Editor’s note: This article was first published in September 2010, when Rafa Nadal was 24 and had, as the article puts it, already won everything there was to win. Toni Nadal stopped coaching him at the end of 2017, and Nadal retired in 2024.
Today I read the story of Toni Nadal, Rafael Nadal’s uncle, in XLSemanal, and it confirms that behind every successful businessperson there is a mentor, a coach, someone who guides you through the hard times or simply along paths you don’t know, because no one can understand everything or be good at everything. It’s enough to surround yourself with people whose knowledge complements yours. Knowing how to choose the people around us is a fundamental part of our future success.
As we all know, Rafael Nadal, young as he is, is already a legend in the world of sport, and in tennis in particular. He has already won everything there is to win. His uncle Toni has been his coach on the mental side, which he considers essential.
According to Toni Nadal, success is a matter of mindset, and he has set out ten commandments that apply to any undertaking you start, in life and in business:
- Hard work is what makes the difference.
- A child learns more from what they see than from what they’re told. If you tell your child one thing and then do the opposite, you’re off to a bad start.
- You have to keep your feet on the ground. When you’ve done that since childhood, the habit is harder to break, and it keeps you from going off the rails.
- Discipline is fundamental.
- If at some point things go wrong, you must keep demanding a lot of yourself and be self-critical at all times.
- Set yourself a long-term objective, a final goal. In life you need constant enthusiasm to keep moving forward.
- When you win, stay humble. In victory you should keep everything in perspective.
- When you lose, there is only one reason: the other player was better.
- Final results can only be changed through your attitude.
- Competition is part of the game; there would be no important victories without a strong opponent.
Remember: success never comes on its own. Effort and sustained discipline are essential in business. Acknowledging your competitors and doing your utmost to beat them in the market, fairly, is what sets a true champion apart.
Further reading
- Steve Jobs’s early days: a motivational story
- Donald Trump and the entrepreneurial mindset
- How to become a successful businessperson, part 2
- Facing the crisis with a positive mental attitude
- You can be a successful businessperson
Featured image: Christopher Johnson from Tokyo, Japan, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
