Domination: Stephen Hendry
What does it take to be utterly dominant, with snooker legend Stephen Hendry. In the 1990s, Stephen was the undisputed best snooker player in the world, winning the World Championship a record seven times. His period of domination is up there with any other champion from any other sport. But what does it take to be as dominant as he was? Stephen emphasises the importance of loving what you do, but also putting in the hours of practice, as nothing can replace hard work. He had to learn to embrace a work ethic that at first was torture, training 6 hours a day, 7 days a week. But that level of commitment began to pay off, and once it did it stopped being such a chore, and instead became an important and valuable means to an end. Stephen emphasises the need to be ruthless and have a killer instinct, and how to capitalise when your opponent is showing signs of being affected by pressure. He talks about the importance of putting your best foot forward and giving off an air of confidence, even if you don’t always feel it, and how to get confidence back by going back to basics when it is starting to wane. Stephen changed the game of snooker with the way he played, and we discuss the implications of that. It's about following your intuition and choosing to do things differently from the status quo. Essentially asking why things are done the way they are, and investigating if they could be done differently, a mindset which can be applied in whichever field you work in. Stephen also opens up about how his game fell apart, and why he couldn’t find the answers to get him back on track.