Blog article by article by Angelo A. Rossetti, USPTA Elite/PTR Professional, USTA HP & Mental Skills Certified & 2x Guinness World Records™ holder 

Self belief is one of the most important things to success in athletics, to building confidence and to achieving your goals. Andy Murray has displayed that admirable quality as he just captured the #1 world ranking in professional tennis for the first time in his career.

I was hitting a wall with a young teenage high school tennis player and needed a breakthrough for him. He had confidence but not in the right way. When he played matches he would be over confident and over hit. He needed to be present with his thoughts and emotions. He needed to find the right balance between confidence and over confidence, between confidence and humbleness.

So I pulled him up to the net to challenge his intellect and created a quote to inspire him. I told him “Your past successes give you the confidence that you can. Your past failures give you the humility that you can’t. But if you BELIEVE you will.”

When setting my first Guinness World Record in 2008, I prewrote a press release as if the story was already been published and the record already been broken. Then I reread it until I believed it. This helped me not only visualize the outcome but also helped me bolster my confidence. I used this press release concept to also inspire others to achieve their goals like making the high school tennis team.

It goes beyond The Little Engine That Could which was the popular illustrated children’s book that was first published in 1930 by Platt & Munk. The story is used to teach children the value of working hard and being optimistic. You have to first have your dream be achievable. Then celebrate your small accomplishments so you BELIEVE you will. The WTA Tour tennis player Melanie Oudin believed in herself so much she wore adidas personalized Barricade Shoes at the 2010 U.S. Open with the word “believe” on the out sole. She advanced to the quarterfinals as an unseeded player defeating three seeded players only a few days after I met her.

It becomes more and more tangible with each short term goal that you achieve. Finally, when you accomplish your goal and reach your dream you can be at peace to know that you became the best you could possibly be.

Remember that failure is part of the road map to your goals and goals are the GPS for your dreams.

I always welcome feedback at angeloarossetti @ gmail .com.

You can learn more about a couple of tennis GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS™ that I have been a part of:

Our Inspiration – 2 World Records 2 Minute Video
FOX News Story
Inspirational Tennis Story: Tennis Begins with Love
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