That's a good question, and I'll start off by saying that Billy Jean King could take up several articles all by herself, considering the milestones she left in the game of tennis, and the role she played in the advancement of women's tennis.



That's not my focus here though. No, what I want to focus on is her famous attitude to every ball she faced.

To sum it up, it was 'same as the last, same as the next.'

She treated every point as an individual point, not letting her position in the match dictate the way she played.

This allowed her to close out victories when she was in front, and also to stage some amazing comebacks from being behind.

Opponents knew that this was her way of thinking, and it used to unnerve them, all swinging the percentages in King's favour.

As I write this, it's January 2007.

I was 40 last year, and to mark it I decided to train for and run a marathon.

I aimed for the London Marathon, but didn't get a place, so I changed my aim to running my own personal marathon around my local streets at the same time on the same day!

So far in my training I have got up to 14 miles, and all is going well.

One thing I have noticed, and this may sound silly, but once you set out to run these distances, it's a long long way!!

You simply can't manage it without getting your thought patterns and mental approach right, and it's here I drew on Billy Jean.

Sometimes when I'm running I will get a tweak in a muscle, or have a spell of aching lungs, or my feet hurt.

It's at these moments that it seems a long way still to go!

When I get those thoughts, I instantly replace them with the 'one ball at a time' ethos of Billy Jean King, and remind myself to not think about how many miles I've done, or how many miles I've still got to go, but to concentrate my efforts on where I am *right there and then*.

Is my pace ok?

Are my arms relaxed?

Am I breathing properly?

Once I've done that assessment, the moment of thinking how far I have to go has gone.

This is an attitude that can be used in any area of goal achievement.

When the going gets tough, don't let your imagination focus on how much further there is still to go, replace that negative with the positive actions of the here and now.

It's a technique I intend to use right up my marathon on April 22nd, and you should use it too.