Brad Gilbert was the tennis player and coach, who steered Andre Agassi to success. Andre Agassi's story of success through adversity, was first brought to my attention in the book "The Power Of Focus", and after reading Agassi's autobiography "Open", I realised that researching his tennis coach might give me extra ideas to use in my money seeking, and maybe in other areas of my life too. Brad Gilbert wrote the book "Winning Ugly", which covers how to use your mind for success, as well as tips for amateur tennis players.
The young Brad Gilbert was told by his tennis coaches that he was not good enough to be a professional tennis player, and would never make it, yet he went on to become a world top ten tennis player for many years, beating the best players of his day including Boris Becker, Pete Sampras, John McEnroe. He even won an Olympic medal in tennis. He won millions of pounds in prize money. In the preface of the book, Steve Jamison says: "Brad wins because he outthinks and out plans opponents".
The "winning ugly" concept just means to not try to do everything perfectly and gracefully. Brad Gilbert realised that he was not as good as the other tennis players physically, so he would have to use his mind to find a way to win. He monitored his training regime, and focussed his mind on gaining victory. He thought about his game plan before, during, and after every match. He aimed to maximise his strengths, and minimise his weaknesses. He said he went out there, and worked hard for every point he got.
Brad says: "No matter how hard you work, no matter how great your talent, your mind is the ultimate weapon. Most players use it against themselves......when you are the master of your mind, you will master the art of winning more.....And always remember, it's better to win ugly, than to lose pretty." He said he believes that "most of the time there is a way for you to win. You just have to find it".
Brad agrees that John McEnroe was right to call him "the worst tennis player" (page xxii) . He says "on paper, someone as good as John McEnroe shouldn't lose to me. And neither should Becker, Agassi, Chang, Edberg, Courier, Sampras....and a lot of other guys with better strokes and more so-called natural ability. Fortunately for me, tennis matches aren't played on paper. They're played on tennis courts. And because they are, I've been able to beat those players to the tune of $5m....It happened because I've used whatever talent and skills I do have in a calculated way that maximises their potential; that gives me my best chance to win. It's why I've been able to beat players who are supposedly better than me. You can do the same. Make the most of what you've got".
Gilbert took total responsibility for everything that happened to him. He carefully monitored his training, even obsessing over details such as exactly what to put into his tennis bag before a match. He realised that every little thing he prepared for would increase his chance of success.
A great part of the book is when Brad talks of when he won $15k cash in his first ever professional tournament victory, after being told repeatedly by everyone that he would never amount to much. He said "Nobody, but nobody, thought I had a chance out on the tour. I didn't have the strokes. I didn't have the natural ability. 'Who you kidding, Brad? Get a real job'....I realized for the first time that maybe they were wrong. Maybe I could make it on the tour. Maybe....this guy with the 'ugly' strokes, had a life in front of him as a professional tennis player".
The only minor downside to the book is when it starts getting very technical about tennnis, explaining how to improve certain strokes etc. Those bits didn't really interest me as I was only looking for his general success blueprint, and I have no intention of playing tennis anytime soon.
It is a book about tennis, but I think it's more a book about how you can use your brain and apply plans to be successful, in every area of life, including money. It's about how to win. It's about how to control and use your mind to create the successes that you want. Brad says good mental preparation is as important as good physical preparation.
Brad Gilbert is the underdog who came out on top, and he is a shining example of how to become successful, despite whatever disadvantages and flaws you think you may possess compared to other people. He later went on to prove his methods were real, consistent, and transferrable, by becoming a tennis coach and making top tennis players out of Andre Agassi, Andy Roddick, and Andy Murray.
This book gets the thumbs up from me. Brad had no special abilities or talents for tennis and was told he would never make it as a top tennis player, but he found a way to win, and continued to do so. Just like some of the real-life heroes in the book "The Millionaire Next Door", Brad Gilbert was not expected to do well, but in the real world, he proved everyone wrong by compensating for his weaknesses by creating a consistent plan for success.
Moneyseeker3000 rating: 4 stars out of 5
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