I’ve been watching all the unprecedented wackiness at Wimbledon this year. The first couple of days of the tournament saw several huge upsets and plenty of easy predictions turned upside down. Announcers who were trying to make some sense of these events talked about how the lower ranked players looking to face top players had nothing to lose so they went out and played amazing tennis, taking risks and putting it all out on the line; they really believed that they could win. As I watched a match after that comment, I saw the underdog player doing just that. He played as though he had nothing to lose and was up two sets to love. But all of a sudden it was clear that he realized he had too much to lose because he began playing it safe, ultimately losing the match. Incredible to see it so clearly in action.
That made me think about this in our own lives. When’s the last time we went into anything with the feeling that we’ve got nothing to lose? How often do we unconsciously revert to playing it safe? Something tells me we may just conjure up some extraordinary opportunities if we started believing and acting as though we actually have a shot at success. And instead of aiming low and settling into a reactive state, what would happen if we believed we had the capacity to win, proactively taking risks and staying in the game regardless of how many times the ball goes out?
(photo: Associated Press)
