Roger Federer, perhaps the best tennis player of all time, had easily handled Andy Murray, the gifted shot-maker and #3 player in the world, 6-4, 6-4 in the first two sets of the Championship Match of the 2010 Australian Open. In the third set, Murray had elevated his game and fought his way into a tiebreak. Federer, with only one point needed to win the match, hit a beautiful drop shot, which Murray, standing on the baseline, was able to chase down. He struck a brilliant passing shot up the line to level the tiebreak. After the match, recalling what was going through his mind, Federer said:
“Oh my god, I’m going to see myself in the 5th set, not winning the title . . . He just grabbed the trophy out of my hands.”
Even the best of the best have moments of crushing doubt and glimpses of defeat. The difference between these men and ordinary men is that they push through these glimpses and cast aside that doubt. Only 4 points later, Federer clinched the match for his 4th Australian Open title and record 16th Grand Slam title.
Doubt doesn’t just creep in when you need to perform. It’s much more sinister than that. Anybody who does anything creative for a living will tell you, they always fear that one day their well will run dry. They won’t be able to write another good song or story. They won’t be able to come up with another great idea. Doubt can make you question yourself, your abilities, your choices, and your future.
The Edge, renowned guitarist of U2 and ranked by Rolling Stone magazine as the 24th Greatest Guitarist of All Time, has been a musician his entire life and written some of the most familiar and iconic songs of the last 30 years. Despite this, thoughts of doubt and insecurity still creep in. He explains, of his days spent writing and playing:
“Jumping off into the unknown, hope and have faith that the next chord or the next few notes will come to you. On occasions you get nothing and you come out feeling like a complete idiot, and that don’t know anything, and you can’t play guitar, and you can’t write songs.”
Luminaries of every field and giants from every walk of life have the same doubts and insecurities we all share. The difference isn’t their genius, or their talents, although these certainly contribute to their success, but their ability to persevere, to push past the doubt, that allows them to continue to succeed.
The easiest way I’ve found to push past doubt is to ask myself “What’s the worst that could happen?” Most things we deal with end up not being that big a deal. If its a bad day, maybe you lose a client. End of the world? Hardly. Even if that client is your only client, what’s the worst that could happen? Lose your car? Your house? Your savings? Even if that’s the case, you’re still alive. You’ve still got your faculties, your experience, and your education. Is losing that stuff really that bad? Probably not. You can always start over, and doing it the second time is always easier than doing it the first.
Realistically, most of the situations we let overwhelm us are meaningless. So get over your doubt. Ask yourself, “What’s the worst that could happen?”
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