Tag Archives: roger federer

Posted on

New Year Resolutions: Why You Need To Have The Drive And Determination Of Roger Federer

As we near the end of the first month of the year, how are your New Year resolutions coming along? Are you starting to lose momentum? Have you begun to lose interest and swayed back into your old habits?

Well let’s face it – most of us have given up within 2 weeks of starting any New Year Resolution or goal for the new year.

Of course when you work shift work, the erratic and irregular hours can make it even harder to commit to anything. In fact keeping to any type of schedule and sticking to it can be extremely hard.

That is, if you let it.

As the late, great Jim Rohn once said …

“When you know what you want, and you want it bad enough, you will find a way to get it.”

You see the key to achieving any New Year Resolution is you have to really want it or it’s just not going to happen. It’s no good saying that you’d like to lose weight or you’d like to get another job – you have to really want it.

So many people have the mindset they should lose weight, do more exercise or change jobs but it needs to be more then that. You need to write them down and look at them every day so that you are focussed on the end result. You have to be able to see it and feel your New Year Resolutions as being achieved.

The key difference is when you really want the results, it will spur you into the kind of action that will lead you to the results you’re after.

Now since we’re in the throws of the Australian Open tennis right now (and I’m a tennis fanatic), here’s something to ponder.

Roger Federer didn’t get to where he is today because he thought he’d like to be Number 1. He wanted it like nothing else and was prepared to do what ever it takes to get there.

This determination and unwaivering belief has made him one of the greatest tennis players of all time. In fact almost unbeatable to anyone that faces him across the other side of the net.

So don’t say to yourself “I’d like to lose weight” or “I’d like to get another job”.

Really want it. Go after it like there’s no tomorrow because even the littlest of things can make a difference.

Little things like eating a piece of fruit every day, going for a 15 minute walk every day, looking for ways to improve your education every day, looking for ways to make yourself more valuable every day .

Persistence will always leads to results.

So remember to have the drive, enthusiasm and commitment to achieving your newly set goals for 2012. Otherwise fast forward 12 months – and everything is going to be exactly the same as it is right now.

Don’t let working shift work be the reason you didn’t achieve your New Year resolutions and dreams for 2012.

Make shift work the reason you’re going to achieve them – no matter what.

Posted on

How Watching Roger Federer made me Recommit to "Kaizen"

Now I don’t know about you but I’m a bit of a tennis fan. In fact I’d actually go so far as to call myself a bit of a tennis ‘nut’. And as I watch the 2010 Australian Open from the comfort on my lounge chair this week, I am in awe of the level of fitness, skills and focus that each of these athletes display.

So as I watched Roger Federer obliterate his opponent the other day – which if you didn’t already know, is the number 1 player in the world – his pursuit of excellence reminded me of a Japanese word called “Kaizen.”

The word Kaizen, is derived from the Japanese words ‘Kai’ and ‘Zen’ where ‘kai’ means change and ‘zen’ means good. Thus ‘Kaizen’ means to commit to “constant and never-ending improvement” … something Roger Federer would be familiar with as he strives to be the best tennis player in history.

Now even though you may not be striving to be ‘World Number 1’, if you commit to constant and never-ending improvements in your life, you will start to notice subtle improvements in your own level of health, wealth and happiness.

You see change is actually a good thing. It involves a level of discomfort because you are essentially stepping out of your comfort zone into unfamiliar territory. And as most people don’t like to feel ‘uncomfortable’ – many fail to move forward because they are unwilling to go through the pain that often goes with it.

They are uncomfortable in their rut, but the pain of the process of change outweighs the discomfort of where they are now.

Tony Robbins once said, “We only learn our limits by going beyond them…Kaizen is a principle designed to encourage you to make small incremental improvements daily…and in doing so, you will be forced to find a way to go beyond your current set of self-imposed limitations”.

So if you are sick of where you are right now, in both your personal and professional life – then you must begin to make small, but achievable changes and improvements in your life on a daily basis, in order for you to move forward.

You see, committing to the process of change is as vital as committing to the change itself.

So as I watched Roger Federer serve up another first class display of tennis today, I decided it was time to recommit to the daily practice of Kaizen, in every area of my life including:

1. My health and fitness.

2. My relationships with my family and friends.

3. And in my business, personal and professional development.

So come and join me in my commitment to “constant and never-ending improvement!”
.
And remember that your health is the most valuable thing that you have. Your relationships with the people you love, and who love you will nourish your soul.
.
And be relentless in your pursuit of Kaizen, so that you can enjoy a healthy, joyful and abundant 2010 and beyond!