Successful Mantras from the Great Lara

1. Make use of opportunity

When you get the opportunity, be prepared to make the most of it

'When I got the opportunity, I made sure that I grabbed it and left it to nobody else,' he said.

'A lot of players leave their selection option open with their mediocre performances, they do not know if they are going to get into the team or not. I ensured that every time I played a series, my name was the first to be penciled in,' Lara added.

2. Set small goalsSet small goals, achieving those goals will give you confidence

The key for has been setting small goals from a very early age and achieving them. 'I knew at age 14, I could not play for the West Indies senior team, but I could have been the best batsman in school, I could have been the best under-16 batsman. That was my main focus and I was steadfastly working towards those things,' he said.

'Obviously achieving them always gave me the confidence to keep going the following year to achieve greater things,' he added.

3. Start from zero!After every win, start from zero

'When I got my first 100 in Australia, and went off the field with my debut 10, everyone was congratulating me. My coach Rohan Kanhai at that time told me to set my scores out. I asked him what he meant by that and he said my next innings should start with a zero.'

'It means that if you are batting out there and you have an opportunity and you are seeing the ball like a balloon, why get out? Why give anybody else an opportunity? So when next you go to bat, you start at zero and I always thought about that. When I get to 100, I mop my crease. That was not my milestone. My milestone was to just look at the match situation.'

4. Play the mental gameWin the mental game against competition

Talent is 10-20 per cent, mental side of the game is 80%. 'When you can win that mental side against any competition, you can dominate even though he has the weapon to destroy you. That was the battle between me and Murali Muralitharan,'

'I would never say I was 100% comfortable against him, but as things worked out, I got on top of him very quickly,' Lara said.

5. Study your successStudy your success more closely that your failures

'One of the things I did well is that every time I was very successful, I would go back and check out all the videos to see if there were any mistakes that I made. I would go in and look at my performance because I know that McGrath or Shane Warne or Murali would be looking at the same video even more intensely to see where I showed a weakness.'

'I would strengthen those things when I entered the next game knowing fully well that they would look at exploiting those weaknesses. I was very critical of myself, especially when I was doing very well-I would work even harder.'

> Tough times are great opportunities to showcase your mettle and create a track record

> Use the rough patches to re-orient, resize opportunity, reskill

> Humility pays, it allows you to see what arrogance blinds you against

> Respect the competitor but bring the war to him

> Often the level of preparedness and mental toughness decide the outcome, not the resources

> Commit to the goal completely

Source: economictimes.indiatimes.com/slideshows/...ideshow/20923756.cms