#033 - How to achieve high performance and handle stress by Johanna Konta
Hello friends, welcome back! 🎉 (22nd August, 2021)
In this podcast with Johanna Konta (Current British No.1 tennis player), hosted by Jake and Damian from the High Performance Podcast, they talked about Johanna’s journey to becoming a top tier tennis player and the mental models behind her success.
“Pain * Resistance = Suffering” - Juan Coto, Johanna's coach
Actions
Work hard, work right, and make room for yourself
Dream and imagine what you want to achieve, then put in the work
(Re)discover the root of why you do it, reconnect with your dream
Create a process to deal with your stress and anxieties
Be grateful, be patient and look at the world more broadly
On achieving high performance
Work hard, work right, and make room for yourself
At the level Johanna is at, everyone works hard and smart; the mental game then becomes a major part in competitions. Understand that you are doing the best you can, give room for yourself to breathe and relax. This is such that you can enjoy, then you can start studying how to become better and maximise your potential.
Dream and imagine what you want to achieve, then put in the work
Imaging yourself where you want to be gives you a roadmap to work towards. Then it's about putting the work in.
(Re)discover the root of why you do it, reconnect with your dream
When Johanna was 24, she was ranked between 100 and 200 in the world. There were moments where she felt she'd never "make it". Her coach helped her to rediscover the root of why she played - it is because playing tennis is her childhood dream. Once she has reconnected with her dream. Instead of guilt, she started enjoying the process again.
On handling stress
Create a process to deal with your stress and anxieties
Having a process to handle struggles created space for Johanna on court, made her realise that whatever feeling she is going through, she is capable of dealing and living through it, as those negative feelings are not permanent.
Her process involves writing down things that she is stressed about, what she is struggling and the reasons. Crucially, she also writes about reasons why it is ok to have these feelings (e.g. her family, boyfriend will still love her) and what she is grateful for.
Be grateful, be patient and look at the world more broadly
Johanna quoted this formula from her coach:
Pain * Resistance = Suffering
If pain = 10, resistance = 10, then suffering is 100; but if you don't resist, then suffering is 0
For her, playing tennis isn't just about performance, it's about living and finding joy. By being grateful and appreciate that she can play, she is healthy, that there's sunshine, it made her happy and enjoy what she's doing.
Book recommendations
Winning not fighting - John Vincent
Question of the Week 🤔
What are the 3 things that you are grateful about?