3 Success Secrets from Martina Navratilova (Recent Guest on My SiriusXM show!)

Billie Jean King called her the greatest singles, doubles and mixed doubles tennis player to have ever lived & I’m honored to call her a recent guest on my SIRIUSXM show.

Few in any field have reached the heights of success for as many years as Martina Navratilova.

With over 59 Grand Slam Tennis titles and a career spanning four decades, Martina knows how to achieve long-term career success.

She shared her lessons learned recently on Making a Living with Maggie.

In case you missed it, here are the highlights…

Martina Navratilova’s Secrets to Success:

1. Do what you love – Martina said she would never have achieved such success had she not LOVED tennis. Her passion even led her to defect to the US when her home country (then communist-run Czecheslovakia) made her leave her family behind. Never knowing if she’d see them again, Martina made the unwavering commitment to make the sacrifice worth it by being her best on the court.
2. Adapt to change, don’t fear it – “I was never afraid to learn new things” said Martina.  From equipment to court surfaces to technique, the level of change in professional tennis over the four decades that Martina succeeded was staggering.  Yet she never shyed away from a new way of doing things.  “You can teach an old dog new tricks” was Martina’s advice to listeners.
3. Get & stay in shape – After retiring from tennis, Martina gave up her exercise routine only to return to it a year later.  From lost energy to feeling cranky, Martina realized staying in shape wasn’t just for playing pro tennis.  Now she doesn’t miss a day of exercise.  She even wrote a book on the subject (Shape Your Self) and her passion for good health has led her to a second career as AARP’s Health & Fitness Ambassador.

It is no wonder that a Wharton study recently found that success in sports leads to success in careers. Martina’s commitment both on and off the court to living her best life led her to achieve the best success careerwise too.

If there’s one thing I’ve learned interviewing the “greats” in their fields from Martha Stewart to Deepak Chopra to Dilbert Creator Scott Adams to name a few and now Martina Navratilova…all the so-called secrets of success won’t work unless you do.

As Aristotle so aptly put it, “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore is not an act but a habit.”