You may find yourself with 25 minutes or so to spare in your busy schedule today. So what do you do with that time? Some idle social media surfing? Online shopping? Text your friends? Or maybe even switch off your devices and let your mind wander? (An old-fashioned one, that, I know.) But here’s my advice: sit down and plug yourself into tennis legend Roger Federer’s commencement speech ahead of the degree ceremony at Dartmouth College, New Hampshire.
It’s already something of a viral sensation, and I was directed to it by a friend of mine, who is one of the titans of the financial services industry. “I wish I’d known all this,” he texted me. “Things may have turned out differently.
” Federer’s speech contained all manner of insights and enlightenment – “tennis lessons”, he called them – gleaned from a 24-year career which encompassed 20 Grand Slam titles , and it should be a required text for everyone seeking self-improvement. I took five lessons for life out of it. The first is that how you fare in each individual challenge you face does not define you; it is your ability to accept your wins and losses, and focus on the next challenge to come.
Federer explained that he left school at 16, and that his visit to Dartmouth to receive an honorary doctorate in Humane Letters was only the second time in his life he’d set foot on a college campus. “I just came here to give a speech, but I get to go home as Dr Roger,” he said. “My most unexpected vic.