Improving the left kick is very similar to my business strategy.

    This is not a literal translation of an article by Richard Branson published on LinkedIn. Here is a link to an English source that those who want to read the original.

    This article is intended to reveal the secrets of my business career development. I often say that I consider work only as part of my life and, definitely, no more important than entertainment. These are two sides of the same coin, so I would like to dwell on one of my favorite entertainments - playing tennis. Fortunately, the methods that I mastered while trying to improve tennis equipment can be successfully applied in business.

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    I have always been an avid tennis player and dreamed of playing Center Court at the Wimbledon tournament. I lacked the talent to become a professional, but all my life I was a gambler. I admire the intensity, artistry and excitement of a great tennis match. It is also a great way to keep fit and relieve stress. If you ever want to visit me on Necker Island, then if I am not on kiteboard, then I'm on the tennis court.

    The mental component of tennis has always attracted me. As long as you have an opponent on the other side of the grid, the most difficult opponent is yourself. You should be in the right mood to do the best you can and be prepared to immediately leave the setbacks behind. A key lesson that extends far beyond tennis is to look at all the issues separately. Forget the last mistake and move on to the next challenge. Tennis makes you move so fast that if you got stuck in the past even for a couple of minutes, the opportunity will pass by and the match will be lost.

    I did not play tennis from September to December, while my elbow was injured, but returned just during the Necker Cup. My main goal was to play with Boris Becker, who himself recently recovered from a long injury. I tried to get the most advice from a professional, delving into all the details and writing down all the lessons presented to me. If you don’t write down what you learned, you will forget it before you finally understand. Andre Agassi once gave me simple advice - to make sure that my legs are always in motion so that I am in the right position for hitting the ball. “Watch the ball and move your legs” - these are his exact words. I often recall his advice on the court.

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    Expert advice is very important if you want to improve any special skill. We are lucky, at Necker we have a tennis coach with whom I practice morning and evening (he also trains our guests, many of whom are also avid players). I have had the opportunity to train all these years with great coaches, from Arthur to Mike and our current coach Josh. They have strengths and weaknesses, which makes me work in different directions - I try to get experience from each of them. I ask a lot of questions, ask things that are obvious at first glance, not being afraid to seem stupid - sometimes they bring the most useful answers.

    Now I play again and again hard work on improving my left shot. I will practice with Josh, repeating numerous exercises to strengthen my wrists - this has always been my weakness, so I constantly perform special exercises aimed at improving the technique of the game.



    I have four approaches to help improve the left kick.
    • Recovery is a natural return to my normal position between strokes in order to properly prepare for a whipping or direct strike.
    • Early cooking is a reaction to an opponent’s blow and moving to a position as quickly as possible.
    • Confidence - to have the courage to carry out a strike from the left, thereby causing the enemy to make mistakes.
    • Practice - repetitions to train my muscle memory and improve my overall left punch.


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    Much of this comes down to ongoing training, which over time leads to new successes. It depends not only on how much time was spent hitting the balls, but also on the quality of training. The famous sports coach Vince Lombardi, considered the greatest football coach of all time, like no one else could inspire and motivate players to win. Lombarty’s popular quotes can and should be applied to business strategies: “It doesn’t matter that you are knocked down. It is really important whether you can rise after a blow ”,“ Our abilities and actions determine us ”,“ Leaders are not born, they become thanks to hard work - this is the price that must be paid to achieve the goal. ” And most importantly - "Practice does not lead to perfection, only perfect practice leads to perfection." The farther I get from the perfect result,

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