Roger Federer told Dartmouth's graduating class the number he thinks explains his whole career: "In tennis, perfection is impossible. In the 1,526 singles matches I played in my career, I won almost 80% of those matches." Then he asked them to guess a second number: "Now, I have a... question for you. What percentage of points do you think I won in those matches? Only 54%. In other words, even top-ranked tennis players win barely more than half of the points they play." What that does to you over a career: "When you lose every second point on average, you learn not to dwell on every shot. You teach yourself to think, okay, I double-faulted, it's only a point. Okay, I came to the net, then I got passed again, it's only a point." It applies to the good ones too: "Even a great shot, an overhead back-end smash that ends up on ESPN's top-10 playlist. That, too, is just a point." The part that matters is what he does with the point once it ends: "When you're playing a point, it has to be the most important thing in the world, and it is. But when it's behind you, it's behind you. This mindset is really crucial, because it frees you to fully commit to the next point at the next point after that. With intensity, clarity, and focus." And his definition of the best players alive: "The best in the world are not the best because they win every point. It's because they know they lose again and again and have learned how to deal with it." - Roger Federer (Roger Federer) on Dartmouth Commencement (Dartmouth 🌲) Refusing to carry the last point is the same skill as refusing to carry the day's open loops to bed. That one is the sixth fix in my new cortisol piece.show more

Jay McHale

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