"Fading Hope"

Spanish tennis player Rafael Nadal plays a losing match against Swiss star Roger Federer at a tournament in Madrid.

Photo and quote - http://www.time.com/time/picturesoftheweek/0,29409,1900287_1889518,00.html

Rafael Nadal lost one match recently to his rival, Roger Federer, and the media has stated that as “Fading Hope.” Losing one match has made the media state that maybe Nadal is going to lose his spot in the rankings as he isn’t in form.

This photograph and the quotes followed with it send across a message – you must give your best. You cannot give people opportunities that they say negative things about you. It takes a lot of time to build up your rank but by just doing a little mistake (or in this case losing a match) people can start talking behind your back. They forget that you have done many good things (in this case won many matches) and just focus on that one mistake. They start saying that you are no longer entitled to the rank and soon you will lose it, like the media has been stating Nadal’s one loss to his greatest rival as “Fading Hope.” This shows that you have to always give your best and be better than the others.

Sometimes always being victorious is not possible and that one loss starts making people believe that you will lose your spot soon. For some people this becomes a major barrier which stops them from succeeding. The media surrounding the people, which state that, they won’t be able to succeed make the people believe that indeed they have lost their form. And that sentiment then stops them from winning as they start feeling negative about themselves.

This has happened to me many times. When I do really well on a particular assignment I feel that I have done really well. But as soon as my performance is not as good in some other assignment I start feeling negative that I maybe won’t do well on the next assignments either. This goes back to the quote of my blog, “Whether you think you can or you think you can’t, you’re right.” I realize that if I start feeling negative, that I cannot do better on the other assignments, I won’t do well. But if I think I can, I will be positive and that will make me work harder for the next assignments and surely I will again do better.