think it is courageous to whack the ball and go for a big shot in important situations, but champions don’t do it unless they have a legitimate core feeling that they will MAKE THE SHOT. The less successful, on the other hand, will insist on forcing the big shot even when they are fearful and lack confidence in the shot. Consequently, they will usually miss and lose. Hitting hard and hoping the ball will go in is a formula for disaster in tennis. It is like playing the ring toss game and throwing the ring from across the street. In tennis the winning players don’t hope. They control the ball and hit shots that they feel they can routinely make.
As you might imagine, Jeff used to go for big shots in the important situations. And as you also might imagine, he used to miss them. That was bad enough, but it was even less helpful when he urged his teammates to do the same thing.
In one big match against a rival school the score was tied at four matches all. The deciding match was being played and the members of both teams were crowded along the sidelines, verbally driving their teammate on. The tension grew as the match progressed deep into the third set. Finally our guy reached match point by getting an ad on his opponent’s serve. Our guy needed a good serve return but that would not be easy since the opponent had a nasty serve and the pressure of the situation made hitting any shot difficult.
In these circumstances my usual advice is to take a deep breath, pick a spot for your return, focus on the ball, and play the point as routinely as possible. Since your opponent is under as much pressure as you are, you need to avoid trying a wild, panicky shot. This usually results in a quick error and lets your opponent off the hook without having to play. But the advice Jeff shouted out to his teammate exemplified the loser’s mentality. “Take a chance. Go for it!” he yelled. He was speaking for himself and was endorsing the old “hit and hope” strategy. Jeff had put into words what I had sensed about him all along, which was his desire to give up responsibility for outcomes. Not trusting in his own ability to perform (but pretending that he did), Jeff was only too happy to put his fate in the hands of the Gods – and remove it from his own.
If Jeff could have acknowledged his own fears and insecurities he could have helped himself. He needed to face the fact that his nerves would not allow him to go for a big shot in certain high-pressure situations. Realizing this, Jeff could have worked on relaxation and focusing techniques that would have allowed him to perform better. He could have attempted less demanding shots in these situations. Faking it and lying to himself only doomed him to endlessly repeat his original errors.
By contrast, the people that take responsibility themselves – that take pains to control their own destinies and are willing to accept the consequences – be it in business, sport or life are the ones that win. Those that don’t (like Jeff) get beaten.
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Comments
2 Responses to “Champions Take Responsibility and Try to Control Their Destinies”Leave Comment
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Allen,
I have met few tennis genius’ but you are one of them.
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Thanks Ken. Coming from you it’s much appreciated!
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