Do you have a performance mindset?
5 pivotal ideas from champion and entrepreneur Maria Sharapova to empower any creative.
👋 Hello, dear creative. Happy December, everyone. Winter is here, and the holiday season is invading our visual experience.
The routine of a conqueror, champion, hero, or heroine
Today, I would like to explore the mindset of high-performance athletes and how it can be an elevator of ideas for any creative. I stumbled upon the interview of Maria Sharapova on Bloomberg, where she evoked the concept of a performance mindset* being a pivotal asset when transitioning/engaging in business. Maria Sharapova is part of that league of female tennis players who defied the norm. For example, Serena Williams is the queen of that group (I will dive into her mindset and completeness as a champion one day). Their achievements speak galaxies as their business and communication empires. It was interesting to hear from her about the patterns of her armature and her positioning towards her craft. And how it had shaped her for many more ventures. Being a high-performance player equips you for many roles, including leadership, entrepreneurship, business savvyness, communication guru and beyond. For me, the most revealing one is the positioning as a brand embodying a vision.
When someone asks me what I miss about the sport, it is waking up and putting on my uniform. Not because of what I was wearing but because it changed my mindset. I was going out there to be disciplined and focused and would perform that one task. I knew I would make that accomplishment.
Maria Sharapova
💪 5 empowering ideas from champion and entrepreneur Maria Sharapova
As creatives, we may not have competitions like Roland Garros, but we have our giants and steps to achieve our goals. Being creative, regardless of the field you specialize in, is like playing a sport. For many, it is even a high-performance sport of art.
You may not have a uniform, but you have tools you consider part of that uniform.
A creative mindset can harness a business eye and awakening. Many creatives are perceived only as excelling in creative practices. We undervalue the creative business eye and leadership we have as gifts, skills and missions.
A routine to perform: what is your routine as a creative? You must have crafted your sequence of steps, movements, techniques, flow and beyond. How do you segment your days, weeks, and months to be a better creative?
Crazy resilience: Yes! You will lose a game and come back for a new round. What is fascinating about an athlete is their endurance and how they survive a setback within a season or several seasons and still train to return to the arena. As creatives, we also undergo many setbacks. They are stepping stones to becoming better and elevating as creatives. They become our best teachers, leading us back into the arena.
Athletes who achieve success gain a platform. The big question is how they utilize it. Athletes embody a vision of resilience, excellence, work and consistency. When they transition to business or whatever they want to explore, their biggest asset is their athletic performance. It becomes their superpower. As creatives, whatever we decide to add to our basket as skills, projects, or collaborations. Our creative standpoint becomes an anchor for being effective everywhere. It is a trait of character. Creativity expands and harnesses ideas for progress, innovation, play, social progress and beyond. It is a powerful asset to entrepreneurship because we think through that creative lens and merge it with other subjects.
What about you? What do you think of the performance mindset for creatives?
This concept highlights works of art in any field. That dedication to doing your best most of the time is what matters most. You have done your utter best, and it is enough for the exact task and moment of your journey. I believe there are many shades of this performance mindset. Each one has to craft that ecosystem to harness growth and see that vision unfold step by step.
Sending warm vibes 🍵
*A high-performance mindset is the way we think, act, react, and carry ourselves in the competitive world. It's all about how we use our minds to pave the road to success. A mindset that can be used in both our business and personal lives.
I need you, dear creative reader!
This letter reaches you bi-weekly, diving into many topics that are close to my heart. However, I am curious – do they matter to you as well? To find out, I have put together a short and playful quiz to uncover YOUR story of Your Creative Letter. I am looking forward to reading your answers.
Have you heard of Kadir Nelson?
Kadir Nelson is an American painter and illustrator. He is known for his covers for the New Yorker but also his books for young adults. He is one of those artists who revives your breath! I discovered his art years ago from his covers of The New Yorker, I was researching for a project and saw one of his pieces. I was reintroduced to masterpiece and the noble endeavour of the Artist.
Kadir Nelson’s art is striking, it is emotional, and it embraces you into an atmosphere that questions your perceived rules, story and cultural understanding. His art is not only a tribute and celebration of black heroes and heroines, but it expands to The Human family as he called it in the ‘‘After the Storm’’ painting.
There is something about the atmosphere, the time travel, the care and the nurturing trait that is an emotional art experience. His work also reminds me of Norman Rockwell so as Leslie Ward (Spy). They pause us to witness and think!
I started my journey into art, design and creation with my hand, paper, pencils and brushes. His art always reminds me to go back to oil painting and dive deeper into that conversation with the material. When I witness such pureness of ideas and craft, it inspires me and motivates me to just be better and expand the joy of creating. Hopefully, I will resume oil painting activated by this great artist.
🤩 Creative awe
📹 Pathfinders embracing the multitude (The B-side of the Creative Chassé-croisé. We expanded to topics including creative leadership).
🏆 Goodreads Choice Awards (You can vote for the best books of 2023).
🥧 Ponybrown (The cutest character I have stumbled upon. Mane is its creator, a Seoul-based artist who shares his atelier life. A delight!).
💡 An ebook is much more than an ebook (The Power of Data).
📈 Taylor Swift is a business mentor (
shares withSubstack writers a bright and spot-on branding and marketing parallels with Taylor Swift as a lead character. Very soon on Your Branding Letter ).
🇫🇷 Cinderella becomes Cendrillo (What if we changed the narrative of the so-told story with the help of this bright and creative comic book?).
Creativity is in every little curious experimentation.
I hope you enjoyed the read of the week. If you enjoy this letter → 💖 put a heart on it and feel free to share it with peers, friends and family! It helps more people discover this space.
Until next time, keep creating!
Keva
Very interesting! The ultra-competitive athletic landscape isn't an area where I would enjoy being, but it's fascinating to learn from folks who thrive in that environment. Sharapova says a lot of the same types of things John Wooden says. Wooden would always start training a new player on his team by teaching them the right way to tie their shoes. Everything else cascaded from this ritual, and routine was all-important.