The sun was shining for what felt like the warmest Sunday morning in Dubai for a few weeks. I have been ill on and off since November and was finally getting back into some cardio and Padel tennis with my friend Jamie.

The warm-up started well. I felt confident, as usual. Then the first game started, and everything went rapidly downhill!

We were 4-0 down in no time and, in what felt like a matter of minutes, lost the first set 6-2.

Molly was there filming a bit of content for us too, so she would have a tough job of editing to make sure we didn’t look so bad on camera!

These losses are a familiar story for Jamie and me, and ultimately all boil down to the same problem.

We try to do too much. We try and get too clever.

Whenever we default to the strategy of just keeping the ball in play and simply concentrating on just getting it over the net, waiting for the other side to make the mistake, we always win.

So why don’t we do more of it? 

Patience, I guess. Meaning that we don’t have any! And it’s just boring to keep hitting repetitive shots when jumping in the air, smashing it hard, and doing fancy things is much more sexy!

But being sexy doesn’t bring home the trophy! And it is much the same in business, too.

Success in business and success in life simply boils down to getting the ball over the net. There are no points for style. Don’t let the sexy things distract you from getting the ball over the net.

What does ‘getting the ball over the net’ look like for you?

In a world where most people are incompetent and want to try for style over substance, your job needs to be to ensure you don’t make unforced errors.

If you can just keep the ball in play, always getting it back over the net, then sooner or later, your competition will fuck up. They will get bored. They will want to try new tricks.

They will forget what the goal of the game is.

The real goal of the game is to stay in it forever. To keep playing with an infinite time horizon.

If you can stay in the game long enough, then you will get lucky, and those around you will drop out.

So do what I say, not what I do! (Well, when it comes to Padel tennis anyway!)

Focus on the fundamentals. Prepare early. Don’t hit the ball into the net. Do whatever it takes, no matter how ugly it looks, to keep the game going.

Put the work in. Avoid unforced errors.

And hopefully, you will last long enough to be a winner in business and in life.