If at first you don't succeed....rewriting the Bruce, Murray style.

Andy Murray, US Open champion. Amazing ring to it, a Grand Slam now in the bag, defeating the defending champion and climbing back up to world number 3. It has been a long time coming but it is testament to that age old saying of if at first you don't succeed try, try again.

You see it was Robert the Bruce (legend says) when driven into hiding by the English happened upon a spider as he sat in a cave pondering his next move. Bruce watched the spider as it attempted to spin its web and indeed fail a number of times and fall from the cave wall. However, undaunted by the failure the spider pressed on and continue to slowly climb back up and try again. It was this observation that led Bruce to rally the troops if you like and in later years defeat the English at Bannockburn.

So from one legend (and a little bit of poetic licence) to another. Andy Murray. He has shown that with determination, focus and direction that you can achieve greatness. It may not happen over night and each time you fail, climb back up, dust yourself down and start again.

All of this achieved with an unbelievable amount of pressure to succeed with a million eyes upon him and a million points of view. Outstanding really when you think about it.

Nothing is really impossible, no seriously. If you are committed, have the desire to harness a talent and stay the course then you will succeed.

When things may seem to be impossible, that is when some people throw the towel in. Start to think of things in the context of possibility. Bruce looked at his situation and dismissed the impossible, yes he had suffered defeat, yes he had been driven from his cause but he began to believe in the possible and this led to success

Andy Murray had pressure on him from day one of his tennis career, his older brother Jamie would beat him in local tournaments as a young boy but rather than give in he would harness what he learned in those defeats to motivate himself to improve and succeed. I firmly believe that there is no more a challenging task than wanting to beat an older sibling at anything.

Now there is no pill to instant success but you can write your own prescription (ensure you can read your own handwriting ). Start by looking what you want to achieve, and by that I mean really achieve. Make sure you are as bold and bright as possible about what that success will look like. The more vivid and the more real you make things then the better an understanding you will have of what you have to do. On that note if you rely on others to help you, coaches, mentors, fans !! etc, make sure the role they have to play is clear as well.

It is also important to think a little about how you will cope in the event of failure, do not walk away, walk towards it. If you have failed at something, this has happened for a reason, analyse results, look for areas which you can make changes in and then try again, do this until it brings you what you desire. There is also a lot to be said for bringing in people who truly understand what you are going through or trying to achieve. Andy Murray has worked with some great coaches over the years each bring him success but neither could truly understand what he was dealing with in his quest to win a grand slam, that is until Ivan Lendl came along. First came Olympic success, then the ultimate goal. A grand slam. Ivan Lendl lost his first four grand slam finals before finally nailing nirvana at his fifth attempt. Andy lost his first four before Mondays win. Lendl went on to win a further 7 grand slam titles, perhaps Murray just found his new sibling motivation :-)

That Learning Dude @LearningXDude