E49 - Stephen Hendry: No compromise; the cost of high performance

Stephen Hendry dominated the game of snooker in his prime. He won the World Championship in 1990 at just 21 years of age, a record that still stands today.

The Scotsman played on for a further 27 years and in that time he topped the world rankings for eight consecutive seasons, won seven world title wins, six Masters titles and five UK Championships. Dubbed the ‘King of the Crucible’, Stephen changed the game and many would argue that he is the greatest snooker player of all time.

Stephen retired in 2012 and became a regular face of BBC’s snooker coverage, 

but now, after an eight-year absence, he will return to snooker’s main circuit.

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# **Stephen Hendry: The King of the Crucible**

**Summary**

- Stephen Hendry, a legendary snooker player, dominated the sport in the 1990s, winning seven world titles and becoming the youngest world champion at 21.


- After retiring in 2012, Hendry became a regular face on BBC's snooker coverage and is now making a comeback to the sport after an eight-year absence.


- Hendry's success was driven by his relentless pursuit of winning, sacrificing even his personal life to achieve his goals.


- He credits his natural talent, ability to play under pressure, and hard work ethic as key factors in his success.


- Hendry's remarkable achievements have earned him the nickname "King of the Crucible," solidifying his status as one of the greatest snooker players of all time.


**Detailed Summary**

1. **Hendry's Early Life and Introduction to Snooker:**

- Stephen Hendry was born in 1969 in Scotland.


- He showed an early aptitude for snooker, playing on a small table at home and learning from watching professional players on TV.


- At the age of 13, Hendry won his first snooker tournament and began competing in amateur events.


2. **Turning Professional and Achieving Success:**

- Hendry turned professional at the age of 16, becoming the youngest player on the circuit.


- He quickly rose through the ranks, winning his first major title, the Scottish Professional Championship, at 17.


- Hendry's breakthrough came in 1990 when he became the youngest world champion at 21, defeating Jimmy White in the final.


3. **Dominance in the 1990s and Legacy:**

- Hendry dominated the snooker world throughout the 1990s, winning seven world titles, six Masters titles, and five UK Championships.


- His aggressive and attacking style of play earned him the nickname "Hurricane Hendry."


- Hendry's success made him a household name and helped popularize snooker around the world.


4. **Retirement and Return to Snooker:**

- Hendry retired from professional snooker in 2012 after a 27-year career.


- He became a regular face on BBC's snooker coverage, providing expert commentary and analysis.


- In 2023, Hendry announced his return to the sport, aiming to compete in the qualifying rounds for the World Championship.


5. **Key Factors in Hendry's Success:**

- Hendry attributes his success to several factors, including:


- Natural talent and exceptional hand-eye coordination.


- Ability to play under pressure and perform at his best in big matches.


- Unwavering focus and dedication to practice, spending hours honing his skills.


- Relentless pursuit of winning, even at the expense of personal relationships and sacrifices.


6. **Hendry's Impact on Snooker:**

- Hendry's achievements have left a lasting impact on the sport of snooker.


- He is widely regarded as one of the greatest snooker players of all time.


- Hendry's success inspired a new generation of players and helped elevate the profile of snooker globally.


- His return to the sport in 2023 has generated excitement and anticipation among snooker fans worldwide.

# Stephen Hendry: The Snooker Legend's Journey and Mindset

Stephen Hendry, a dominant force in the world of snooker, captured the World Championship title in 1990 at the age of 21, setting a record that stands to this day. The Scottish player continued to excel, topping the world rankings for eight consecutive seasons, securing seven world titles, six Masters titles, and five UK Championships, earning him the title "King of the Crucible." After retiring in 2012, Hendry became a regular face on BBC's snooker coverage, and now, after an eight-year absence, he will make a remarkable return to the snooker circuit.

## Psychological Edge and Control: The Key to Success

Hendry's success can be attributed to his unwavering focus and control. He maintained a strict practice regimen, dedicating himself to honing his skills and perfecting his technique. Hendry's emotional control was also instrumental in his victories. He displayed remarkable composure at the table, rarely showing signs of frustration or disappointment, which gave him a significant psychological advantage over his opponents.

## Emotional Detachment and Personal Sacrifice

Hendry's pursuit of excellence required significant personal sacrifices. He prioritized snooker above all else, dedicating countless hours to practice and maintaining a strict lifestyle. This level of dedication strained his personal relationships, leading to the breakdown of his marriage and limited time with his children. Hendry acknowledges that his single-minded focus may be perceived as cold and ruthless, but he maintains that it was necessary to achieve the level of success he attained.

## Retirement and Rediscovering Passion

After retiring from professional snooker in 2012, Hendry struggled to find fulfillment. He missed the competition and the adrenaline rush of performing at the highest level. However, he discovered a new passion in amateur golf, which provided him with a sense of purpose and enjoyment. Hendry's return to snooker is driven by his desire to recapture the thrill of competition and the opportunity to challenge himself against the best players in the world.

## Lessons Learned and a Legacy of Greatness

Hendry's journey offers valuable lessons about the sacrifices and dedication required to achieve greatness in any field. His unwavering focus, emotional control, and willingness to make personal sacrifices were essential to his success. Despite the challenges he faced, Hendry's accomplishments and contributions to the sport of snooker have cemented his legacy as one of the greatest players of all time.

# Stephen Hendry: The King of Crucible Returns to Snooker

**Synopsis:**

Snooker legend Stephen Hendry, known as the "King of the Crucible," is making a remarkable comeback to the sport after an eight-year absence. Hendry, who dominated the game in his prime, winning the World Championship at just 21 years old, retired in 2012 due to declining performance. However, fueled by curiosity and a desire to experience the arena again, he has decided to return to the snooker circuit, albeit with a different approach.

**Key Points:**

1. **Shift in Mindset:** Hendry acknowledges that his previous all-in, relentless approach, while effective in securing victories, also contributed to his difficulties when he started losing. This time, he aims to adopt a more flexible perspective, focusing on enjoying the game and treating tournaments as individual events rather than a relentless pursuit of winning.


2. **Technical Adjustments:** Hendry recognizes that his technique has deteriorated over the years, leading to inconsistent shot-making. He is working with a coach to make technical changes and regain the precision and accuracy that characterized his earlier career.


3. **Managing Expectations:** Hendry is realistic about his chances of winning a world championship at this stage of his career. He understands that it will take time to regain his form and that the current standard of snooker is higher than when he retired. However, he remains open to the possibility of achieving success if his game improves significantly.


4. **Psychological Approach:** Hendry admits that he struggled with negative feedback and criticism during his playing days. He found it challenging to deal with the intense scrutiny and pressure that came with being a top player. While he is not actively seeking psychological support at the moment, he acknowledges that it might be beneficial if his game reaches a stage where he feels he can consistently perform well.


5. **Legacy and Motivation:** Hendry acknowledges the importance of his legacy in the sport and takes pride in being remembered as one of the greatest players. However, his primary motivation for returning is the desire to experience the thrill of competing in front of a live audience and the challenge of playing against some of the best players in the world.


6. **Non-Negotiable Behaviors:** Hendry emphasizes the importance of selfishness, determination, and self-criticism as non-negotiable behaviors for success in snooker. He believes that these qualities are essential for maintaining focus, pushing oneself to improve, and dealing with setbacks.


7. **Advice to Young Players:** Hendry advises young players to prioritize hard work and dedication over relying solely on talent. He emphasizes the importance of consistent practice and the willingness to put in the necessary effort to achieve success in the sport.

**Conclusion:**

Stephen Hendry's return to snooker is a testament to his enduring passion for the game and his desire to challenge himself once again. While he remains realistic about his chances of winning major titles, his flexible approach and focus on enjoying the experience suggest that he is primarily motivated by the love of the sport and the opportunity to compete at the highest level.

# **Summary of the Podcast Episode: Stephen Hendry - The King of the Crucible**

## **Introduction**

- Stephen Hendry, a legendary snooker player, dominated the game in his prime, winning the World Championship in 1990 at the age of 21, a record that still stands today.
- He played for 27 more years, topping the world rankings for eight consecutive seasons, winning seven world titles, six Masters titles, and five UK Championships.
- Dubbed the "King of the Crucible," Hendry changed the game with his aggressive snooker style, emphasizing clear the table shots.
- After retiring in 2012, Hendry became a regular face of BBC's snooker coverage and is now making a comeback to the snooker's main circuit after an eight-year absence.

## **Hendry on Being Remembered**

- Hendry expresses his desire to be remembered as someone who changed the game of snooker and made it more successful.
- He believes his aggressive style of play, emphasizing going for shots and clearing the table, was instrumental in transforming the game.

## **Hendry's Golden Rule for a High-Performance Life**

- Hendry emphasizes the importance of honesty in living a high-performance life.
- He believes that honesty with oneself is crucial for success, as it allows individuals to recognize their strengths and weaknesses and work on improving them.

## **Hendry's Reflection on His Career**

- Hendry reflects on his career, acknowledging that while he was all in and successful when winning constantly, it was difficult when he was not winning.
- He attributes this difficulty to his inability to lie to himself and his tendency to be brutally honest with himself, which made it hard to accept when he was not invincible.

## **The Importance of Intrinsic Victories**

- Hendry emphasizes the significance of intrinsic victories, such as personal achievements and milestones, rather than solely focusing on external validation like winning world championships.
- He believes that finding happiness in small victories that matter to individuals is essential for maintaining a positive mindset and a sense of accomplishment.

## **Hendry's Mindset as a Sponge**

- Hendry and Damien compare their mindset to that of a sponge, emphasizing the importance of being open to learning and absorbing knowledge from experienced individuals.
- They believe that this mindset allows them to soak up lessons and wisdom from others, which contributes to their personal and professional growth.

## **Infinite Purpose and Passion**

- Hendry discusses the concept of infinite purpose, which is a core driver that guides an individual's actions and decisions.
- He believes that identifying one's infinite purpose can lead to a sense of empowerment, inspiration, and passion, making it easier to stay motivated and engaged in life.
- Hendry recognizes that doing things for himself is fun but doesn't fulfill him as much as empowering, inspiring, and encouraging others.
- He finds his infinite purpose in using his platform to make a positive impact on people's lives, which fuels his passion and energy.

## **Conclusion**

- The podcast episode highlights Stephen Hendry's remarkable career, his honest reflection on his journey, and his insights on high performance, intrinsic victories, and the importance of finding an infinite purpose.
- Hendry's openness and willingness to share his experiences and lessons learned provide valuable insights for listeners seeking to improve their own performance and live more fulfilling lives.

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[01:29.240 -> 01:34.640] The reason why there's so few people can win relentlessly is they sacrifice even family
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[05:11.520 -> 05:18.640] Hi there, I'm Jay Comfrey and you're listening to High Performance, the podcast that delves
[05:18.640 -> 05:23.240] into the minds of some of the most successful athletes, visionaries, entrepreneurs, and
[05:23.240 -> 05:27.000] artists on the planet and aims to unlock the very secrets to their success. yng nghanolbwyntiaid, ymgyrchwyr a chynhyrchwyr ar y blynyddoedd ac yn amlwg i ddod o'r llwyr i'w cyflawni.
[05:27.000 -> 05:29.000] Mae pawb angen professor yn eu bywydau.
[05:29.000 -> 05:32.000] Damian Hughes yw i, a ddysgwr, a chyfrifolwyr
[05:32.000 -> 05:34.000] sy'n cyflawni'r ymgeisyddol a'r academaidd
[05:34.000 -> 05:45.000] i helpu pêlwyr a throfodd cyflawni bywydau cyffredinol. Dyma dyna dynion sy'n ddod o'r ffordd i ddod o'r ffordd i ddod o'r ffordd i ddod o'r ffordd i ddod o'r ffordd i ddod o'r ffordd i ddod o'r ffordd i ddod o'r ffordd i ddod o'r ffordd i ddod o'r ffordd i ddod o'r ffordd i ddod o'r ffordd i ddod o'r ffordd i ddod o'r ffordd i ddod o'r ffordd i ddod o'r ffordd i ddod o'r ffordd i ddod o'r ffordd i ddod o'r ffordd i ddod o'r ffordd i ddod o'r ffordd i ddod o'r ffordd i ddod o'r ffordd i ddod o'r ffordd i ddod o'r ffordd i ddod o'r ffordd i ddod o'r ffordd i ddynion sydd ddim yn gyrraedd, maen nhw'n ymdrech. Ac mae hynny'n rhywbeth y byddwn ni'n ei weld yn aml yn unrhyw fath o byd,
[05:45.000 -> 05:47.000] ymdrech neu busnes.
[05:47.000 -> 05:49.000] Iawn, rwy'n mwy cyffrous
[05:49.000 -> 05:50.000] am ymchwil yma, Jake.
[05:50.000 -> 05:51.000] Rydyn ni wedi sôn â llawer o bobl
[05:51.000 -> 05:52.000] sy'n ymwneud â'r syniad hwn
[05:52.000 -> 05:54.000] o gyrrwyddo eich syniad,
[05:54.000 -> 05:55.000] i gael i'w gysylltu
[05:55.000 -> 05:56.000] o'ch syniadau
[05:56.000 -> 05:58.000] a gallu cyfathrebu
[05:58.000 -> 05:59.000] yn ddiogel ar beth maen nhw'n ei wneud.
[05:59.000 -> 06:00.000] Ac mae'r gynon ni heddiw
[06:00.000 -> 06:01.000] yn rhywun
[06:01.000 -> 06:02.000] sy'n teimlo'n perffaith.
[06:02.000 -> 06:03.000] Felly rwy'n mwy cyffrous
[06:03.000 -> 06:04.000] i ymdrechu mwy amdano.
[06:04.000 -> 06:05.520] Iawn i mi hefyd.
[06:05.520 -> 06:06.480] Gadewch i ni.
[06:06.480 -> 06:11.280] Faldo, Woods, Schumacher, LeBron, Hamilton, Mayweather.
[06:11.280 -> 06:13.280] Y bobl sy'n dynnu eu ffyrdd ymchwil.
[06:13.280 -> 06:15.840] Ac mae Stephen Hendry ar y gwaelod.
[06:15.840 -> 06:18.320] Sefydlwyr y byd mewn niwethaf o'r 90au.
[06:18.320 -> 06:20.960] Ond sut y gafodd ei gael yno? Sut y gafodd ei gael yno?
[06:20.960 -> 06:25.800] Ac pam, yn ei 50au, yw'n decidio i fynd yn ôl yno? Ac yn bwysig, beth y gallwch chi, wrth gwrs, sgriwio i'r podcast hwn, gwybod o'i hyrwyddo? stay there and why in his 50s has he decided to go back there? And crucially,
[06:25.800 -> 06:30.600] what can you listening to this podcast learn from his success? Well, welcome to
[06:30.600 -> 06:32.320] the pod, Stephen Hendry. Nice to have you with us.
[06:32.360 -> 06:35.480] Thanks very much. It wasn't a bad bunch of names. He just listed and I came after
[06:35.480 -> 06:36.840] that. That was very nice.
[06:36.860 -> 06:41.160] Yeah, I thought so. Which one did you like the most? Schumacher, a bit of Lebron?
[06:41.200 -> 06:45.600] Yeah, Schumacher, I think. I think I think yeah people like Schumacher, Faldo
[06:45.600 -> 06:49.360] again individuals really on their own their own when they're competing
[06:49.360 -> 06:53.880] Schumacher, myself seven world titles that's I kind of like that ring to it as
[06:53.880 -> 06:59.800] well but Tiger Woods massive hero of mine people are just like just couldn't
[06:59.800 -> 07:02.560] get enough of winning just greedy really. Right well let's talk about that in
[07:02.560 -> 07:10.160] detail then and we'll start as we always do on this podcast with the same question. In your mind, what is high performance?
[07:10.160 -> 07:16.440] Picking up that trophy at the end of the event, that's your job, that was my job. It was almost
[07:16.440 -> 07:24.080] like people always say to me, there was no emotion, there was no like crying or real
[07:24.080 -> 07:25.000] smiles or anything.
[07:25.000 -> 07:29.600] I sometimes found it difficult to put on a genuine smile after I won the big titles,
[07:29.600 -> 07:33.600] because to me it was the climax of all the work I'd put in.
[07:33.600 -> 07:36.000] And it was my job to go there and win.
[07:36.000 -> 07:39.400] And sometimes after I won on a Sunday night,
[07:39.400 -> 07:41.000] I'd be back practicing the Monday for the next one,
[07:41.000 -> 07:44.000] because I had that greed, which I think individual sportsmen,
[07:44.000 -> 07:47.760] if they're going to be serial winners, have to have,
[07:47.760 -> 07:50.460] they can never be satisfied, and I was never satisfied.
[07:50.460 -> 07:54.340] So do you think that anyone can learn to have that greed,
[07:54.340 -> 07:56.380] as you call it, or do you think that was something
[07:56.380 -> 07:59.440] that you have, it's an innate part of you,
[07:59.440 -> 08:01.420] that meant not only could you get there
[08:01.420 -> 08:02.440] and be the world champion,
[08:02.440 -> 08:05.000] you could get there relentlessly, consistently.
[08:05.000 -> 08:09.160] I don't think that's something you can teach. No, I think, you know, the sportsman that
[08:09.160 -> 08:15.080] you listed there, it's why very few in all sports, especially individual sports can keep
[08:15.080 -> 08:20.120] winning and winning and winning and dominate because I've seen so many players in snooker
[08:20.120 -> 08:26.040] and I mean, golf's my other favourite sport, watching a lot of golf. They win a tournament, then they disappear.
[08:26.040 -> 08:27.920] You say, what happened to that player?
[08:27.920 -> 08:31.440] Then you know, they haven't kept on winning.
[08:31.440 -> 08:35.680] So I don't know where it came from, to be honest, but-
[08:35.680 -> 08:38.800] And when you say it, what do you describe as it?
[08:38.800 -> 08:41.040] What is the thing that meant it kept happening?
[08:41.040 -> 08:42.840] That greed, that never being satisfied,
[08:42.840 -> 08:44.520] that always wanting to win another one.
[08:44.520 -> 08:45.520] You know, as I said before,
[08:45.520 -> 08:46.640] you're winning on a Sunday night
[08:46.640 -> 08:49.360] and being back in the practice table the next day.
[08:49.360 -> 08:51.280] Very few people can do that.
[08:51.280 -> 08:52.560] I mean, granted in the beginning,
[08:52.560 -> 08:53.960] I had a manager who cracked a whip
[08:53.960 -> 08:58.280] and made sure I was not gonna take a holiday or relax.
[08:58.280 -> 09:00.960] But when I started to get success, then it was in me.
[09:00.960 -> 09:02.320] I wanted to win the next one.
[09:02.320 -> 09:04.200] I wanted to win the next one.
[09:04.200 -> 09:07.000] I wanted to win, you know, every tournament. yna roedd yn fy mhobl. Roeddwn i eisiau ymwybod ar y nesaf, roeddwn i eisiau ymwybod ar yr un nesaf. Roeddwn i eisiau ymwybod ar bob torfennol.
[09:07.000 -> 09:14.000] Ac rwy'n credu, y rhesymau ar gyfer y 20, 30, 40 mlynedd diwethaf o Snooker,
[09:14.000 -> 09:21.000] dim ond Steve Davis, myself, Ronny, John Higgins, Mark,
[09:21.000 -> 09:27.000] ond oherwydd bod yn yr era gyda'i hun, nad oedd un ohonyid ydyn nhw wedi'u hymdrechu fel y gafodd Stephen i.
[09:27.000 -> 09:29.000] Ond os ydych chi'n mynd yn ôl i'r oergeinion, Stephen,
[09:29.000 -> 09:32.000] rwy'n gwybod eich bod chi'n dechrau chwarae pan oeddech chi'n 13
[09:32.000 -> 09:35.000] a'ch gysylltiedig sut roeddech chi'r tabl hwnnw
[09:35.000 -> 09:37.000] yn ystod y byd ychydig.
[09:37.000 -> 09:39.000] Felly rydych chi'n ysbrydoli'r naturiol mechanol
[09:39.000 -> 09:41.000] o gynhyrchu ar lefel byd.
[09:41.000 -> 09:44.000] Pan ddechreuodd y sîd o angen i'w gynhyrchu,
[09:44.000 -> 09:46.720] angen i'w hymdrechu,ini, yn dechrau cyn hynny?
[09:46.720 -> 09:50.320] Gwnaeth i'r tafel fach, dwy wythnos cyn fy nghaerthiad 13, ac fe wnaethom
[09:50.320 -> 09:54.400] gyda'r cyfnod yr hoffwn i'w gael ar y tafel. Roeddwn i'n mwynhau. Roedd yn rhaid i mi
[09:54.400 -> 09:57.520] gwneud rhywbeth sy'n clicio. A beth oedd eich bod chi'n mwynhau amdano?
[09:57.520 -> 10:01.520] Dwi ddim yn gwybod. Mae'n anodd iawn i ddeall. Yn 13, roeddwn i'n
[10:01.520 -> 10:06.880] dweud y gallwn i fynd i lawr ar y tafel, ac yn naturiol. Mae'n gweld the table and naturally, you know, you see beginners and going clubs in there,
[10:06.880 -> 10:09.280] you know, after they've searched for a cue that's straight
[10:09.280 -> 10:11.320] and for half an hour, and then they just get there
[10:11.320 -> 10:13.040] and they just don't look like they belong there.
[10:13.040 -> 10:15.320] But I just felt comfortable on the table.
[10:15.320 -> 10:17.760] I knew, you know, my dad didn't have to tell me anything.
[10:17.760 -> 10:19.480] Basically just put my left hand down the table.
[10:19.480 -> 10:21.320] I put the cue on and it just felt natural.
[10:21.320 -> 10:23.120] Within a couple of weeks, I was making 50 breaks,
[10:23.120 -> 10:23.940] just playing.
[10:23.940 -> 10:26.320] Then I started watching on TV, learning from the players,
[10:26.320 -> 10:29.920] but I started to get pleasure from being better than people,
[10:29.920 -> 10:32.480] even if it was just family, friends,
[10:32.480 -> 10:33.320] I got this thing,
[10:33.320 -> 10:35.520] I'm actually better than people at something,
[10:35.520 -> 10:38.560] and that sort of, I think, put something in there.
[10:38.560 -> 10:42.160] And had you had that experience of being exceptional
[10:42.160 -> 10:44.160] or better than people before that,
[10:44.160 -> 10:46.200] or was snooker the first place you found that feeling, I was snooker in the first place.
[10:46.200 -> 10:47.400] You found that feeling.
[10:47.400 -> 10:48.840] Yeah, snooker was definitely the first.
[10:48.840 -> 10:51.440] I played football in badminton at primary school,
[10:51.440 -> 10:54.520] being part of teams, but never excelled, never stood out.
[10:54.520 -> 10:55.920] Not at the bottom, but not the top.
[10:55.920 -> 10:57.900] So snooker was the first thing in my life
[10:57.900 -> 11:00.800] that I was a bit different to everyone else.
[11:00.800 -> 11:01.800] That's interesting, isn't it?
[11:01.800 -> 11:03.440] It's almost like it gave you a feeling
[11:03.440 -> 11:08.360] you'd never had before. And so you stuck with snooker because you wanted more of that
[11:08.360 -> 11:11.480] feeling like a drug I guess. Yeah and I think all through my teenage years I
[11:11.480 -> 11:15.120] mean people always say do you regret you missed out on what normal teenage boys
[11:15.120 -> 11:21.000] do you know parties, girlfriends, drinking for the first time, whatever it is and I
[11:21.000 -> 11:23.960] never felt missed out I just wanted to play snooker you know as soon as school
[11:23.960 -> 11:28.100] was finished sometimes before school finished you. I just wanted to play snooker. You know, as soon as school was finished, sometimes before school finished, you know, I just wanted to play.
[11:28.100 -> 11:30.100] The only thing in my mind was getting on that table.
[11:30.100 -> 11:34.700] Wow. Was it necessary though, that sacrifice? All three of us having this conversation of
[11:34.700 -> 11:38.860] parents, right? All three of us want our kids to live an amazing life and basically do what
[11:38.860 -> 11:43.840] you did fine. We'd all love our kids to find their thing, wouldn't we? And excel at it.
[11:43.840 -> 11:45.120] And we keep watching them do things,
[11:45.120 -> 11:46.560] and go, oh, that's not quite for them,
[11:46.560 -> 11:48.960] but maybe they'll find something eventually.
[11:48.960 -> 11:52.800] So was it necessary for you to have the sacrifice
[11:52.800 -> 11:55.240] to go along with finding your thing?
[11:55.240 -> 11:56.560] I think so, yeah.
[11:56.560 -> 11:58.040] Again, as parents, you probably wouldn't give
[11:58.040 -> 11:59.600] the same advice again, but I was fortunate
[11:59.600 -> 12:02.040] that I had parents who didn't really say,
[12:02.040 -> 12:04.080] stop playing snooker, you've got homework to do,
[12:04.080 -> 12:08.240] you've got exact, the, you know, whether that makes them bad parents,
[12:08.240 -> 12:10.960] I don't know, but I think very early on,
[12:10.960 -> 12:13.960] my dad especially, through taking me around clubs
[12:13.960 -> 12:15.760] and stuff and people talking, I think he had,
[12:15.760 -> 12:17.440] he knew there was something there,
[12:17.440 -> 12:19.400] so it didn't stop me playing snooker,
[12:19.400 -> 12:20.920] it didn't say, no, you're only gonna play at weekends
[12:20.920 -> 12:22.600] because you need to study and all that.
[12:22.600 -> 12:29.200] So, yeah, I didn't, the sacrifice, roedd y cyfrifiad yn anodd i greu cymorth yn gyflym,
[12:29.200 -> 12:34.160] oherwydd yn amlwg, 33 mlynedd yn ôl, rydw i wedi cymryd cymorth yn gyflym,
[12:34.160 -> 12:38.800] drwy'r scenaidd junior a'r amater. Ac os nad ydw i wedi chwarae ychydig o snwcwr i
[12:39.520 -> 12:44.320] ymstudio neu gwneud pethau eraill, yna efallai nad oedd y cynyddu yn gyflym.
[12:44.320 -> 12:47.000] Gallwn ni sefydlu ar y cyfrifiadau a wnaethoch chi'w gwneud.
[12:47.000 -> 12:48.640] Yr hyn rwyf yn ddiddorol am, Stephen,
[12:48.640 -> 12:50.160] yw beth oedd yn rhoi arnoch chi?
[12:50.160 -> 12:54.160] Felly, y status o fod yn ddiddorol
[12:54.160 -> 12:56.600] ar rhywbeth a'n cael ei gydnabod.
[12:56.600 -> 12:57.280] Beth ydych chi'n teimlo
[12:57.280 -> 12:59.240] oedd hynny'n eich cyfrifol fel unigol?
[12:59.240 -> 13:00.200] Mae pethau gwahanol, mewn gwirionedd.
[13:00.200 -> 13:02.800] Mae'n rhoi ychydig o hyder
[13:02.800 -> 13:03.640] arnoch chi.
[13:06.180 -> 13:08.820] Yn y dyddiau hynny, yn Snooker, you're mixing with people who are much older than you.
[13:08.820 -> 13:10.540] You know, I was playing in clubs sometimes
[13:10.540 -> 13:12.120] in kind of British Legion clubs
[13:12.120 -> 13:13.180] where I wasn't supposed to be in.
[13:13.180 -> 13:14.420] You know, you're playing league matches.
[13:14.420 -> 13:15.720] They basically smuggle me in,
[13:15.720 -> 13:17.660] play my two frames and straight back out again.
[13:17.660 -> 13:19.040] You had to be 18 to be in.
[13:19.040 -> 13:21.360] But I think spending the whole of my teenage life
[13:21.360 -> 13:23.460] and young life around older people
[13:23.460 -> 13:26.640] made me sort of a bit more street wise
[13:26.640 -> 13:28.920] or more, you know, wiser than my age
[13:28.920 -> 13:30.760] in terms of just life, basically,
[13:30.760 -> 13:32.400] not in terms of academical stuff,
[13:32.400 -> 13:34.640] because I left school with no qualifications, you know,
[13:34.640 -> 13:37.000] so that's, that went out the window,
[13:37.000 -> 13:40.120] but spending life with older people and stuff
[13:40.120 -> 13:42.560] and then just experiencing things,
[13:42.560 -> 13:44.960] competition, winning things,
[13:44.960 -> 13:50.000] it makes you feel like you've got something that's, yeah, it gives you that little bit of inner confidence.
[13:50.000 -> 13:55.000] I guess it's about feeling special and feeling a bit different to everybody else.
[13:55.000 -> 14:07.040] And it's almost embarrassing to talk about something that I experienced when I'm comparing it to a multiple world champion. But I remember when I was living in Norwich and I first started doing little bits and pieces on the television,
[14:07.040 -> 14:10.320] I'd go in a bar or something and literally only one or two people would go,
[14:10.320 -> 14:12.720] oh, that's that guy that does that show that I can't remember his name
[14:12.720 -> 14:14.240] or even the program he's on.
[14:14.240 -> 14:16.360] But that would give me this like feeling of,
[14:16.360 -> 14:19.320] oh, there's something a bit special about this.
[14:19.320 -> 14:23.520] And that then led to, right, so I'm not going to get drunk tonight
[14:23.520 -> 14:25.520] because that might be embarrassing and I'm
[14:25.520 -> 14:29.040] going to get up early tomorrow and I'm going to try a bit harder at my job because it will
[14:29.040 -> 14:33.920] feed into that feeling of being different. And now I say to my kids all the time, I say,
[14:33.920 -> 14:37.560] look, have this mindset that you're a bit more special. You look at all those other
[14:37.560 -> 14:42.400] kids in your class and that's them, but you are different because I want them to have
[14:42.400 -> 14:45.000] that feeling because I think it's really powerful,
[14:45.000 -> 14:47.840] that feeling that you are not normal,
[14:47.840 -> 14:49.440] there's something unique about you.
[14:49.440 -> 14:51.200] And even if you're right or wrong,
[14:51.200 -> 14:53.160] what's the point in not thinking that?
[14:53.160 -> 14:54.960] It's a big part of your identity.
[14:54.960 -> 14:55.800] Yeah.
[14:55.800 -> 14:58.200] To take that theme that Jake's talking about then, Stephen,
[14:58.200 -> 15:01.840] that you've gone from being a middle of the road kid at school
[15:01.840 -> 15:04.920] to finding a place where you're suddenly exceptional,
[15:04.920 -> 15:08.560] you've got adults acknowledging your talent.
[15:08.560 -> 15:10.520] How did you make that transition?
[15:10.520 -> 15:12.560] Because I imagine that was more difficult
[15:12.560 -> 15:15.600] for people around you to deal with your success
[15:15.600 -> 15:17.320] than for you personally.
[15:17.320 -> 15:19.480] I mean, I didn't really take it in a lot.
[15:19.480 -> 15:20.680] I was just playing snooker.
[15:20.680 -> 15:24.200] And there's a time obviously in the beginning,
[15:24.200 -> 15:29.200] there's a transition where snooker stops being a hobby and starts becoming a job. Um, but
[15:29.200 -> 15:32.400] at that time through my teenage years, it was just a, I was just loving what I was doing.
[15:32.400 -> 15:35.640] I mean, I was just playing snooker. I was getting to, you know, leave school on a Friday
[15:35.640 -> 15:39.320] night to go down to London or wherever to play in pro-arms and not come back in a Monday.
[15:39.320 -> 15:43.040] I was getting allowed to do this. I mean, I was fortunate again, my parents, but the
[15:43.040 -> 15:47.560] school was quite, you know, because it seemed seen me in the papers, the local papers winning things and I mean
[15:47.560 -> 15:52.360] financially I supported myself since I was 13 and at 14 my parents haven't had to buy
[15:52.360 -> 15:55.680] me anything, you know, because I was winning monies and just buying my own clothes and
[15:55.680 -> 16:01.600] stuff and so it makes you independent, makes you feel independent and it was quite surreal
[16:01.600 -> 16:03.160] I suppose when you're looking back on it.
[16:03.160 -> 16:05.000] Did you feel like it almost happened to you rather than you made it happen, when you're looking back on it. But I had a time. It almost happened to you,
[16:05.000 -> 16:06.200] rather than you made it happen.
[16:06.200 -> 16:08.280] Do you know what I mean by that?
[16:08.280 -> 16:10.240] Like you just were playing snooker and this thing,
[16:10.240 -> 16:12.560] you just almost stepped onto this rollercoaster ride
[16:12.560 -> 16:14.280] and you were just, in your mind,
[16:14.280 -> 16:15.480] I was just playing snooker.
[16:15.480 -> 16:16.320] Yeah.
[16:16.320 -> 16:17.160] Taking you incredible places.
[16:17.160 -> 16:18.800] I wasn't thinking at that stage that,
[16:18.800 -> 16:19.840] wow, this is gonna be a career.
[16:19.840 -> 16:21.360] I'm gonna be one world championships.
[16:21.360 -> 16:22.560] There was no strategy at this age.
[16:22.560 -> 16:23.480] No, not at all.
[16:23.480 -> 16:24.920] It was just basically, it was my dad and I
[16:24.920 -> 16:26.320] traveling around the country, playing pro? No, not at all. It was just basically it was my dad and I traveling around the country playing
[16:26.320 -> 16:29.840] pro-am's, playing amateur tournaments. I was just loving it because I was playing
[16:29.840 -> 16:33.480] snooker. I had no thoughts of I'm not getting any qualifications, what am I
[16:33.480 -> 16:36.880] going to do in my life? I wasn't thinking ahead to the next tournament the next
[16:36.880 -> 16:41.520] weekend. That was all, that was my only, my only thoughts. Yeah it was, I was just
[16:41.520 -> 16:45.960] kind of like going along with it basically. But that can't happen forever though, can it?
[16:45.960 -> 16:48.760] Because the number of people that we speak to
[16:48.760 -> 16:50.760] who have not done what you've done even once,
[16:50.760 -> 16:52.160] not been a world champion even once,
[16:52.160 -> 16:53.000] and they say, oh, you know,
[16:53.000 -> 16:57.080] I really enjoyed being a young racing driver
[16:57.080 -> 17:00.200] or a young snooker player or a young footballer,
[17:00.200 -> 17:04.600] but I never realized that to carry on that trajectory,
[17:04.600 -> 17:07.240] at one point, the hard work had to kick in as well.
[17:07.240 -> 17:09.760] So when was the moment that you realized
[17:09.760 -> 17:12.160] it had to be about more than just playing snooker
[17:12.160 -> 17:13.200] and enjoying it?
[17:13.200 -> 17:16.640] I won the Scottish amateur senior title at 14
[17:16.640 -> 17:18.560] and then again at 15.
[17:18.560 -> 17:20.320] And in those days, the only way
[17:20.320 -> 17:21.520] getting your professional ticket
[17:21.520 -> 17:24.280] was to either win your national championship, which I did,
[17:24.280 -> 17:25.660] or win the world amateur championship.
[17:25.660 -> 17:28.440] So at 15, I won at the second time. I had a choice whether to
[17:28.920 -> 17:31.220] enter the world amateur championship, which I thought I could win,
[17:31.360 -> 17:34.760] but then I might not win. I missed a chance to turn pro and then I might not win
[17:34.960 -> 17:41.040] the next year. So this guy Ian Doyle, who had a snooker club in Stirling, who had been to play some junior tournaments,
[17:41.200 -> 17:45.400] was getting into snooker. His company sponsored the Scottish amateur senior title.
[17:45.400 -> 17:47.200] He had a kind of meeting with my dad.
[17:47.200 -> 17:49.000] He wanted to get into snooker and he wanted to take over
[17:49.000 -> 17:52.500] my career basically, be a manager, take care of sponsorship,
[17:52.500 -> 17:53.800] all that sort of stuff.
[17:53.800 -> 17:58.000] So between my dad, Ian, and I, and my mum always saying,
[17:58.000 -> 18:01.400] we had to take a decision whether should we turn pro now
[18:01.400 -> 18:02.800] or stay as an amateur.
[18:02.800 -> 18:04.200] We made the decision that I couldn't learn anymore
[18:04.200 -> 18:05.200] as an amateur. Let's just decision that I couldn't learn anymore as an amateur.
[18:05.200 -> 18:07.280] Let's just get in with the big boys.
[18:07.280 -> 18:10.560] I'd always played my best snooker on the biggest occasions.
[18:10.560 -> 18:16.440] So we turned pro at 16, but I was still practicing in a place called Miller's in Broxburn where my mates were.
[18:16.440 -> 18:20.680] So we were kind of like, I was there all day, but we'd go in and maybe have a couple of hours.
[18:20.680 -> 18:22.240] It wouldn't be serious.
[18:22.240 -> 18:28.880] We'd have a few laughs, stop for a couple of hours maybe play some three-card brag and play the fruit machines and just it wasn't a
[18:28.880 -> 18:34.440] structured thing and unbeknownst to be my manager had come into the club just
[18:34.440 -> 18:39.320] to see what I was doing and very quickly he basically said if I'm going to back you
[18:39.320 -> 18:42.840] you know you're going to work your bollocks off. I've done it throughout my
[18:42.840 -> 18:46.400] career and the only way you're going to get there is in his opinion at the time,
[18:46.400 -> 18:49.540] as to properly work at this game.
[18:49.540 -> 18:51.160] My dad didn't totally agree.
[18:51.160 -> 18:53.800] He thought I could do it without this,
[18:53.800 -> 18:56.120] you know, this regimen of work.
[18:56.120 -> 18:59.440] So, but basically Ian took me out of the club where I was
[18:59.440 -> 19:00.600] to his club in Stirling,
[19:00.600 -> 19:02.740] which is probably 30 miles away from where I was.
[19:02.740 -> 19:04.400] So my dad had to take me there every day,
[19:04.400 -> 19:05.880] drop me off at 10 in the morning,
[19:05.880 -> 19:09.440] and I'd stay there till six at night with an hour for lunch.
[19:09.440 -> 19:11.840] And I just practice on my own seven days a week.
[19:13.160 -> 19:14.640] No, I hated it.
[19:14.640 -> 19:15.960] The first thing, I just hated it.
[19:15.960 -> 19:18.160] Cause this was just like, this is, you know,
[19:18.160 -> 19:20.560] talk about stop being a hobby and becoming a job.
[19:20.560 -> 19:21.440] This became a job.
[19:21.440 -> 19:23.200] This wasn't like playing snooker because I wanted to.
[19:23.200 -> 19:27.520] This was, you had to be there at this time and you had to leave at that time.
[19:27.520 -> 19:31.360] And it was, yeah, it was just so hard to play.
[19:31.360 -> 19:32.200] But-
[19:32.200 -> 19:34.400] Did you have a coach, Stephen, when you were in this club?
[19:34.400 -> 19:36.800] No, and I didn't have a coach until later on in my career.
[19:36.800 -> 19:37.640] Right.
[19:38.560 -> 19:41.240] In the beginning, I learned everything from watching TV
[19:41.240 -> 19:43.040] on my small table and trying to do the shots.
[19:43.040 -> 19:45.040] You couldn't because small tables are rubbish, you can't play, but that's how I learned, basically, from watching like Jimmy, small table and trying to do the shots. You couldn't because small tables are rubbish,
[19:45.040 -> 19:47.000] you can't play, but that's how I learned,
[19:47.000 -> 19:49.760] basically from watching like Jimmy, Steve Davis and stuff.
[19:49.760 -> 19:53.060] But this sort of relentless work ethic,
[19:53.060 -> 19:55.120] I mean his office was like connected,
[19:55.120 -> 19:57.000] he had hardware business connected,
[19:57.000 -> 19:58.040] half the building was that
[19:58.040 -> 19:59.160] and half the building was a snooker club
[19:59.160 -> 20:00.960] and he used to come out every half an hour,
[20:00.960 -> 20:02.600] check I was practicing.
[20:02.600 -> 20:04.320] You know, just poke his head through the door
[20:04.320 -> 20:05.800] and check I was still there.
[20:05.800 -> 20:08.200] But literally within a month or two months,
[20:08.200 -> 20:10.280] I could feel my game getting sharper.
[20:10.280 -> 20:13.680] And although it was hard, you know, after about,
[20:13.680 -> 20:16.960] you know, a few, I started to feel that like my game was,
[20:16.960 -> 20:17.840] I was getting better.
[20:17.840 -> 20:19.000] And the first tournament I played in
[20:19.000 -> 20:21.480] was a Scottish Professional Championship.
[20:21.480 -> 20:24.920] I'd had various sort of exhibitions with the top players
[20:24.920 -> 20:26.000] and I'd always get beat.
[20:26.000 -> 20:30.000] And this was the Scottish Professionals, my first tournament after this job started.
[20:30.000 -> 20:35.000] And I won it comfortably. And it was just like, wow, this is taking my game to another level.
[20:35.000 -> 20:41.000] And we speak a lot about this, you do, that one of the most crucial aspects for anyone in life is evidence.
[20:41.000 -> 20:48.000] So it's pretty shitty to spend hours and hours and hours on your own knocking snooker balls around. Mae'n ddiddorol iawn i ddurio gyda'r gydaith ar y ffordd. Ond nid yw'n ddiddorol pan ydych chi'n mynd i gael y torfiwm oherwydd hynny.
[20:48.000 -> 20:52.000] Ac mae'n deimlo fel y byddai'n ddiweddaro'r dyddiwedd
[20:52.000 -> 20:56.000] yna yw'r cymeriad yn gwneud gwahaniaeth.
[20:56.000 -> 21:00.000] Dyma lle mae'r ymchwil yn dod o, ac mae'n cael ei ddifrifio
[21:00.000 -> 21:04.000] ar y rhaglen 10,000 ore.
[21:04.000 -> 21:29.360] Dwi ddim yn gwybod os ydych chi'n ymwybodol o hynny, Stephen. ac mae'r rhaid i chi ddod o'r ddau o'r ddau o'r ddau o'r ddau o'r ddau o'r ddau o'r ddau o'r ddau o'r ddau o'r ddau o'r ddau o'r ddau o'r ddau o'r ddau o'r ddau o'r ddau o'r ddau o'r ddau o'r ddau o'r ddau o'r ddau o'r ddau o'r ddau o'r ddau o'r ddau o'r ddau o'r ddau o'r ddau o'r ddau o'r ddau o'r ddau o'r ddau o'r ddau o'r ddau o'r ddau o'r ddau o'r ddau o'r ddau o'r ddau o'r ddau o'r ddau o'r ddau o'r ddau o'r ddau o'r ddau o'r ddau o'r ddau o'r ddau o'r ddau o'r ddau o'r ddau o'r ddau o'r ddau o'r ddau o'r ddau o'r ddau o'r ddau o'r ddau o'r ddau o'r ddau o'r ddau o'r ddau o'r ddau o'r ddau o'r ddau o'r ddau o'r ddau o'r ddau o'r ddau o'r ddau o'r ddau o'r dd sport like where you're learning technique like snooker and dynamic like football there is some some relevance in the 10,000 hours and it sounds like that
[21:29.360 -> 21:36.120] was your first immersion in proper hard work of investing those hours in it that
[21:36.120 -> 21:37.720] you saw immediate results from it.
[21:37.720 -> 21:40.960] Absolutely I mean my manager there's no there's no way he had any
[21:40.960 -> 21:46.640] scientific reason for behind it he was just a Scottish businessman who'd worked his nuts off throughout his life and he thought well that's no way he had any scientific reason for behind it. He was just this Scottish businessman who'd worked his nuts off throughout his life
[21:46.640 -> 21:47.880] and he thought, well, that's the way everyone else
[21:47.880 -> 21:49.560] must do it to get success.
[21:49.560 -> 21:50.720] There was no, as I say,
[21:50.720 -> 21:52.480] I don't think he'd put any research into it.
[21:52.480 -> 21:53.920] Basically, I think he thought,
[21:53.920 -> 21:56.600] if I'm gonna back you and sponsor you, you're gonna work.
[21:56.600 -> 21:59.120] I'm putting it in, so you're gonna put it in.
[21:59.120 -> 22:00.960] You know, the practice can only work, I think.
[22:00.960 -> 22:02.840] You need the three ingredients.
[22:02.840 -> 22:05.400] You need the, obviously, natural talent to go with it,
[22:05.400 -> 22:07.240] and you need the ability to play under pressure,
[22:07.240 -> 22:08.740] you need those three things together.
[22:08.740 -> 22:10.760] You need to enjoy the pressure.
[22:10.760 -> 22:13.060] Yeah, but there was a phrase that you used quite casually
[22:13.060 -> 22:15.740] in that last bit where you were explaining that journey
[22:15.740 -> 22:17.480] where you said, I always played my best
[22:17.480 -> 22:19.180] when I came under pressure.
[22:19.180 -> 22:22.800] And you said that very matter of fact,
[22:22.800 -> 22:26.000] and yet that isn't a matter of fact statement that when you come under pressure, you rise to the occasion. yw'r fath o fater. Ac nid yw hynny'n fath o fater yw'r fath o fater
[22:26.000 -> 22:28.000] yw'r fath o fater
[22:28.000 -> 22:30.000] yw'r fath o fater
[22:30.000 -> 22:32.000] yw'r fath o fater
[22:32.000 -> 22:34.000] yw'r fath o fater
[22:34.000 -> 22:36.000] yw'r fath o fater
[22:36.000 -> 22:38.000] yw'r fath o fater
[22:38.000 -> 22:40.000] yw'r fath o fater
[22:40.000 -> 22:42.000] yw'r fath o fater
[22:42.000 -> 22:44.000] yw'r fath o fater
[22:44.000 -> 22:45.080] yw'r fath o fater ystod cyhoedd, neu unrhyw beth sy'n gwella neu unrhyw beth.
[22:45.080 -> 22:49.160] Ond ie, efallai'r amater Sgogl arbennig.
[22:49.160 -> 22:53.200] Rydych chi'n chwarae'r torfenni drwy'r clwbau, ac ar y cyfnod rydych chi'n cael ei ddod i'r fenyw,
[22:53.200 -> 22:55.240] rydych chi'n rhoi'r bwrdd a'r seitan ar y ffenyw.
[22:55.240 -> 22:59.440] Ac roeddwn i'n meddwl roeddwn i'n chwarae'r bron, roeddwn i'n hoffi, roeddwn i'n teimlo'n hyderus yno.
[22:59.440 -> 23:03.200] Felly sut wnaethon chi'r broses honno, lle rydych chi yno, rydych chi'n y ffinal fawr,
[23:03.200 -> 23:06.760] dyma eich cynghori cyntaf, gallwch chi gwynebu, mae'n dal i'r adlewyriad yn ymgyrchu ag y bobl. How did you process that, where you're there, you're in a big final, this is your first title, you can win, there's still an adolescent
[23:06.760 -> 23:08.400] competing against men.
[23:08.400 -> 23:09.560] What was going through your head
[23:09.560 -> 23:11.880] when you turned up for that final?
[23:11.880 -> 23:13.640] It's very hard to put into words.
[23:13.640 -> 23:15.200] I think just excitement.
[23:15.200 -> 23:16.200] I think...
[23:16.200 -> 23:17.440] Excitement about winning?
[23:17.440 -> 23:20.640] Yeah, excitement about just playing in that venue, I think.
[23:20.640 -> 23:23.680] I just walk in and see the seats and see the table
[23:23.680 -> 23:26.560] and thought, wow, that looks amazing.
[23:26.560 -> 23:28.480] You know, that was my thought, that looks,
[23:28.480 -> 23:30.120] you know, I just can't wait to get out there.
[23:30.120 -> 23:31.920] Did it look like you'd seen on TV,
[23:31.920 -> 23:34.840] which was where you'd got all your coaching from?
[23:34.840 -> 23:38.880] Yeah, yeah, but not even, I wouldn't even think about TV.
[23:38.880 -> 23:40.600] I just think about, well, I just can't wait
[23:40.600 -> 23:41.480] to get out there and play.
[23:41.480 -> 23:43.680] Where through your career, your players,
[23:43.680 -> 23:45.240] they're happy being on the outside tables. And as soon as they get in the TV table, I mean, I'm doing commentary out there and play. Where through your career, you have players that are happy being on the outside tables.
[23:45.240 -> 23:46.480] And as soon as they get in the TV table,
[23:46.480 -> 23:49.120] I mean, I'm doing commentary work now and you see them,
[23:49.120 -> 23:50.220] they're like a rabbit in headlights.
[23:50.220 -> 23:51.680] They just don't want to be out there.
[23:51.680 -> 23:53.660] They just want to be where no one can see them.
[23:53.660 -> 23:54.500] That's where they're comfortable.
[23:54.500 -> 23:57.920] But there was no thought of me being out my comfort zone.
[23:57.920 -> 23:59.700] But what I mean by that Steven is that you said
[23:59.700 -> 24:03.200] that most of your coaching was done through watching TV,
[24:03.200 -> 24:05.440] which naturally is focusing on the big games
[24:05.440 -> 24:06.920] where you've got the crowd around you
[24:06.920 -> 24:08.280] and the seating and things like that.
[24:08.280 -> 24:11.640] So did it just feel that that was exactly
[24:11.640 -> 24:12.560] what you would expect,
[24:12.560 -> 24:16.000] that you'd only ever studied big games?
[24:16.000 -> 24:18.960] So it was almost that it felt natural for you?
[24:18.960 -> 24:21.640] Yeah, I think in terms of watching the other players,
[24:21.640 -> 24:23.900] I was like, it wasn't so much the surroundings,
[24:23.900 -> 24:25.940] it was just their game I wanted to learn,
[24:25.940 -> 24:27.340] it's the shots I wanted to learn.
[24:27.340 -> 24:28.940] Obviously, when you watch something like the Crucible
[24:28.940 -> 24:30.720] and you see that atmosphere, yeah, there is that,
[24:30.720 -> 24:32.260] you walk out and you know,
[24:32.260 -> 24:34.220] you kind of think this is the big time kind of thing.
[24:34.220 -> 24:36.620] But I just did it, you know, it's very,
[24:36.620 -> 24:38.660] I'm sorry I don't sound like there's some magic secret
[24:38.660 -> 24:40.500] in this, but it was just something that I just-
[24:40.500 -> 24:42.020] No, I think it's fascinating
[24:42.020 -> 24:44.220] that there isn't a magic secret to it,
[24:44.220 -> 24:48.160] because I think that there will be people who practice as hard as you,
[24:48.160 -> 24:51.600] have the desire as much as you do, but for whatever reason,
[24:51.600 -> 24:54.080] when they're under pressure, they crumble.
[24:54.080 -> 24:57.200] And there will be sportsmen and women whose entire careers
[24:57.200 -> 25:00.800] have kind of been pulled apart by the fact that when it really mattered,
[25:00.800 -> 25:01.520] they couldn't deliver.
[25:01.520 -> 25:04.960] And they would have investigated every single possible facet of themselves
[25:04.960 -> 25:08.160] to try and find the answers to that. So are you
[25:08.160 -> 25:11.800] saying there was no psychological technique, you didn't have to calm
[25:11.800 -> 25:14.800] yourself down, you didn't take a breath, you didn't remind yourself that this
[25:14.800 -> 25:18.800] feels almost inevitable that you were going to be competing on a stage like
[25:18.800 -> 25:22.960] this or that all the hours that you were putting in practicing meant that you
[25:22.960 -> 25:26.400] could be completely relaxed because you've done the hard work where the lights weren't
[25:26.400 -> 25:30.520] and there wasn't a crowd and you'd put in the hard yards you didn't have to
[25:30.520 -> 25:32.200] have any of those thoughts?
[25:32.200 -> 25:34.240] No I think I think with my first professional
[25:34.240 -> 25:37.920] tournament I think I was nervous I was out my comfort zone a little bit because
[25:37.920 -> 25:41.880] playing amateur tournaments you're going to snooker clubs and the conditions are
[25:41.880 -> 25:46.320] not great sometimes there's no referees and stuff. And there's, you know, my first tournament,
[25:46.320 -> 25:48.800] I think I played a guy called Barry West
[25:48.800 -> 25:51.380] and obviously you've got to have full, you know,
[25:51.380 -> 25:54.580] evening wear on, the table's perfect, the cloth's perfect.
[25:54.580 -> 25:56.480] You've got a referee and, you know,
[25:56.480 -> 25:59.840] I felt a little bit, I thought, you know, this is different,
[25:59.840 -> 26:02.720] but I loved it, but I was just, you know,
[26:02.720 -> 26:05.560] I couldn't, it took me, you know, my first season, you know,
[26:05.560 -> 26:07.840] I lost more matches than I won.
[26:07.840 -> 26:09.320] Simple fact, there were better players than me
[26:09.320 -> 26:11.080] at that stage, you know, they were professionals
[26:11.080 -> 26:13.000] and I was still, I'd just turned pro.
[26:13.000 -> 26:14.640] So that, there was obviously that reason.
[26:14.640 -> 26:16.520] Jimmy White was my idol when I first started playing,
[26:16.520 -> 26:18.760] when I first got in the WTL, I watched it,
[26:18.760 -> 26:21.480] because the way he played, the flair, the shots.
[26:21.480 -> 26:22.920] And there was a tournament every year
[26:22.920 -> 26:28.200] where the Scottish professional champion got a sort of token entry into the Scottish this so
[26:28.200 -> 26:31.400] the seven best players in the world would play and one Scotsman so the
[26:31.400 -> 26:33.800] eight-man tournament invitation tournament and I was drawn against Jimmy
[26:33.800 -> 26:42.120] White in the first round at 16 or 17 and I got beat 5-0 and basically I just sat
[26:42.120 -> 26:45.320] in my chair in awe of Jimmy, because he was my hero.
[26:45.320 -> 26:47.000] And oh my God, when I got off,
[26:47.000 -> 26:49.560] did I get a bollocking from my dad and my manager for like,
[26:49.560 -> 26:50.980] you know, if this is what you're gonna do,
[26:50.980 -> 26:52.360] just sit and like, watch,
[26:52.360 -> 26:54.800] like you just, you may as well finish now.
[26:54.800 -> 26:57.040] And it was a wake up call straight away
[26:57.040 -> 27:00.240] that if I was to be a success, you know,
[27:00.240 -> 27:04.280] I've got to get out of this like them and me kind of thing.
[27:04.280 -> 27:07.200] And that was one of the best things I think my manager did
[27:07.200 -> 27:10.280] that everywhere we went, even in my first season,
[27:10.280 -> 27:12.960] we stayed in the same hotels as the top players.
[27:12.960 -> 27:15.400] So I was around that because a lot of the players
[27:15.400 -> 27:17.380] that turn pro would stay in bed and breakfast and stuff.
[27:17.380 -> 27:20.000] And then the play come to play Steve Davis,
[27:20.000 -> 27:22.160] and there'll be, there'll be above them already
[27:22.160 -> 27:24.640] because they're all, he's staying in a better hotel.
[27:24.640 -> 27:26.320] He's got a better everything. So that was a very clever thing to do Byddai o'n ymwneud â'r rhai arall, oherwydd mae'n byw yn ystafell mwy o hotel, mae ganddyn nhw beth mwy o beth.
[27:26.320 -> 27:31.600] Felly roedd hynny'n beth ddiddorol iawn i'w wneud i roi fy mod i mewn y ffordd o lefel, y ffordd o chwarae'r ffyrdd.
[27:31.600 -> 27:37.520] Rwyf wedi gweld eich bod chi'n gwybod eich bod chi ddim yn ymwneud â phlaid eraill, yn ôl i chi fod yn ddominio'r sport.
[27:37.520 -> 27:43.200] Felly pan wnaethoch chi wneud y penderfyniad i'w wneud hynny, yn ystod y byddwch chi'n ymwneud â chael y mwyaf o wybodaeth o ran nhw
[27:43.200 -> 27:46.600] ac yn deall eu bywydau a'u bywydau? as opposed to hoovering up as much information around them and understanding their lifestyle and habits?
[27:46.600 -> 27:49.560] Again, it was a sort of joint thing with my manager and I.
[27:49.560 -> 27:51.160] I said that Jimmy White was my hero,
[27:51.160 -> 27:53.280] but when I started watching snooker more and more,
[27:53.280 -> 27:54.760] Steve Davis was the guy who was winning.
[27:54.760 -> 27:56.320] And I thought, that's the guy who I want to be.
[27:56.320 -> 27:58.280] I don't want to be Jimmy who plays all the good shots,
[27:58.280 -> 28:00.080] but he's the man that's winning.
[28:00.080 -> 28:03.280] So we kind of looked at Steve and Barry Herne's approach
[28:03.280 -> 28:09.320] where Steve, you know, the practice, the dedicating your whole life, you know, having no outside interests,
[28:09.320 -> 28:15.720] no, you know, girls, parties, whatever, and just keeping yourself apart from everyone else,
[28:15.720 -> 28:17.200] keeping yourself like aloof.
[28:17.200 -> 28:20.880] So when people did come to play, they had no connection with you at all.
[28:20.880 -> 28:24.720] They seen you as someone who was above them because you didn't associate with them.
[28:24.720 -> 28:46.840] So you were playing psychological mind games before you ever got on the base? gyda chi, dydyn nhw'n gweld chi fel rhywun sydd ar y top odyn nhw oherwydd dydych chi ddim yn ymwneud ag ydyn nhw. Felly roedd gennych chi chwarae o fathau o ffyrdd yn y gweithiau o ffyrdd yn y gweithiau o ffyrdd yn y gweithiau o ffyrdd yn y gweithiau o ffyrdd yn y gweithiau o ffyrdd yn y gweithiau o ffyrdd yn y gweithiau o ffyrdd yn y gweithiau o ffyrdd yn y gweithiau o ffyrdd yn y gweithiau o ffyrdd yn y gweithiau o ffyrdd yn y gweithiau o ffyrdd yn y gweithiau o ffyrdd yn y gweithiau o ffyrdd yn y gweithiau o ffyrdd yn y gweithiau o ffyrdd yn y gweithiau o ffyrdd yn y gweithiau o ffyrdd yn y gweithiau o ffyrdd yn y gweithiau o ffyrdd yn y gweithiau o ffyrdd yn y gweithiau o ffyrdd yn y gweithiau o ffyrdd yn y gweithiau o ffyrdd yn y gweithiau o ffyrdd yn y gweithiau o ffyrdd yn y gweithiau o ffyrdd yn y gweithiau o ffyrdd yn y gweithiau o ffyrdd yn y gweithiau o ffyrdd yn y gweithiau o ffyrdd yn y gweithiau o f of people. It's difficult sometimes because later on the career there was so much travel and you'd end up being on the same plane, you'd be in the same
[28:46.840 -> 28:51.960] hotels, whatever and it's it would get more and more difficult but yeah in the
[28:51.960 -> 28:55.440] beginning it was a definite thing it was just Ian, the guy who's my road manager
[28:55.440 -> 28:59.040] and me would eat together, we'd just go back to practice and then go back to the
[28:59.040 -> 29:03.840] hotel and we wouldn't mix with anyone else. What I like about this is that it
[29:03.840 -> 29:05.760] obviously had an effect on the people you were playing,
[29:05.760 -> 29:07.400] because they were looking at you like you were an enigma,
[29:07.400 -> 29:08.600] thinking, I don't know who this guy is,
[29:08.600 -> 29:09.640] I don't know where he stayed,
[29:09.640 -> 29:11.100] I don't know what he eats before he plays,
[29:11.100 -> 29:12.480] or how he's going to play,
[29:12.480 -> 29:15.000] I can't sort of break the facade.
[29:15.000 -> 29:17.560] But it feels like it was also quite an important thing
[29:17.560 -> 29:18.920] from your perspective as well.
[29:18.920 -> 29:21.240] It gave you a bit of armor to know
[29:21.240 -> 29:22.800] that they knew nothing about you.
[29:22.800 -> 29:25.360] It moved you in your head above them.
[29:25.360 -> 29:26.280] Yeah, I think so.
[29:26.280 -> 29:28.720] And there was part of me that thought I'm missing out
[29:28.720 -> 29:31.360] and stuff because like a little bit more
[29:31.360 -> 29:33.840] into my professional career, maybe 17, 18, 19,
[29:33.840 -> 29:35.920] I could see players going out for dinner
[29:35.920 -> 29:37.600] and having a drink and everything.
[29:37.600 -> 29:39.320] And a little part of me was thinking,
[29:39.320 -> 29:41.860] I'm missing out a bit, but then I was winning.
[29:41.860 -> 29:43.920] You know, Jimmy White, I get going and going back to him,
[29:43.920 -> 29:45.140] but like, you know, he was, he didn going back to him, but like, you know,
[29:45.140 -> 29:46.820] he was, he didn't win.
[29:46.820 -> 29:49.040] He did win, of course he won events through his career,
[29:49.040 -> 29:49.880] but he wasn't-
[29:49.880 -> 29:52.040] But he famously lost all the finals that he competed in,
[29:52.040 -> 29:52.880] didn't he?
[29:52.880 -> 29:53.840] That was the sort of big thing for him.
[29:53.840 -> 29:55.680] Yeah, and you talk about people who don't realize,
[29:55.680 -> 29:57.920] I mean, he's been in six finals and not converted once.
[29:57.920 -> 30:00.480] There has to be something that's not, that's missing there.
[30:00.480 -> 30:02.320] If I'd been in six world finals and not won one of them,
[30:02.320 -> 30:03.480] I'd want to know why.
[30:03.480 -> 30:07.160] But I've heard people that have worked with Jimmy White in the past talk about this idea
[30:07.160 -> 30:12.280] that it almost reconciled him with that sense that that's just what he does.
[30:12.280 -> 30:16.840] He blows the big moment, that chaos is...
[30:16.840 -> 30:19.480] And people love him for it as well.
[30:19.480 -> 30:20.560] That's part of his charm I suppose.
[30:20.560 -> 30:21.800] So what was your identity?
[30:21.800 -> 30:24.800] So how would you have described your identity then?
[30:24.800 -> 30:28.960] Pretty cold really. I mean, yeah, yeah I mean miserable is a word that gets put out of my mouth.
[30:28.960 -> 30:33.860] Was that a conscious decision that cold aloof? No that was just my natural at the table
[30:33.860 -> 30:38.520] that was just my natural way I didn't you know I wasn't there to laugh and
[30:38.520 -> 30:42.680] joke and happy I knew I knew I had personality and saying but when I was in
[30:42.680 -> 30:45.000] a table I wasn't there to do to do that sort of stuff I was there had personality and saying, but when I was in the table, I wasn't there to do that sort of stuff.
[30:45.000 -> 30:46.160] I was there to win.
[30:46.160 -> 30:48.280] And I think if you look at snooker nowadays,
[30:48.280 -> 30:50.640] and I think most sports actually,
[30:50.640 -> 30:51.920] the competitors getting a lot younger
[30:51.920 -> 30:53.320] and more like single-minded,
[30:53.320 -> 30:55.080] they're just there to win.
[30:55.080 -> 30:55.920] People always say to me,
[30:55.920 -> 30:57.680] there's no personalities in the game anymore.
[30:57.680 -> 30:59.680] There is, but just when they're on the table,
[30:59.680 -> 31:01.400] they're there to win.
[31:01.400 -> 31:03.680] And I think Steve Davis was that.
[31:03.680 -> 31:06.200] And I think after Steve Davis, again,
[31:06.200 -> 31:08.240] I kind of learned a bit of Steve
[31:08.240 -> 31:11.080] and just having this not show any emotion.
[31:11.080 -> 31:12.640] In practice, I would show emotion.
[31:12.640 -> 31:14.160] If I missed a shot, I'd, you know,
[31:14.160 -> 31:16.120] bang my cue and swear, whatever.
[31:16.120 -> 31:18.240] But when you go in that table in the ring,
[31:18.240 -> 31:20.440] you can't show your opponent any weakness.
[31:20.440 -> 31:21.600] And you learned that yourself,
[31:21.600 -> 31:24.160] because I remember hearing Andre Agassi talk
[31:24.160 -> 31:25.040] about his dad had drilled him relentlessly, that he wasn't allowed to show emotion and things like that. A dywedoddwch chi hynny eich hun, oherwydd rwy'n cofio, roedd Andre Agassi yn siarad am ei fath,
[31:25.040 -> 31:26.400] a'i ddreulio'n hyderus,
[31:26.400 -> 31:28.000] nad oedd yn cael ei ddangos ymdrechion
[31:28.000 -> 31:29.160] a phethau fel hynny,
[31:29.160 -> 31:30.400] ac roedd hynny'n rhywun
[31:30.400 -> 31:32.160] yn ymdrechu arnyn nhw,
[31:32.160 -> 31:34.040] ond dywedoddwch chi'r cyfnod honno
[31:34.040 -> 31:34.640] ar eich hun,
[31:34.640 -> 31:36.960] yn y gynulliad yma?
[31:36.960 -> 31:37.840] Ie, eto,
[31:37.840 -> 31:39.600] wedi gweld TV yn dysgu,
[31:39.600 -> 31:40.960] wedi gweld Steve Davis yn dysgu,
[31:40.960 -> 31:42.440] wedi gweld yr ffordd oedd ar y bwyd,
[31:42.440 -> 31:43.520] nid os oedd wedi rhedeg y ball,
[31:43.520 -> 31:45.440] wedi dod ymlaen a dod yn ôl i'w seic. Roedd amser yn dweud, a roedd yn dangos, ac rydych ddim yn gallu helpu, and Steve Davis learning, watching the way he was at the table. Not if he missed the ball, he just turn around and walk back to his seat.
[31:45.440 -> 31:47.120] There was times where I have shown
[31:47.120 -> 31:48.680] and sometimes you just can't help it.
[31:48.680 -> 31:49.520] It's human nature.
[31:49.520 -> 31:52.040] If you just, you know, you can't, you're not a robot.
[31:52.040 -> 31:53.600] You can't just program it
[31:53.600 -> 31:54.800] and that nothing's gonna affect you.
[31:54.800 -> 31:57.720] But in time, that's something that you can work on,
[31:57.720 -> 31:58.560] I believe.
[31:58.560 -> 32:01.320] I don't think you can work on being able to play your best
[32:01.320 -> 32:03.160] under pressure, but I think you can work on trying
[32:03.160 -> 32:06.160] not show, you know, as much emotion.
[32:06.160 -> 32:11.880] You know, even go through junior events and, you know, I would see fathers like, you know,
[32:11.880 -> 32:16.560] just castigating their sons and that for missing and like, and my dad never did.
[32:16.560 -> 32:24.320] The only thing my dad ever done was, I was probably not even 14 in a junior event and I missed a shot and I went back and I had my head down.
[32:24.920 -> 32:28.000] And he just went, get your head up and that's the only thing he ever
[32:28.000 -> 32:33.240] never criticized me ever if I played a bad match or in the car going home
[32:33.240 -> 32:38.480] he would never say anything, that's the only one thing he ever did was just keep your head up.
[32:38.480 -> 32:42.440] It feels to me like control is a real recurring theme in your career
[32:42.440 -> 32:46.240] whether it's the hours and hours on the bays, practicing, getting yourself ready,
[32:46.240 -> 32:48.040] whether it's making sure you're not going out for drinks
[32:48.040 -> 32:49.680] with your fellow pros the night before a game,
[32:49.680 -> 32:52.040] whether it's not smiling and showing emotion
[32:52.040 -> 32:53.320] when you play an incredible shot
[32:53.320 -> 32:55.720] in the final of the World Snooker Championship.
[32:55.720 -> 32:59.240] At all times, emotional control was kind of at the center,
[32:59.240 -> 33:01.120] I think, of your success, was it?
[33:01.120 -> 33:01.960] Yeah, definitely.
[33:01.960 -> 33:03.080] So did you enjoy it?
[33:03.920 -> 33:05.560] Enjoy the process. You enjoyed the winning, the moment you enjoy it? Enjoy the process, you
[33:05.560 -> 33:08.000] enjoyed the winning, the moment you lifted the trophy or the moment you
[33:08.000 -> 33:11.960] potted the winning shot, but did you enjoy the process getting to that point?
[33:11.960 -> 33:16.120] I think the practice was always hard to do, I mean if you, a snooker table never
[33:16.120 -> 33:20.240] changes and that's one thing later on my career where I stopped practicing as much
[33:20.240 -> 33:23.960] because even in golf practice it must be boring hitting hundreds and hundreds of
[33:23.960 -> 33:28.320] balls but on a given day the wind could be in a different direction so it's still different
[33:28.320 -> 33:33.000] and the snooker table never changes. So you're doing the same routines for 30, 40 years.
[33:33.000 -> 33:36.720] That's one of the reasons why I stopped playing. I just couldn't do that anymore. So I don't
[33:36.720 -> 33:41.320] think you ever, you know, if someone says to me, oh, I just love playing seven hours
[33:41.320 -> 33:47.120] a day, seven days a week on my own. I don't think they do. I don't think you do it because you see,
[33:47.120 -> 33:48.080] I was fortunate.
[33:48.080 -> 33:50.400] I see, I got an end, I got a result from it.
[33:50.400 -> 33:52.720] You know, I was winning, but you know,
[33:52.720 -> 33:55.740] you see these, I hate to use the word journeyman pros
[33:55.740 -> 33:58.200] is to still do that and don't get how they,
[33:58.200 -> 34:00.200] I always admire people who can keep doing it.
[34:00.200 -> 34:01.040] Yeah.
[34:01.040 -> 34:02.580] When there's nothing coming at the end of it,
[34:02.580 -> 34:04.360] you know, I was getting success
[34:04.360 -> 34:07.000] and that made me want to practice more.
[34:07.000 -> 34:11.000] If I didn't get the success, then would I be able to keep doing that? I don't know.
[34:11.000 -> 34:14.000] So how hard was it then when you didn't get the success?
[34:14.000 -> 34:19.000] The first time you were doing exactly what you've always done and you weren't winning games at snooker?
[34:19.000 -> 34:25.200] If I take it forward to when I started winning, yeah, if I had a loss,
[34:25.200 -> 34:27.920] it would be very difficult to go in the next day.
[34:27.920 -> 34:30.280] And so in the odd time, if I played really well,
[34:30.280 -> 34:31.280] I wouldn't go in the next day,
[34:31.280 -> 34:32.360] but I'd go in the day after that.
[34:32.360 -> 34:35.860] And you just had to, again, this is my job.
[34:37.120 -> 34:38.480] I'm a professional snooker player.
[34:38.480 -> 34:39.320] I've got to practice.
[34:39.320 -> 34:42.720] And again, I had a manager who cracked a whip and say,
[34:42.720 -> 34:44.280] you know, you got to keep doing it,
[34:44.280 -> 34:45.120] keep doing it, keep doing it. And then I would win the next one. And then so every time you had a manager who cracked a whip and say, you know, you got to keep doing it, keep doing it, keep doing it.
[34:45.120 -> 34:46.320] And then I would win the next one.
[34:46.320 -> 34:49.240] And then so every time you had a disappointment
[34:49.240 -> 34:51.040] and then you came back from that one,
[34:51.040 -> 34:53.200] that would give you even more satisfaction.
[34:53.480 -> 34:55.840] So you became comfortable with failure?
[34:56.520 -> 34:58.240] No, never. I was never comfortable with failure.
[34:58.240 -> 35:02.440] Really? You never saw it as part of a process of learning?
[35:02.480 -> 35:04.040] No, I thought everything.
[35:04.040 -> 35:05.080] Every time I lost a match,
[35:05.080 -> 35:06.340] it was the end of the world.
[35:06.340 -> 35:11.340] And I still, I used to say in press conferences,
[35:11.880 -> 35:13.040] a disaster, and people say,
[35:13.040 -> 35:14.520] no, there's worse things happen in the world,
[35:14.520 -> 35:16.840] and everything, but I always hate that when people say that,
[35:16.840 -> 35:18.280] because I think as a sportsman,
[35:18.280 -> 35:20.840] that is the worst thing that's happening in the world
[35:20.840 -> 35:23.360] at that precise moment that you've lost a match,
[35:23.360 -> 35:24.840] or you've lost that, isn't it?
[35:24.840 -> 35:25.360] I mean, it's just, it's horrific. And I've done press conference where I literally one word answers happening in the world at that precise moment that you've lost a match or you've lost that. Isn't it?
[35:25.360 -> 35:26.840] I mean, it's just, it's horrific.
[35:26.840 -> 35:28.080] And I've done press conference
[35:28.080 -> 35:29.320] where I literally one word answers
[35:29.320 -> 35:32.360] and just get out of there and sulk for three or four days,
[35:32.360 -> 35:33.680] not speak to anyone.
[35:33.680 -> 35:37.400] So yeah, losing is the hardest part for me
[35:37.400 -> 35:38.320] and being a sportsman.
[35:38.320 -> 35:40.440] The fact that you can sit here now though, Stephen,
[35:40.440 -> 35:43.360] and you're so eloquent and you're rounded
[35:43.360 -> 35:50.000] and you do seem to have a greater perspective on life than just what happened on a snooker table,
[35:50.000 -> 35:58.000] is obviously testimony to the fact that you have learnt to process defeat in some way or the end of a career.
[35:58.000 -> 36:05.720] When did you learn to do that then? I won my last world championship in 99. And I think the following the rest of my career,
[36:06.040 -> 36:09.040] I won, I retired in 2012.
[36:09.040 -> 36:10.040] I think the rest of my career,
[36:10.040 -> 36:14.200] I won maybe half a dozen events from then to the end of my career.
[36:14.240 -> 36:18.560] And I think my whole process relaxed from the beginning.
[36:19.080 -> 36:21.400] The practice was more sporadic.
[36:21.400 -> 36:22.320] I mean, I would still do,
[36:22.320 -> 36:23.680] if I felt there's a tournament coming up,
[36:23.680 -> 36:24.600] I would still do that,
[36:24.960 -> 36:27.680] you know, but I'd only do it maybe four or five days before really
[36:27.680 -> 36:33.040] put the hours where it was my whole life before. It was seven days a week, four weeks, you
[36:33.040 -> 36:37.560] know, every month. You do get used to defeat. It doesn't, it doesn't, and it's a different
[36:37.560 -> 36:41.920] kind of hurt really. I don't read many books. I read Agassi's book and he says that the
[36:41.920 -> 36:45.520] pain of defeat is a bigger sensation than the thrill of winning and it is
[36:45.760 -> 36:46.840] it's
[36:46.840 -> 36:48.240] far more
[36:48.240 -> 36:50.400] Winning I would take for granted defeat
[36:50.400 -> 36:51.880] I would suffer for days
[36:51.880 -> 36:53.760] but there's a difference between
[36:53.760 -> 36:58.160] It's sort of hurting and you want to do something about it to near the end of the career when you get used to in
[36:58.160 -> 37:00.160] This account more of a depression
[37:00.400 -> 37:03.120] Right gets in where you think I can't win anymore
[37:03.120 -> 37:09.160] And that's in this is and then you get used to defeats used to playing badly. Um, and that was when at the end I thought
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[40:57.300 -> 41:01.620] So when did you make the decision to stop referring to yourself as a snooker player
[41:01.620 -> 41:02.620] then?
[41:02.620 -> 41:06.000] I don't know. I mean, I still think I'm a snooker player now. I think people say, what do you do? I'm a snooker playerangos eich hunain fel snooker chwaraewr? Dw i ddim yn gwybod, rwy'n meddwl i gyd yw snooker chwaraewr nawr. Mae pobl yn dweud, beth ydych chi'n ei wneud? Rwy'n snooker chwaraewr.
[41:06.000 -> 41:08.000] Snooker yw'r hyn rwy'n ei wneud.
[41:08.000 -> 41:10.000] Dyma beth rwy'n yn ei well.
[41:10.000 -> 41:12.000] Iawn, dwi ddim yn snooker chwaraewr profffesynol ar y moment,
[41:12.000 -> 41:14.000] ond rwy'n edrych ar fy hunain fel snooker chwaraewr.
[41:14.000 -> 41:16.000] Y rheswm i'r cwestiwn yw,
[41:16.000 -> 41:18.000] fy mod i'n teimlo,
[41:18.000 -> 41:20.000] os byddwn ni wedi sôn i chi yn y 20au,
[41:20.000 -> 41:22.000] byddwch chi wedi bod yn snooker chwaraewr
[41:22.000 -> 41:24.000] yn unigol, ond rwy'n credu
[41:24.000 -> 41:25.760] mae'n perspectif o'r ddau. Rwy'n snooker player, whereas I think it's a both and perspective now.
[41:25.760 -> 41:29.480] You're a snooker player and you're a father,
[41:29.480 -> 41:32.600] you're an amateur golfer, there's things like that.
[41:32.600 -> 41:34.960] And I'm wondering, when did you start to add on
[41:34.960 -> 41:36.840] those other aspects of?
[41:36.840 -> 41:40.280] I think obviously, normal life things like,
[41:40.280 -> 41:43.440] you had a girlfriend who became a wife,
[41:43.440 -> 41:45.800] then you have a family, life changes.
[41:45.800 -> 41:47.560] And I always fought against that.
[41:47.560 -> 41:48.920] People say, oh, you're gonna get mad, that's it,
[41:48.920 -> 41:50.240] that's the end of your career and all that.
[41:50.240 -> 41:52.360] You have kids, that's it.
[41:52.360 -> 41:53.840] And I always fought against that.
[41:53.840 -> 41:57.160] I was determined to keep practicing.
[41:57.160 -> 42:00.560] The reason why there's so few people can win relentlessly
[42:00.560 -> 42:03.640] is they sacrifice even family to get to,
[42:03.640 -> 42:05.040] snooker's my life, number one
[42:05.040 -> 42:10.760] that came first, even before my wife, my kids, everything. Obviously they ended to
[42:10.760 -> 42:14.000] detriment of a marriage and everything, you know, it was all about me. It's very
[42:14.000 -> 42:17.400] cold but it has to be that. If I look at all the top sportsmen, individual
[42:17.400 -> 42:20.920] sportsmen, many of them are still married to the same woman, very, very few.
[42:20.920 -> 42:27.320] Very few. Very few. Obviously it ended up the breakdown of your marriage and you probably don't see your children
[42:27.320 -> 42:31.000] as often as you would have done when you were in a house with them every single day.
[42:31.000 -> 42:34.880] Would you still have that same approach to life if you did it all over again?
[42:34.880 -> 42:38.000] Do you think you couldn't have achieved what you did as a snooker player without that?
[42:38.000 -> 42:39.000] Yeah, definitely.
[42:39.000 -> 42:40.000] I couldn't have achieved.
[42:40.000 -> 42:45.000] I couldn't have been the winner I was and being there as well as...
[42:46.600 -> 42:47.560] So here's an interesting one,
[42:47.560 -> 42:48.520] then if you had your time again,
[42:48.520 -> 42:50.680] would you win less games of snooker,
[42:50.680 -> 42:54.760] be at home more and be married to your wife still
[42:54.760 -> 42:56.640] and have a sort of family life?
[42:56.640 -> 42:58.520] Or is the winning which we spoke about
[42:58.520 -> 43:00.160] right at the beginning,
[43:00.160 -> 43:02.880] the thing that you feel you were put on this earth to do,
[43:02.880 -> 43:03.720] to be a winner?
[43:03.720 -> 43:04.880] Definitely, I mean,
[43:04.880 -> 43:06.320] there's gonna be a lot of people watching this thinking,
[43:06.320 -> 43:11.760] what an absolute cold son of a bitch. But that's, yeah, that's what I was putting.
[43:11.760 -> 43:17.760] I was putting this out to win snooker match, to win world titles and be as dedicated as I was
[43:17.760 -> 43:22.400] to be the best. And yeah, given the same decisions, I'd made the same decisions again.
[43:22.400 -> 43:27.840] Whether that makes me a horrible person or not, know other people can decide that but I'm for
[43:27.840 -> 43:32.840] me that's I made that decision. And you're certain you couldn't have done both? Who can tell but I don't think so
[43:32.840 -> 43:36.040] I don't think so only looking at myself looking at that other people that I
[43:36.040 -> 43:42.320] admired you know the Tiger Woods, the Faldos, Steve Davis they wanted to be
[43:42.320 -> 43:45.640] the best and dominate the sport and to everything
[43:45.640 -> 43:51.080] else, not that we didn't care or love these people, but that has to come second.
[43:51.080 -> 43:53.520] If you want to do what I did.
[43:53.520 -> 43:57.320] I think it's really refreshing Jay, to hear that honesty.
[43:57.320 -> 44:01.100] You know, I think we live in a world where people think you can be everything
[44:01.100 -> 44:05.000] and the reality is, it's a world where you have to prioritize and your decisions are pretty clear. ond dwi'n credu y gallwch chi fod yn unrhywbeth ac mae'n wir y bydd yn ddiwygio'r byd
[44:05.000 -> 44:08.000] ac mae eich dewisau'n glir iawn.
[44:08.000 -> 44:13.000] Rwy'n eisiau siarad â chi am y cyfnod lle roedd gennych chi'n bwysig o'ch snuka.
[44:13.000 -> 44:18.000] Oherwydd rydych chi'n llawer o'r amser yn gynllunio.
[44:18.000 -> 44:23.000] Rydych chi'n rhywun sy'n gwybod os gallwch chi gynllunio popeth, gallwch chi ddweud y gwnaethwch chi gynhyrchu gêmau snuka.
[44:23.000 -> 44:25.820] Felly pan ddim wedi gynhyrchu am ddau blynedd ac yn ddiweddar i ffwrdd i ffwrdd i ffwrdd o'r gêm, you can control everything, you can keep on winning games of snooker. So when you didn't win for a long period
[44:25.820 -> 44:28.300] and eventually decided to walk away from the game,
[44:28.300 -> 44:30.420] how did you reconcile that in your own brain?
[44:30.420 -> 44:32.340] Because the evidence was still there
[44:32.340 -> 44:34.480] that you have the natural ability,
[44:34.480 -> 44:37.220] you were a multiple world champion.
[44:37.220 -> 44:38.600] How did you cope with that?
[44:38.600 -> 44:41.420] And what strategies did you use to try and recover
[44:41.420 -> 44:43.860] from the issues when playing?
[44:43.860 -> 44:47.280] It was very difficult because I became an also run.
[44:47.280 -> 44:51.280] You know, I used to enjoy in the 90s being people talking about you being the favourite.
[44:51.280 -> 44:53.760] But you were special from the moment you started playing, weren't you?
[44:53.760 -> 44:55.760] Yeah, exactly. So then I'm not special.
[44:55.760 -> 44:57.600] You know, I'm used to people saying, who's the favourite for this?
[44:57.600 -> 44:59.520] So Stephen's going to win, Stephen's going to win.
[44:59.520 -> 45:00.640] Stephen's the best player in the world.
[45:00.640 -> 45:03.120] Stephen's world champion. Stephen's world number one.
[45:03.120 -> 45:07.080] Until all of a sudden, oh, Stephen, he can't play anymore. He's not the same player in the world, Stephen's world champion, Stephen's world number one, to all of a sudden, oh, Stephen, he can't play anymore.
[45:07.080 -> 45:08.560] He's not the same player anymore.
[45:08.560 -> 45:10.400] He's never going to win another tournament.
[45:10.400 -> 45:11.960] He's slipping down the rankings.
[45:11.960 -> 45:13.800] So you're getting all that positive feedback.
[45:13.800 -> 45:14.640] Then all of a sudden you get all this
[45:14.640 -> 45:16.680] negative feedback constantly.
[45:16.680 -> 45:18.120] And whenever you lose another match,
[45:18.120 -> 45:19.920] then it's another like, is he gone?
[45:19.920 -> 45:20.760] He's gone.
[45:20.760 -> 45:24.520] And then that's all this positive is feeding you,
[45:24.520 -> 45:26.160] is feeding your confidence on the way up.
[45:26.160 -> 45:30.160] I mean, and then the negative is feeding you as well,
[45:30.160 -> 45:31.840] but it's keeping you down.
[45:31.840 -> 45:34.600] So it's, for me, that was very difficult
[45:34.600 -> 45:39.240] that just to not be competitive was the thing for me.
[45:39.240 -> 45:41.680] People always said, why did you retire?
[45:41.680 -> 45:49.720] And so when you were still, you could play. For me, winning was the enjoyment. You know, Steve kept on playing
[45:49.720 -> 45:52.960] after me, long after me, and I said, what are you doing? I said, you're losing the
[45:52.960 -> 45:56.320] people who shouldn't be in the same table as you. And he said, I just treat it as a
[45:56.320 -> 46:01.120] day out. And see what? I couldn't do that. I couldn't do that.
[46:01.120 -> 46:03.960] Could you do that now, now that you've announced that you're going to return to
[46:03.960 -> 46:05.500] snooker? Could you treat it as a day out
[46:05.500 -> 46:07.140] or is this about coming back to win?
[46:07.140 -> 46:09.580] Well, that's going to be a big test for me
[46:09.580 -> 46:12.300] because I made it public that reason I retired
[46:12.300 -> 46:13.180] is because I couldn't win.
[46:13.180 -> 46:15.580] And that was the enjoyment I got from snooker.
[46:15.580 -> 46:17.140] Then it's a different situation.
[46:17.140 -> 46:18.380] Now the slate's clean.
[46:18.380 -> 46:19.740] It's not a full time comeback.
[46:19.740 -> 46:21.380] I'm not going to practice six, seven hours a day.
[46:21.380 -> 46:22.220] I'm going to practice.
[46:22.220 -> 46:23.940] I'm going to have to start practicing regularly.
[46:23.940 -> 46:25.380] It doesn't sound like you though.
[46:25.380 -> 46:29.100] We've just spent hours talking about total control,
[46:29.100 -> 46:31.400] practice for hours, show no emotion,
[46:31.400 -> 46:32.480] don't speak to other players.
[46:32.480 -> 46:33.840] And it's all about winning.
[46:33.840 -> 46:36.080] Why are you now telling us it's the total opposite?
[46:36.080 -> 46:39.940] I think, I think I want to see it's part curiosity.
[46:39.940 -> 46:41.520] I want to see if I can, as I say,
[46:41.520 -> 46:43.720] I'm doing stuff differently, technically,
[46:46.120 -> 46:50.400] with a coach. And so that's starting to like make me hit the ball properly
[46:50.400 -> 46:54.680] again, which I wasn't doing before for whatever reason.
[46:54.680 -> 46:56.360] You know, I quoted Yips in my book.
[46:56.360 -> 46:59.360] It was a thing when just decelerating through the ball,
[46:59.360 -> 47:00.960] not striking.
[47:00.960 -> 47:03.600] So consequently it's kind of that I've not been aiming
[47:03.600 -> 47:05.160] correctly and I'm not
[47:05.160 -> 47:07.880] gonna bore you with the technical stuff but yes it's about sighting things
[47:07.880 -> 47:11.540] properly or whatever I still don't understand it all 100% because I did
[47:11.540 -> 47:15.080] snooker naturally you know when I started I just played and now you've got
[47:15.080 -> 47:19.200] to sort of practice a sort of you know a routine. But this is the flexible
[47:19.200 -> 47:23.260] perspective on life isn't it? Very much but I'm interested in the idea of
[47:23.260 -> 47:26.000] coaching so you're learning a different way of playing. Did you have a coach Mae'n ddiddorol, ond rwy'n mwynhau'r syniad o hyfforddi, felly byddwch chi'n dysgu mewn ffordd gwahanol o chwaraeon.
[47:26.000 -> 47:29.000] A oes gennych chi hyffordd cyntaf?
[47:29.000 -> 47:46.520] Rwy'n cael tri neu chware hyfforddwr trwy fy nhyrfa. Fy hyfforddwr cyntaf oedd un o'r gynulleidfa o'r gynulleidfa o'r gynulleidfa o'r gynulleidfa o'r gynulleidfa o'r gynulleidfa o'r gynulleidfa o'r gynulleidfa o'r gynulleidfa o'r gynulleidfa o'r gynulleidfa o'r gynulleidfa o'r gynulleidfa o'r gynulleidfa o'r gynulleidfa o'r gynulleidfa o'r gynulleidfa o'r gynulleidfa o'r gynulleidfa o'r gynulleidfa o'r gynulleidfa o'r gynulleidfa o'r gynulleidfa o'r gynulleidfa o'r gynulleidfa o'r gynulleidfa o'r gynulleidfa o'r gynulleidfa o'r gynulleidfa o'r gynulleidfa o'r gynulleidfa o'r gynulleidfa o'r gynulleidfa o'r gynulleidfa o'r gynulleidfa o'r gynulleidfa o'r gynulleidfa o'r gynulleidfa o'r gynulleidfa o'r gynulleidfa o'r gynulleidfa o'r g I went with him because I didn't feel my long pot was consistent enough. So he kind of changed my cue action a bit.
[47:46.520 -> 47:47.680] I was with him for a few years
[47:47.680 -> 47:50.280] and then won most of my world titles with him actually.
[47:50.280 -> 47:52.520] Then I had a break, then went with Terry Griffiths
[47:52.520 -> 47:54.580] who changed my cue action completely
[47:54.580 -> 47:56.600] and got back to world number one,
[47:56.600 -> 47:57.480] didn't win a world championship,
[47:57.480 -> 47:59.480] but went back from seven or eight world
[47:59.480 -> 48:01.200] back to world number one again.
[48:01.200 -> 48:03.640] And then I had a coach called Chris Henry
[48:03.640 -> 48:04.640] near the end of my career,
[48:04.640 -> 48:06.000] actually at the very end as well,
[48:06.000 -> 48:09.280] who tried to instill some sort of sports psychology
[48:09.280 -> 48:10.280] as well into it.
[48:10.280 -> 48:13.160] But when I walked in an arena,
[48:13.160 -> 48:14.480] say the world championship final,
[48:14.480 -> 48:16.720] it just came naturally for me to be focused
[48:16.720 -> 48:21.720] and to switch on where to try and put that in sort of fake.
[48:22.400 -> 48:23.240] Yeah, yeah.
[48:23.240 -> 48:28.100] I found it hard to get that. You know we did a lot of things
[48:28.100 -> 48:35.720] and introduced like meditation and visualization and he suggested watching videos of my old
[48:35.720 -> 48:40.540] successes to try and put that in there but I said to him, he says all that does it tell me how shit
[48:40.540 -> 48:46.360] I am now. That's all I got from it. Right that was, it was, it was a truly, I think you have to, these sort of things,
[48:46.360 -> 48:50.400] you really have to buy in and be a certain,
[48:50.400 -> 48:51.960] to take that stuff in.
[48:51.960 -> 48:55.120] One technique they often use in say sports psychology
[48:55.120 -> 48:57.280] is they talk about, think of it as a brick wall
[48:57.280 -> 49:01.680] and every brick adds up to a whole wall.
[49:01.680 -> 49:04.160] So the hours of practice,
[49:04.160 -> 49:06.880] the effort that you were putting in gave you that evidence that therefore y byddwch chi'n gwneud y cymryd yn ôl, ond hefyd dweud na fyddwch chi'n gynllunio'r bwyll yn yr un le o'r ddiligrwydd
[49:06.880 -> 49:09.160] o'r prif ddiligrwydd a'r gwaith.
[49:09.160 -> 49:10.000] Iawn.
[49:10.000 -> 49:10.840] Iawn.
[49:10.840 -> 49:11.680] Iawn.
[49:11.680 -> 49:12.520] Iawn.
[49:12.520 -> 49:13.360] Iawn.
[49:13.360 -> 49:14.200] Iawn.
[49:14.200 -> 49:15.040] Iawn.
[49:15.040 -> 49:15.880] Iawn.
[49:15.880 -> 49:16.720] Iawn.
[49:16.720 -> 49:17.560] Iawn.
[49:17.560 -> 49:18.400] Iawn.
[49:18.400 -> 49:19.240] Iawn.
[49:19.240 -> 49:20.080] Iawn.
[49:20.080 -> 49:20.920] Iawn.
[49:20.920 -> 49:21.760] Iawn.
[49:21.760 -> 49:22.600] Iawn.
[49:22.600 -> 49:23.440] Iawn.
[49:23.440 -> 49:24.280] Iawn.
[49:24.280 -> 49:29.000] Iawn. Iawn. Iawn. Iawn. Iawn. Iawn. Dwi'n ddiddorol o'r ffaith bod ti'n mynd i wneud ymdrech, ond dydych chi hefyd yn dweud eich bod chi ddim yn mynd i gynnal y bwyllt o'r un lefel o ddiligwyr
[49:29.000 -> 49:32.000] o'r ymdrech a'r awyr y byddwch chi'n mynd i'w rhoi.
[49:32.000 -> 49:35.000] Felly, pam dydych chi'n gobeithio cael cymorth gwahanol yma?
[49:35.000 -> 49:38.000] Dwi'n dweud, mae'n dweud fy mhen ar y moment nad yw i'n ymdrech ymlaen.
[49:38.000 -> 49:43.000] Os ydw i'n mynd i'r ymdrech, os ydw i'n ymdrech i ddilyn y broses o'r pethau technol
[49:43.000 -> 49:46.260] ac mae'n dod i'r ardal lle dwi'n meddwl, Do that if I continue with this process of the technical stuff and my game gets to a stage where I think well
[49:46.260 -> 49:48.260] I'm playing the way I used to play then
[49:48.760 -> 49:53.380] I'll be surprised if something doesn't trigger me into wanting to do more at the moment
[49:53.380 -> 49:59.040] I'm just trying to keep my expectations low and the public's expectations because I don't want to you know
[49:59.040 -> 50:03.720] Come back to a tournament lose the first match six nil and everyone go. Oh, well, that was a waste of time
[50:03.720 -> 50:06.200] You know what? You know, what was it, what is he doing?
[50:06.200 -> 50:09.040] So I'm trying to keep sort of my expectations
[50:09.040 -> 50:11.960] outside expectations and try and say, look, I'm going to,
[50:11.960 -> 50:14.940] I want to experience walking out into arena again.
[50:14.940 -> 50:16.540] I realized I'm going to be the bottom of the rankings.
[50:16.540 -> 50:18.160] I might not be on TV table straight away,
[50:18.160 -> 50:20.480] but there's a chance if I get drawn against,
[50:20.480 -> 50:23.080] no, but if I get drawn against,
[50:23.080 -> 50:24.360] say I go to the UK championship,
[50:24.360 -> 50:27.040] I get drawn against Judd Trump or Ronny Sullivan Sullivan I'm gonna be in it I'm gonna be in the
[50:27.040 -> 50:31.480] main table. So it's to see what that would be like but yeah I mean it's it's
[50:31.480 -> 50:34.760] it's a total contradiction to what I used to do. I write what you're saying I
[50:34.760 -> 50:38.880] mean how can how can I talk about how I got to the top and then talk about now
[50:38.880 -> 50:42.640] and say I'm just gonna be happy. Is there an argument that maybe you're slightly
[50:42.640 -> 50:48.000] concerned privately about doing what you always used to do and still not winning?
[50:48.000 -> 50:51.000] So you would rather not do what you always used to do?
[50:51.000 -> 50:58.000] I think in part, and it's whether at 51 years old I can still go in and play for six hours.
[50:58.000 -> 51:02.000] It's whether, you know, near the end of my career I was just getting bored after an hour.
[51:02.000 -> 51:05.280] I mean I had the table at home because the snooker club I was in had shut down.
[51:05.280 -> 51:08.400] So I had to practice at home, which wasn't the same
[51:08.400 -> 51:10.680] because it's not the same, you know, going to work.
[51:10.680 -> 51:12.320] It was like, it's there.
[51:12.320 -> 51:15.280] And I play for an hour and sell, stop for a cup of tea.
[51:15.280 -> 51:17.160] And then a cup of tea becomes half an hour,
[51:17.160 -> 51:19.360] becomes an hour, becomes I'll play tomorrow.
[51:19.360 -> 51:21.520] And it has to become a job again.
[51:21.520 -> 51:24.200] And whether at 51, I can do that.
[51:24.200 -> 51:26.080] I've got that in me to have that dedication.
[51:26.800 -> 51:30.080] I sense it all comes back to winning though and if you came back and won
[51:30.080 -> 51:32.240] that dedication would suddenly appear.
[51:32.240 -> 51:35.760] Well if I came back the first time I played it and all of a sudden I won two or three matches
[51:36.320 -> 51:41.440] again I want to keep the expectation low but if I thought I've beat two or three players here,
[51:41.440 -> 51:45.000] I've played well that would I would I would, you know, be very surprised
[51:45.000 -> 51:46.880] if that didn't give me the inspiration to, yeah.
[51:46.880 -> 51:49.840] Your driver is not that you love practicing
[51:49.840 -> 51:51.280] or you love being on your own in a room
[51:51.280 -> 51:52.760] or you love traveling the world.
[51:52.760 -> 51:54.360] Your driver is you love to win.
[51:54.360 -> 51:57.400] So I feel if you win again, there's the driver.
[51:57.400 -> 51:59.280] There's the reason you'll be back on it
[51:59.280 -> 52:00.920] seven hours a day, won't you?
[52:00.920 -> 52:04.920] No, I don't, I don't think I'll ever go back to that.
[52:04.920 -> 52:05.800] I seriously don't. I don't think I'll ever go back to that. I seriously don't.
[52:05.800 -> 52:08.680] I don't think it's physically possible
[52:08.680 -> 52:10.640] for me to do that, actually.
[52:10.640 -> 52:12.400] I think I would end up just going through the motions.
[52:12.400 -> 52:14.640] I think that sort of dedication
[52:14.640 -> 52:16.360] is I think a young man's thing.
[52:16.360 -> 52:18.680] How many sportsmen at that age are doing that practice?
[52:18.680 -> 52:19.800] Because they've done that their whole lives
[52:19.800 -> 52:22.160] and you really have to have a will,
[52:22.160 -> 52:24.680] but you have to really want to do that.
[52:24.680 -> 52:27.200] I think it's very difficult to sort of motivate yourself
[52:27.200 -> 52:28.300] to do that every day.
[52:28.300 -> 52:29.140] Sure.
[52:29.140 -> 52:31.500] I've found this conversation fascinating
[52:31.500 -> 52:33.480] to go through the way that you operated
[52:33.480 -> 52:34.660] and the mindset you had
[52:34.660 -> 52:38.360] and how rigidly you approached your career.
[52:38.360 -> 52:41.500] I think that, correct me if I'm wrong, you think Damien,
[52:41.500 -> 52:43.200] but I think having this conversation with Steve
[52:43.200 -> 52:46.200] and what we're picking up here is that he is someone
[52:46.200 -> 52:49.720] that almost to an unhealthy degree,
[52:49.720 -> 52:52.140] perhaps was very, very rigid in his thinking.
[52:52.140 -> 52:53.640] And when things started going wrong,
[52:53.640 -> 52:55.980] when you've got a very rigid way of thinking,
[52:55.980 -> 52:57.740] it's almost impossible to deal with that
[52:57.740 -> 52:58.740] because you don't know what to do.
[52:58.740 -> 53:01.180] Whereas now Stephen's coming back to Snuka
[53:01.180 -> 53:03.180] with a sort of a flexible perspective
[53:03.180 -> 53:04.640] on how he's going to operate.
[53:04.640 -> 53:05.000] And let's see how it goes. yn dod yn ôl i Snuka, gyda'r perspectif fflexibl o ran sut mae'n mynd i weithio.
[53:05.000 -> 53:07.000] Ac dwi'n gwybod sut mae'n mynd.
[53:07.000 -> 53:09.000] Dwi wedi cael y metaforaeth yn fy mhobl, Stephen.
[53:09.000 -> 53:11.000] D'y gwybod pan ydych chi'n mynd ymlaen ar holedau
[53:11.000 -> 53:13.000] ac ydych chi'n gweld y brifysgol brifysgol
[53:13.000 -> 53:15.000] yn rhannu drin ar y bar, ac nid ydyn nhw'n siarad
[53:15.000 -> 53:17.000] y iaith, ac y ffordd y maen nhw'n ei wneud
[53:17.000 -> 53:19.000] yw eu chiarad yn fwy fawr ac yn siarad yn hir,
[53:19.000 -> 53:21.000] ac nid ydyn nhw'n mynd yn fwy cyfathrebu.
[53:21.000 -> 53:23.000] Mae'n mynd yn fwy anodd yn y broses.
[53:23.000 -> 53:27.360] Rwy'n credu y gwelwch llawer o bobl chwaraeon yn gwneud y broses hwn. more comprehensible, they just become more obnoxious in the process. I think you see a lot of sports people do that process
[53:27.360 -> 53:31.240] of they just do more of the same thing over and over again.
[53:31.240 -> 53:33.400] And I think what you're doing takes courage
[53:33.400 -> 53:37.040] to learn a new language, to be able to communicate
[53:37.040 -> 53:38.920] and play in a very different way.
[53:38.920 -> 53:41.620] I think when you look at someone like Ronny O'Sullivan,
[53:41.620 -> 53:44.480] who people say he's had such longevity in the game,
[53:44.480 -> 53:46.800] he's won world championships in different decades.
[53:46.800 -> 53:48.840] Perhaps, almost, I don't know whether that's a better way
[53:48.840 -> 53:51.120] of being, that he's not, you know,
[53:51.120 -> 53:53.560] his whole life hasn't been snooker.
[53:53.560 -> 53:55.600] Like me, I mean, my world champ,
[53:55.600 -> 53:56.960] they all came within 10 years.
[53:56.960 -> 53:59.560] My domination was that 10 year period
[53:59.560 -> 54:01.680] where he's been at the top since, you know,
[54:01.680 -> 54:06.120] when he came in in 92, I was still the number one player
[54:06.120 -> 54:08.520] and he's come through and he's still winning now.
[54:08.520 -> 54:10.280] The fact that he's not,
[54:10.280 -> 54:12.360] the snooker isn't his be all and end all,
[54:12.360 -> 54:15.000] but whether I could have done that, I don't know.
[54:15.000 -> 54:16.200] I'd never know that.
[54:16.200 -> 54:18.160] So yeah, it's,
[54:18.160 -> 54:21.440] I'd say that the doing that I did like totally
[54:21.440 -> 54:22.640] with that intensity,
[54:24.160 -> 54:26.000] you know, you think it would be impossible for that to last as long as up to now. o'r fath o'r ffynonellau, o'r ffynonellau, o'r ffynonellau,
[54:26.000 -> 54:28.000] o'r ffynonellau,
[54:28.000 -> 54:30.000] o'r ffynonellau,
[54:30.000 -> 54:32.000] o'r ffynonellau,
[54:32.000 -> 54:34.000] o'r ffynonellau,
[54:34.000 -> 54:36.000] o'r ffynonellau,
[54:36.000 -> 54:38.000] o'r ffynonellau,
[54:38.000 -> 54:40.000] o'r ffynonellau,
[54:40.000 -> 54:42.000] o'r ffynonellau,
[54:42.000 -> 54:44.000] o'r ffynonellau,
[54:44.000 -> 54:49.400] o'r ffynonellau, o'r ffynonellau, how the negative feedback had a huge impact on you as well. Where is the confidence in yourself going to come from
[54:49.400 -> 54:52.200] in the idea that you're not worried about external validation,
[54:52.200 -> 54:57.200] you're happy with what you've achieved and the impact and the legacy that you've left?
[54:57.200 -> 55:00.200] Do you ever dwell on that to reflect on it?
[55:00.200 -> 55:06.320] Yeah, I mean, the first match I play, I'll be scared about what's happening,
[55:06.320 -> 55:08.600] but obviously there'll be a lot of attention on it.
[55:08.600 -> 55:12.800] And if I fail, then there's gonna be a lot of negative
[55:12.800 -> 55:16.720] and nowadays social media and all that,
[55:16.720 -> 55:18.720] people are quick to like say,
[55:18.720 -> 55:22.280] give you immediate response to how,
[55:22.280 -> 55:24.960] if I play shit, I'm gonna get told I'm shit,
[55:24.960 -> 55:28.160] basically that's the way the world now. So I've got to be...
[55:28.160 -> 55:30.160] But will that still bother you?
[55:30.160 -> 55:35.160] Yeah, it will because I think, you know, even going through it,
[55:35.160 -> 55:38.120] I try not to read it all, but even after the announcement, I mean it all
[55:38.120 -> 55:40.880] happened so quickly by the way, Barry Herne basically I played golf with him, he says
[55:40.880 -> 55:46.400] take your time, let me know tonight. So I was planning on doing this next year possibly.
[55:46.400 -> 55:47.720] And he said, no, I need to know now
[55:47.720 -> 55:48.800] before the season starts.
[55:48.800 -> 55:51.140] So basically I had to make a decision in a day.
[55:51.140 -> 55:52.580] So everything happened so quickly.
[55:52.580 -> 55:54.660] But yeah, it's, you know, even looking through,
[55:54.660 -> 55:57.000] so you know, he shouldn't be doing it, he's finished,
[55:57.000 -> 55:58.640] he's passed it, he can't compete anymore.
[55:58.640 -> 56:01.160] And all of a sudden, you can say it doesn't bother you,
[56:01.160 -> 56:03.440] but it goes in, you can't help for it not to.
[56:04.480 -> 56:07.800] But at the same token, my manager used to slaughter me
[56:07.800 -> 56:09.960] in like, after matches I played bad.
[56:09.960 -> 56:13.240] I mean, like, Fergie hair dryer stuff in dressing rooms
[56:13.240 -> 56:15.200] halfway through matches.
[56:15.200 -> 56:16.560] I'd be getting beat three, one point,
[56:16.560 -> 56:18.200] he'd come in and say, you know,
[56:18.200 -> 56:19.960] oh, so I mean, he can even repeat what he was saying
[56:19.960 -> 56:23.200] to me, and then I used to go and win.
[56:23.200 -> 56:24.320] It used to work.
[56:24.320 -> 56:27.140] And another thing that was, he's kind of took,
[56:28.160 -> 56:30.640] through his own situation, took a backstep.
[56:30.640 -> 56:32.360] So the second half of my career
[56:32.360 -> 56:33.560] and I didn't have that anymore.
[56:33.560 -> 56:36.200] And I think I missed that as well.
[56:37.160 -> 56:39.280] I responded to that.
[56:39.280 -> 56:40.400] Whereas not everyone does.
[56:40.400 -> 56:41.760] I think they talk about footballers now
[56:41.760 -> 56:43.640] and some need an arm around them.
[56:43.640 -> 56:47.380] Some need to be bollocked and that like the phrase take the stones they throw at you
[56:47.380 -> 56:51.480] and build a monument and it's nice that isn't it? It's kind of, do you feel that?
[56:51.480 -> 56:54.880] Can you take that criticism and use it as an energy source? Yeah, yeah,
[56:54.880 -> 56:59.920] absolutely. I mean he was just, you know, for example when I was 18, 19,
[56:59.920 -> 57:04.080] younger I ordered a new car or something that was coming and he'd come
[57:04.080 -> 57:06.440] and he'd say you're cancelling that car. something that was coming and he'd come in and says, you're canceling that car.
[57:06.440 -> 57:08.760] You can't, how can you pay for it if you're gonna lose it?
[57:08.760 -> 57:10.600] You can't, I'm canceling and all that.
[57:10.600 -> 57:14.000] And you're shit, you know, he's taking the piss out of you.
[57:14.000 -> 57:16.080] Look at the shots he's playing, everything.
[57:16.080 -> 57:18.880] And I'd go out and I'd be raging and I'd go and win.
[57:18.880 -> 57:23.160] Didn't happen every time, but it was a thing that
[57:23.160 -> 57:27.640] obviously later on in my career, I had no one, I felt I had no one to sort of give me a right good bollocking if I was playing bad. Ond roedd hynny'n beth, yn ystod y cw, roedd gen i ddim un i roi'r cyd-dod o'r bolach yn iawn
[57:27.640 -> 57:30.600] os roeddwn i'n chwarae'n ddifrifol. Roeddwn i'n gallu cyrraedd efallai.
[57:30.600 -> 57:34.080] Ond mae'n ddiddorol, o'r cyngor y rheolwr,
[57:34.080 -> 57:36.160] mae'n fyneiroedd y gwelwch chi ar y gynulliad,
[57:36.160 -> 57:38.320] a gosododd ei arian o'r lle oedd ei gynnyrch,
[57:38.320 -> 57:42.360] ac roedd yn bwysig, roedd yn bwysig ar eich bywyd.
[57:42.360 -> 57:47.160] Pa mor bwysig oedd e i chi, fel nifer o ddynion ar Twitter, he was significant in your journey. Why would he care about, like, some nobody on Twitter telling you that you're shit?
[57:47.160 -> 57:49.000] Why would that be significant?
[57:49.000 -> 57:51.120] They don't know your journey, they don't know.
[57:51.120 -> 57:52.600] I don't know, I don't know.
[57:52.600 -> 57:54.300] It's just, I suppose it's just,
[57:55.400 -> 57:57.760] it's probably mirroring what you think
[57:57.760 -> 57:59.080] that your game is anyway.
[57:59.080 -> 58:00.160] If someone's telling you that,
[58:00.160 -> 58:03.000] you're probably thinking it yourself to some degree.
[58:03.000 -> 58:05.400] So yeah, I think that's why it hits home or why it possibly, it will hit home y byddwch chi'n meddwl ar eich hun, i rai o ran. Felly, ie, rwy'n credu mai dyna pam mae'n dod i'r home,
[58:05.400 -> 58:08.000] neu pam mae'n gallu bod yn dod i'r home,
[58:08.000 -> 58:10.520] fel os byddwch chi'n chwarae'r pêl yn yr un pêl,
[58:10.520 -> 58:12.000] ie, oherwydd, dych chi'n gwybod,
[58:12.000 -> 58:13.040] mewn gwirionedd, fel y gwnawn i.
[58:13.040 -> 58:14.480] Felly mewn gwirionedd, ychydig o'r amser,
[58:14.480 -> 58:15.200] mae'n dweud i chi rhywbeth
[58:15.200 -> 58:16.200] y byddwch chi'n gwybod ar eich hun,
[58:16.200 -> 58:17.200] o'r ffordd, rwy'n credu.
[58:17.200 -> 58:17.840] Ond pan ydych chi'n meddwl
[58:17.840 -> 58:19.200] y byddwch chi'n gallu gweld
[58:19.200 -> 58:20.800] rhai o'r ystafellau o gyfrifiadau
[58:20.800 -> 58:22.280] y Cymdeithasau Byd Sefydliadol
[58:22.280 -> 58:23.480] ac yn gwneud,
[58:23.480 -> 58:24.960] wyt ti'n gwybod, roeddwn i'n dda
[58:24.960 -> 58:27.240] ac rwy'n hapus bod rydw i'n dda
[58:27.240 -> 58:29.000] yn hytrach na'r byddwn i'n edrych arno
[58:29.000 -> 58:29.160] ac yn mynd,
[58:29.160 -> 58:30.240] ond rydw i'n ddau nawr.
[58:30.240 -> 58:30.800] Be'n dda?
[58:30.800 -> 58:31.520] Rwy'n credu
[58:31.520 -> 58:33.720] roeddwn i'n gwneud fy nghyfnod
[58:33.720 -> 58:34.880] ddau neu tri mlynedd yn ôl
[58:34.880 -> 58:36.080] ac roeddwn i'n rhaid i mi wylio
[58:36.080 -> 58:37.040] yr holl beth yna yn ôl
[58:37.040 -> 58:39.160] ac roeddwn i ddim yn gwylio fy mhob beth
[58:39.160 -> 58:40.600] ac yn mynd drwy
[58:40.600 -> 58:41.760] Youtube a phethau
[58:41.760 -> 58:43.520] ac rwy'n gweld pethau
[58:43.520 -> 58:44.560] rydw i wedi gael eu gomisio
[58:44.560 -> 58:47.520] ac roeddwn i, roeddwn i wedi dweud i Tom sy'n fy nghyfrifwr roeddwn i'n d. And I did, I said to Tom, who was my ghostwriter,
[58:47.520 -> 58:49.040] I said, no, I was pretty good when I was like,
[58:49.040 -> 58:50.440] you know, I was doing things that I was surprised,
[58:50.440 -> 58:52.320] you know, I couldn't, I'd forgotten myself.
[58:52.320 -> 58:54.560] Because I think I used to tend to,
[58:54.560 -> 58:56.640] you know, people ask me about a world test,
[58:56.640 -> 58:57.720] I wouldn't be able to tell them what year,
[58:57.720 -> 58:58.560] I wouldn't be able to tell them,
[58:58.560 -> 59:00.760] because I just, but if it's say a shot you missed,
[59:00.760 -> 59:01.680] then all of a sudden I think, yeah,
[59:01.680 -> 59:04.080] I bet that was that one kind of thing.
[59:05.440 -> 59:07.000] But yeah, no, I think that was the first time
[59:07.000 -> 59:08.640] I sort of watched back and thought,
[59:08.640 -> 59:11.600] yeah, you know, I was pretty good.
[59:11.600 -> 59:15.880] Because it sounds like it's a pretty relentless,
[59:15.880 -> 59:18.880] unkind place you're had at times.
[59:18.880 -> 59:20.080] Oh, very, very, yeah.
[59:20.080 -> 59:23.840] Yeah, I mean, the last world championship I played in,
[59:23.840 -> 59:26.480] I lost 13-2, I think it was to Maguire.
[59:26.480 -> 59:29.720] And I'd made a 1-4-7 in the first round
[59:29.720 -> 59:30.840] against Stuart Bingham.
[59:30.840 -> 59:33.040] And I beat John Higgins in the second round.
[59:33.040 -> 59:33.880] Granted it wasn't brilliant,
[59:33.880 -> 59:36.020] but then the last match I just,
[59:36.020 -> 59:38.560] and all matches sort of like for the years up to that,
[59:38.560 -> 59:39.400] I was just sitting in my chair
[59:39.400 -> 59:42.040] and I'd just slaughter myself basically.
[59:42.040 -> 59:44.760] Basically the twist, I'd look how shit you become.
[59:44.760 -> 59:45.080] You can't even play become, you can't
[59:45.080 -> 59:48.160] even play this, you can't even beat this guy. You know and that was
[59:48.160 -> 59:51.640] that and that was yeah I was I was pretty hard on myself.
[59:51.640 -> 59:55.280] So you're basically an all-in kind of person which is very difficult because then
[59:55.280 -> 59:57.760] when you're winning games and you're 20 and you're coming through and you're
[59:57.760 -> 01:00:02.600] winning world titles you are invincible, you are untouchable, you are bulletproof,
[01:00:02.600 -> 01:00:07.060] no one can tell you you're not great because the evidence is in front of you that you're fine
[01:00:07.060 -> 01:00:09.000] because you're all in and you believe in that.
[01:00:09.000 -> 01:00:10.840] You're getting high on your own supply.
[01:00:10.840 -> 01:00:12.160] Yeah, there's one world championship I went,
[01:00:12.160 -> 01:00:14.160] I went before the first round and told my wife
[01:00:14.160 -> 01:00:16.240] to bring a jacket for the party after the final.
[01:00:16.240 -> 01:00:17.560] I love that story.
[01:00:17.560 -> 01:00:18.400] Wow.
[01:00:18.400 -> 01:00:20.600] But the problem is when you're all in like that,
[01:00:20.600 -> 01:00:23.200] when you're losing, you're all into the losing mentality.
[01:00:23.200 -> 01:00:24.320] You got further to fall.
[01:00:24.320 -> 01:00:25.360] Yeah. Further to fall. Yeah.
[01:00:25.360 -> 01:00:26.360] Further to fall.
[01:00:26.360 -> 01:00:31.000] So now, on the verge of a comeback, we started this conversation where you said only certain
[01:00:31.000 -> 01:00:35.880] people have got the ability to win relentlessly at world level, and you're one of those rare
[01:00:35.880 -> 01:00:36.880] people.
[01:00:36.880 -> 01:00:40.200] And this isn't me fishing for a headline, because I will caveat this with I know that
[01:00:40.200 -> 01:00:49.520] you're willing, or you're keen to play down expectations from yourself and from the audience at home, at the back of your brain right deep in there, do you
[01:00:49.520 -> 01:00:52.200] still believe you're the guy that can win a world championship?
[01:00:52.200 -> 01:00:56.400] No, no, no, not at this precise, sitting here now, no.
[01:00:56.400 -> 01:00:58.600] Could you become that guy again?
[01:00:58.600 -> 01:01:09.000] If my game technically gets to where I think it is, then I think leading up todu, yn ystod y cyfnod, os ydw i'n chwarae ennill diwydiantau a chael y cymaint o fathau,
[01:01:09.000 -> 01:01:12.000] oherwydd rwy'n chwarae yn y Seniors y byddwn i wedi gael ei gael yn y pen draw i Jimmy White,
[01:01:12.000 -> 01:01:16.000] ac nid oedd fy nghyflawniad yno ar y bwrdd, oherwydd dydw i ddim yn chwarae cymaint o fathau,
[01:01:16.000 -> 01:01:20.000] ac nid yw fy mhôl ychydig yn y lle y byddwn i'n ei ystyried.
[01:01:20.000 -> 01:01:23.000] Ond, ymuno yma ar hyn o bryd, na, dwi ddim yn credu y gallwn gynhyrchu y Cymdeithas Byd.
[01:01:23.000 -> 01:01:30.200] Yn unol. But sitting here right now, no, I don't believe I can win a world championship. No, not at all. The example that you refer to in terms of another player with the longevity that you had was Ronnie O'Sullivan.
[01:01:30.700 -> 01:01:40.100] And Ronnie's spoken about how he invested massively in terms of working with a psychiatrist and helping the mental side of life, not just the game.
[01:01:41.100 -> 01:01:44.800] Would that be something that you'd be interested in exploring?
[01:01:45.000 -> 01:01:49.000] I'm not sure. I think getting to a stage where I'm happy,
[01:01:49.000 -> 01:01:52.000] I'm able to play all the shots that I want to play,
[01:01:52.000 -> 01:01:54.000] because I still shot, I just, you know,
[01:01:54.000 -> 01:01:56.000] then I just couldn't play shots I wanted to play
[01:01:56.000 -> 01:01:59.000] because my technique had just gone to pot.
[01:01:59.000 -> 01:02:00.000] So I think the first thing,
[01:02:00.000 -> 01:02:03.000] the important thing for me is to get that right first.
[01:02:03.000 -> 01:02:09.520] And when I can play every shot that I want to play that I know I can play, I'm in the commentary box, I'm watching
[01:02:09.520 -> 01:02:13.920] Ronnie and not so much Trump because I don't have his cue power, but the shots, I mean,
[01:02:13.920 -> 01:02:18.600] I know the shots, I know exactly what he's going to do and how to do it, but I just physically
[01:02:18.600 -> 01:02:23.560] can't do it because my technique has been shot. So if I can get stayed back to a stage
[01:02:23.560 -> 01:02:26.120] where that is sound,
[01:02:26.120 -> 01:02:28.520] then anything can happen after that.
[01:02:28.520 -> 01:02:31.440] You know, then I would be prepared to look at other things
[01:02:31.440 -> 01:02:34.280] because I'd have that as a solid base to look at other stuff.
[01:02:34.280 -> 01:02:35.640] You don't think the psychology now
[01:02:35.640 -> 01:02:37.440] could help you get back to that solid base.
[01:02:37.440 -> 01:02:38.280] It's about the sneak.
[01:02:38.280 -> 01:02:40.760] No, I think it's purely about technique at the moment
[01:02:40.760 -> 01:02:43.440] for me is getting that technique back.
[01:02:43.440 -> 01:02:47.440] And then if that comes back, then possibly look at,
[01:02:47.440 -> 01:02:51.240] you know, other ways to make myself even stronger.
[01:02:51.240 -> 01:02:52.720] To be able, cause I mean,
[01:02:52.720 -> 01:02:55.520] I've been out of the game for eight years.
[01:02:55.520 -> 01:02:57.440] I'm not saying there's anyone, you know,
[01:02:57.440 -> 01:02:58.920] there's not a lot of people doing things
[01:02:58.920 -> 01:03:00.560] I never did when I was at the top.
[01:03:00.560 -> 01:03:02.240] You know, there's, I think there's more
[01:03:02.240 -> 01:03:03.880] good players out there.
[01:03:03.880 -> 01:03:06.720] The standard down the rankings is better.
[01:03:06.780 -> 01:03:09.080] So it's going to be difficult just to, to, to win matches.
[01:03:09.080 -> 01:03:11.680] I mean, to get to the crucible next year, I'm going to have to win four matches.
[01:03:12.280 -> 01:03:15.660] I mean, to win the world title, when you get there, you have to win five matches.
[01:03:15.660 -> 01:03:18.640] So basically got to win a tournament to get to the crucible, um,
[01:03:18.680 -> 01:03:22.680] playing some very good players. So, um, to get to that stage, to do that, you know,
[01:03:22.680 -> 01:03:26.480] my technique is going to have to be sound and then I'm gonna have to build up
[01:03:26.480 -> 01:03:29.280] some sort of composure playing matches.
[01:03:29.280 -> 01:03:30.360] So interesting.
[01:03:30.360 -> 01:03:33.520] Listen, we're gonna finish with our quick fire questions.
[01:03:33.520 -> 01:03:35.600] Three non-negotiable behaviors
[01:03:35.600 -> 01:03:39.480] that you and the people around you have to buy into.
[01:03:39.480 -> 01:03:40.960] Selfishness.
[01:03:40.960 -> 01:03:42.160] Oh, can I just say I love the fact
[01:03:42.160 -> 01:03:43.600] that's your first one by the way.
[01:03:43.600 -> 01:03:44.440] We've done a lot of these,
[01:03:44.440 -> 01:03:46.320] no one's ever mentioned that as the first one
[01:03:46.840 -> 01:03:48.840] I've been told it enough and I like
[01:03:49.480 -> 01:03:50.840] Determined
[01:03:50.840 -> 01:03:57.200] Self-criticism, they're good ones. They're not easy ones by the way. Most people just say turn up on time. Yes
[01:03:58.360 -> 01:04:02.640] What advice would you give to a teenage Steven just starting out on this journey work?
[01:04:02.640 -> 01:04:06.160] I think I think that's yeah, mean, people talk about talent is enough.
[01:04:06.160 -> 01:04:07.560] Talent is not enough.
[01:04:07.560 -> 01:04:08.640] Work, I think.
[01:04:08.640 -> 01:04:10.360] Very briefly, how low do you go
[01:04:10.360 -> 01:04:13.720] or did you go with failure, with big defeats?
[01:04:13.720 -> 01:04:15.880] I think that the worst I got,
[01:04:15.880 -> 01:04:18.480] I lost to a guy called Robert Milkins
[01:04:18.480 -> 01:04:20.640] in the second last season, I think,
[01:04:20.640 -> 01:04:21.880] of my career in Shanghai.
[01:04:21.880 -> 01:04:25.880] And in China, they call me the emperor of snooker, the king of snooker.
[01:04:25.880 -> 01:04:28.160] And I'm fortunate I have so much support there,
[01:04:28.160 -> 01:04:32.360] even now when I go, but I'd lost five nil to this guy.
[01:04:32.360 -> 01:04:34.480] And I went back to the hotel and I cried.
[01:04:34.480 -> 01:04:35.640] It's the only time I've ever cried,
[01:04:35.640 -> 01:04:36.960] win or lose a snooker match.
[01:04:36.960 -> 01:04:38.800] So, and that was the worst I ever felt.
[01:04:38.800 -> 01:04:39.720] I just felt embarrassed.
[01:04:39.720 -> 01:04:40.880] I felt everything I thought.
[01:04:40.880 -> 01:04:42.360] Can I just jump in on that, Steven?
[01:04:42.360 -> 01:04:43.440] What drove you then?
[01:04:43.440 -> 01:04:45.120] A love of winning or a fear of losing?
[01:04:45.120 -> 01:04:51.760] Oh, definitely love of winning. Was it? Yeah, definitely winning. Yeah, that's what motivated me to practice.
[01:04:51.760 -> 01:04:54.120] Yeah. How important is legacy to you?
[01:04:54.520 -> 01:04:57.560] Yes, it's important as I said, you know, I'm still, you know, in China
[01:04:57.560 -> 01:05:02.520] I'm still seen as like, you know, the most successful there, you know, because I've won seven world titles.
[01:05:02.520 -> 01:05:06.960] Obviously, it's debatable whether Ronnie will overtake that or not, we'll just have to wait and see.
[01:05:06.960 -> 01:05:11.960] But yeah, I think it's important, yeah.
[01:05:12.920 -> 01:05:15.640] I'm still, people, the great debates,
[01:05:15.640 -> 01:05:17.000] who's the greatest me or Ronnie?
[01:05:17.000 -> 01:05:18.720] And I think, as Tiger used to say,
[01:05:18.720 -> 01:05:20.080] as long as you're in that conversation,
[01:05:20.080 -> 01:05:21.960] you've done that well.
[01:05:21.960 -> 01:05:23.760] But how would you like to be remembered
[01:05:23.760 -> 01:05:26.520] when you're dead and gone? How would you like to be remembered when, when you, like when you're dead and gone,
[01:05:26.520 -> 01:05:27.360] how would you like to be remembered?
[01:05:27.360 -> 01:05:28.280] I think, I think I'd like to be remembered
[01:05:28.280 -> 01:05:30.040] as someone who changed snooker,
[01:05:30.040 -> 01:05:32.260] changed the way it was played to be successful.
[01:05:32.260 -> 01:05:35.440] You know, I was all about aggressive snooker.
[01:05:35.440 -> 01:05:37.440] Just go for your shots, clear the table.
[01:05:38.640 -> 01:05:39.720] That was, that was the way I played.
[01:05:39.720 -> 01:05:41.040] Go for it, you go for it,
[01:05:41.040 -> 01:05:42.520] obviously you have to temper a bit when you get older,
[01:05:42.520 -> 01:05:43.960] you know, you don't go for everything
[01:05:43.960 -> 01:05:47.520] when, when, when you get into pro mat, but yeah yeah I'd like to think I changed the way Snooker
[01:05:47.520 -> 01:05:48.520] was played.
[01:05:48.520 -> 01:05:53.600] And finally, your one golden rule for people listening to this, to living a high performance
[01:05:53.600 -> 01:05:54.600] life.
[01:05:54.600 -> 01:05:55.600] Agreed.
[01:05:55.600 -> 01:06:00.160] And on that we shall end it. Thank you so much for being with us. I think...
[01:06:00.160 -> 01:06:01.160] Sounded like Gordon Gekko.
[01:06:01.160 -> 01:06:06.080] It's brilliant to sit here and have someone talk to us who's so self-reflective and as
[01:06:06.080 -> 01:06:09.040] honest as you are is amazing for us.
[01:06:09.040 -> 01:06:13.220] And I think that, you know, I look at it and I think that that honesty is the reason why
[01:06:13.220 -> 01:06:17.340] you were so successful, but also that honesty is the reason why you found it so difficult
[01:06:17.340 -> 01:06:20.760] when you weren't winning because you don't lie to yourself, do you?
[01:06:20.760 -> 01:06:21.760] No.
[01:06:21.760 -> 01:06:22.760] You're totally honest with yourself.
[01:06:22.760 -> 01:06:23.760] Thanks very much.
[01:06:23.760 -> 01:06:25.740] You're totally honest with yourself. Thanks very much. You're welcome. Nice to meet you.
[01:06:25.740 -> 01:06:26.580] Thank you.
[01:06:26.580 -> 01:06:27.400] Thanks.
[01:06:28.880 -> 01:06:30.700] Damien, Caheck.
[01:06:30.700 -> 01:06:34.720] Well, that was an absolutely remarkable conversation
[01:06:34.720 -> 01:06:35.560] I felt with Steve.
[01:06:35.560 -> 01:06:38.880] And first of all, I want to applaud his honesty,
[01:06:38.880 -> 01:06:41.560] but also I kind of almost feel that,
[01:06:42.440 -> 01:06:47.000] like I feel a bit sorry for him that he is so one extreme and then another.
[01:06:47.000 -> 01:06:51.000] He admitted he was all in and I think that's fine when you're winning constantly.
[01:06:51.000 -> 01:06:55.000] But to be all in and to find that you're not as invincible
[01:06:55.000 -> 01:06:58.000] as you perhaps thought you were at some point in your life when it comes to sport
[01:06:58.000 -> 01:07:01.000] must have been a very difficult pill for him to swallow.
[01:07:01.000 -> 01:07:06.000] Absolutely. I mean the honesty is stunning and I really applaud him for that. Yn ystod y cyfansoddau, mae'r cyfansoddau yn ymwneud â'r cyfansoddau, yn ystod y cyfansoddau, mae'r cyfansoddau yn ymwneud â'r cyfansoddau, yn ystod y cyfansoddau, mae'r cyfansoddau yn ymwneud â'r cyfansoddau,
[01:07:06.000 -> 01:07:08.000] yn ystod y cyfansoddau, mae'r cyfansoddau yn ymwneud â'r cyfansoddau,
[01:07:08.000 -> 01:07:10.000] yn ystod y cyfansoddau, mae'r cyfansoddau yn ymwneud â'r cyfansoddau,
[01:07:10.000 -> 01:07:12.000] yn ystod y cyfansoddau, mae'r cyfansoddau yn ymwneud â'r cyfansoddau,
[01:07:12.000 -> 01:07:14.000] yn ystod y cyfansoddau, mae'r cyfansoddau yn ymwneud â'r cyfansoddau,
[01:07:14.000 -> 01:07:16.000] yn ystod y cyfansoddau, mae'r cyfansoddau yn ymwneud â'r cyfansoddau,
[01:07:16.000 -> 01:07:18.000] yn ystod y cyfansoddau, mae'r cyfansoddau yn ymwneud ag y cyfansoddau,
[01:07:18.000 -> 01:07:20.000] yn ystod y cyfansoddau, mae'r cyfansoddau yn ymwneud ag y cyfansoddau,
[01:07:20.000 -> 01:08:05.000] yn ystod y cyfansoddau, mae'r cyfansoddau yn ymwneud ag y cyfansoddau, yn ystod y cyfansoddau, mae'r fath o'r fath o'r fath o'r fath o'r fath o'r fath o'r fath o'r fath o'r fath o'r fath o'r fath o'r fath o'r fath o'r fath o'r fath o'r fath o'r fath o'r fath o'r fath o'r fath o'r fath o'r fath o'r fath o'r fath o'r fath o'r fath o'r fath o'r fath o'r fath o'r fath o'r fath o'r fath o'r fath o'r fath o'r fath o'r fath o'r fath o'r fath o'r fath o'r fath o'r fath o'r fath o'r fath o'r fath o'r fath o'r fath o'r fath o'r fath o'r fath o'r fath o'r fath o'r fath o'r fath o'r fath o'r fath o'r fath o'r fath o'r fath o'r fath o'r fath o'r fath o'r fath o'r fath o'r fath o'r fath o'r fath o'r fath o'r fath o'r fath o'r fath o'r fath o'r fath o'r fath o'r fath o'r fath o'r fath o'r fath o'r fath o'r fath o'r fath o'r fath o'r fath o'r fath o'r fath o'r fath o' ymdrechion hwn yn rhoi rhai o fwy o bobl tebyg.
[01:08:05.000 -> 01:08:10.000] Ac mae'n dysgu i gael mwy o mwynhau'r broses o chwarae'r gêm,
[01:08:10.000 -> 01:08:16.000] a ddim yn rhaid ei gysylltu â'i bod yn llwyr ymlaen.
[01:08:16.000 -> 01:08:19.000] Os ddim yn gwybod mai'n byw yn un o'r gêm mwyaf o snwcaoedd,
[01:08:19.000 -> 01:08:22.000] bydd yn un o'r gêm mwyaf o snwcaoedd i gyd.
[01:08:22.000 -> 01:08:45.280] Mae'n bwysig i mi gofio hynny o'i gwaith o'r gwaith o'r gwaith o'r gwaith o'r gwaith o'r gwaith o'r gwaith o'r gwaith o'r gwaith o'r gwaith o'r gwaith o'r gwaith o'r gwaith o'r gwaith o'r gwaith o'r gwaith o'r gwaith o'r gwaith o'r gwaith o'r gwaith o'r gwaith o'r gwaith o'r gwaith o'r gwaith o'r gwaith o'r gwaith o'r gwaith o'r gwaith o'r gwaith o'r gwaith o'r gwaith o'r gwaith o'r gwaith o'r gwaith o'r gwaith o'r gwaith o'r gwaith o'r gwaith o'r gwaith o'r gwaith o'r gwaith o'r gwaith o'r gwaith o'r gwaith o'r gwaith o'r gwaith o'r gwaith o'r gwaith o'r gwaith o'r gwaith o'r gwaith o'r gwaith o'r gwaith o'r gwaith o'r gwaith o'r gwaith o'r gwaith o'r gwaith o'r gwaith o'r gwaith o'r gwaith o'r gwaith o'r gwaith o'r gwaith o'r gwaith o'r gwaith o'r gwaith o'r gwaith o'r gwaith o'r gwaith o'r gwaith o'r gwaith o'r gwaith o'r gwa I think what Stephen's story, especially like the decline of his later years,
[01:08:45.280 -> 01:08:47.880] tells us is that sometimes we need to be happy
[01:08:47.880 -> 01:08:49.300] with small victories,
[01:08:49.300 -> 01:08:51.400] like intrinsic victories that matter to us
[01:08:51.400 -> 01:08:53.680] rather than the external validation
[01:08:53.680 -> 01:08:55.060] of having to be a world champion
[01:08:55.060 -> 01:08:57.840] to therefore be deemed as a success.
[01:08:57.840 -> 01:08:58.940] Fascinating.
[01:08:58.940 -> 01:08:59.780] Thanks to him.
[01:08:59.780 -> 01:09:00.600] Thanks to you.
[01:09:00.600 -> 01:09:01.440] Yeah, no, thank you, Jake.
[01:09:01.440 -> 01:09:02.600] It was brilliant, that one.
[01:09:07.960 -> 01:09:09.480] Well, Damien, the reaction to the Suzy Maher episode from the past week has been amazing.
[01:09:09.480 -> 01:09:11.460] I've just got loads of sort of thoughts and comments
[01:09:11.460 -> 01:09:12.520] that people have sent in to us.
[01:09:12.520 -> 01:09:14.380] I read out David's comment about the pod
[01:09:14.380 -> 01:09:16.360] being a lifesaver at the beginning.
[01:09:16.360 -> 01:09:18.640] I've got one here from D Chill saying,
[01:09:18.640 -> 01:09:21.220] the Suzy Maher episode brought such a smile to my day
[01:09:21.220 -> 01:09:23.840] with her positive vibes and Jake and Damien,
[01:09:23.840 -> 01:09:25.240] obviously learning and engaging as much as I was. I love this conversation. I think that's an important point yn ddiddorol iawn i'n dydd, gyda'i ffeiniau positif. Ac mae Jake a Damien yn dysgu ac yn cymryd
[01:09:25.240 -> 01:09:27.160] ychydig fel roeddwn i. Rwy'n cerdded â'r sgwrs hon.
[01:09:27.160 -> 01:09:29.160] Rwy'n credu mai dyna'r pwysigrwydd
[01:09:29.160 -> 01:09:30.560] sy'n ei wneud gyda'r person hwnnw ar Instagram
[01:09:30.560 -> 01:09:33.360] yw bod chi a fi yn dysgu ar y ffordd rydyn ni'n mynd.
[01:09:33.360 -> 01:09:35.120] Rydyn ni'n cymryd pethau'n hollol amser
[01:09:35.120 -> 01:09:36.360] o'r sgwrs honno.
[01:09:36.360 -> 01:09:39.400] Iawn, yn debyg. Rwy'n credu y byddwch chi,
[01:09:39.400 -> 01:09:40.800] fel y sgwrs oedd Clive Woodward,
[01:09:40.800 -> 01:09:42.440] gallwch chi efallai fod yn rhywbeth neu'n ffynny.
[01:09:42.440 -> 01:09:44.400] Ac rwy'n credu ein bod ni'n gael y meddwl
[01:09:44.400 -> 01:09:45.320] o fod yn ffynny i ddysgu ychydig o'r rhai Woodward spoke about, you can either be a rock or a sponge. And I think we both have the mindset of being a sponge
[01:09:45.320 -> 01:09:47.400] to soak up as much learning
[01:09:47.400 -> 01:09:51.360] from these people's experiences and wisdom.
[01:09:51.360 -> 01:09:53.080] You know, I know you frequently say Jake,
[01:09:53.080 -> 01:09:56.320] that we add up all the hundreds of years worth of knowledge
[01:09:56.320 -> 01:09:57.640] that people are passing on.
[01:09:57.640 -> 01:10:00.360] I think if you come at it with a sponge mindset,
[01:10:00.360 -> 01:10:02.340] you can absorb as much and then think about
[01:10:02.340 -> 01:10:04.720] how you apply it for our own lives.
[01:10:04.720 -> 01:10:05.600] It's great.
[01:10:05.600 -> 01:10:07.920] And actually the messages have been on fire this week.
[01:10:07.920 -> 01:10:09.200] So many people getting in touch.
[01:10:09.200 -> 01:10:10.160] We've got a message here saying,
[01:10:10.160 -> 01:10:12.520] I'm a single mum of three teenagers,
[01:10:12.520 -> 01:10:14.240] and at 50, I've spent the last two years
[01:10:14.240 -> 01:10:16.160] retraining to do something new.
[01:10:16.160 -> 01:10:17.980] I've got grand plans and a deep need
[01:10:17.980 -> 01:10:19.280] to make something successful,
[01:10:19.280 -> 01:10:21.980] having been a pro sportswoman in the past.
[01:10:21.980 -> 01:10:23.680] I've no one close to me for a sense check
[01:10:23.680 -> 01:10:27.440] or to help me keep going from a business perspective so your podcasts on my daily
[01:10:27.440 -> 01:10:31.840] runs are amazing for my determination and Tim also got in touch to say that he
[01:10:31.840 -> 01:10:35.720] worked as a pilot before coronavirus. He's now unemployed after his entire
[01:10:35.720 -> 01:10:40.040] industry collapsed. With a few friends he decided to create a podcast for pilots
[01:10:40.040 -> 01:10:44.280] inspired by the High Performance podcast to offer support and a community for
[01:10:44.280 -> 01:10:47.240] others in the same position as them and so far they've released one episode
[01:10:47.240 -> 01:10:50.800] they've had one piece of feedback which made them grateful to the High
[01:10:50.800 -> 01:10:55.840] Performance Podcast for inspiring them. So Tim, well done and send us a message
[01:10:55.840 -> 01:10:59.520] actually on Instagram Tim and we'll share your podcast with
[01:10:59.520 -> 01:11:04.320] people as well. Damian, I want to talk to you about Infinite Purpose. Rob Garrett
[01:11:04.320 -> 01:11:09.240] who's a managing partner at Hezar Ventures, sent us a message saying, I can't recommend
[01:11:09.240 -> 01:11:13.240] this podcast series enough, particularly the episode with Suzy Ma. Finding
[01:11:13.240 -> 01:11:17.040] infinite purpose is so empowering and being passionate about more than one
[01:11:17.040 -> 01:11:21.880] thing is entirely possible. What are your thoughts on infinite purpose, Damien?
[01:11:21.880 -> 01:11:28.480] I think it's an incredibly powerful driver. The management writer Jim Collins once wrote about this idea of your core,
[01:11:28.480 -> 01:11:31.000] which is your infinite purpose, versus your strategy.
[01:11:31.000 -> 01:11:33.040] So his point was that if you have a...
[01:11:33.040 -> 01:11:37.320] If you're clear about your core, your strategy can take different forms.
[01:11:37.320 -> 01:11:40.640] So in his original book, he spoke about Nokia.
[01:11:40.640 -> 01:11:43.680] So Nokia's core is about connecting people.
[01:11:43.680 -> 01:11:47.000] And yet they started in Finland as a paper mill,
[01:11:47.000 -> 01:11:51.000] which was about giving people the means to write to each other and connect that way.
[01:11:51.000 -> 01:11:54.000] Then they went into telephone wires and rubber casing for that,
[01:11:54.000 -> 01:11:57.000] and then they eventually went into mobile phones.
[01:11:57.000 -> 01:12:01.000] But their core was always about how do you help people to connect?
[01:12:01.000 -> 01:12:04.000] Their strategy changed with the times.
[01:12:04.000 -> 01:12:08.320] And I think when we're all clear about what our core is, sut rydych chi'n helpu pobl i gysylltu, eu strategaeth, i newid gyda'r amserau. Ac rwy'n credu, pan fyddwn i'n hollol glir am beth mae ein chwrdd yn ymwneud â'i wneud,
[01:12:08.320 -> 01:12:12.800] fel i mi, mae'n ymwneud â gwneud gwahaniaeth positif i bywydau pobl.
[01:12:12.800 -> 01:12:16.240] Gallwch ddod o'r ffordd gwahanol i'w wneud hynny, oherwydd yw'n ymwneud â gwneud y podcast hon,
[01:12:16.240 -> 01:12:19.600] neu os yw'n ymwneud â gweithio gyda unigolion neu tîmau,
[01:12:19.600 -> 01:12:25.920] neu ymwneud â ddysgu. Efallai y bydd eich strategaeth yn wahanol, ond mae'r chwrdd yn rhan o'r un. writing books, your strategy might be different, but the core remains the same. Should I tell you something?
[01:12:25.920 -> 01:12:26.760] Go on.
[01:12:26.760 -> 01:12:28.560] For the first time in my whole career,
[01:12:28.560 -> 01:12:30.400] I actually feel useful.
[01:12:30.400 -> 01:12:31.280] Go on.
[01:12:31.280 -> 01:12:32.800] Well, I feel like I'm doing something
[01:12:32.800 -> 01:12:34.360] that is actually helpful to people.
[01:12:34.360 -> 01:12:36.880] Like I love hosting football matches
[01:12:36.880 -> 01:12:40.560] and I get gratification from doing live coverage.
[01:12:40.560 -> 01:12:42.920] And I think this podcast has informed the way
[01:12:42.920 -> 01:12:44.560] that I present those programmes as well.
[01:12:44.560 -> 01:12:47.320] Cause I talk about, you you know the deeper stuff rather than
[01:12:47.320 -> 01:12:50.720] just you know tactics or whatever yeah and before that I loved doing F1 I love
[01:12:50.720 -> 01:12:54.880] traveling the world and I love you know all of that stuff and before that
[01:12:54.880 -> 01:12:59.400] children's BBC was a great learning curve but none of those things made me
[01:12:59.400 -> 01:13:04.160] feel like I had a real purpose or I was useful to others like doing this
[01:13:04.160 -> 01:13:07.040] podcast does I've never had the reaction or the comments
[01:13:07.040 -> 01:13:10.320] or the messages from people about how we're inspiring them.
[01:13:10.320 -> 01:13:13.200] And that kind of takes me back to my infinite purpose,
[01:13:13.200 -> 01:13:15.480] I think, because I've been thinking about it so much
[01:13:15.480 -> 01:13:17.280] since we chatted with Susie.
[01:13:17.280 -> 01:13:20.200] And I think I've realized why I now feel useful
[01:13:20.200 -> 01:13:22.880] is because doing stuff for myself is fun,
[01:13:22.880 -> 01:13:30.320] but doesn't really do much for me. So my infinite purpose is now to empower, inspire and encourage everyone around me
[01:13:30.880 -> 01:13:35.680] through being 100% positive. Because that's what I've realised I love,
[01:13:35.680 -> 01:13:40.560] like sharing other people's stories or having conversations that others get a lot from.
[01:13:40.560 -> 01:13:44.400] So then that means I'm passionate about what I'm doing, because every time I do something,
[01:13:44.400 -> 01:13:45.280] if I say, right,
[01:13:45.280 -> 01:13:48.500] is that going to empower, inspire and encourage others?
[01:13:48.500 -> 01:13:49.340] Yes, it is.
[01:13:49.340 -> 01:13:50.160] That's my passion.
[01:13:50.160 -> 01:13:52.040] So as long as everything I'm doing comes back
[01:13:52.040 -> 01:13:54.960] to that infinite purpose, it means I'm passionate about it.
[01:13:54.960 -> 01:13:57.360] And I've always believed that your greatest energy source
[01:13:57.360 -> 01:13:58.200] is your passion.
[01:13:58.200 -> 01:14:00.080] You don't have to try and find energy
[01:14:00.080 -> 01:14:01.360] if you've got passion for something
[01:14:01.360 -> 01:14:02.560] cause the energy is there.
[01:14:02.560 -> 01:14:07.280] So that the infinite purpose thing combined Os oes gennych ffyrdd o rai pethau, oherwydd mae'r energia yno. Felly, y peth infinitiaeth, yn cysylltu ag y teimlad
[01:14:07.280 -> 01:14:09.520] oeddwn i'n ddifrif,
[01:14:09.520 -> 01:14:10.640] ymlaen, ar gyfer y cyntaf,
[01:14:10.640 -> 01:14:12.400] ar ôl bod yn fath a'r ffynedd,
[01:14:12.400 -> 01:14:13.240] ac y stwff.
[01:14:14.680 -> 01:14:15.600] Dyna'r peth ar gyfer fi.
[01:14:15.600 -> 01:14:16.800] Dyna'r pwysau infinitiaeth.
[01:14:16.800 -> 01:14:18.840] Dyna nawr y llwyddiant sy'n ymgyrchu, os ydych chi'n hoffi.
[01:14:18.840 -> 01:14:20.400] Ac rwy'n credu bod hynny'n llawer o waith
[01:14:20.400 -> 01:14:21.520] i chi rannu, Jake,
[01:14:21.520 -> 01:14:22.400] oherwydd rwy'n credu,
[01:14:22.400 -> 01:14:23.520] rwy'n ofyn arno'n ffordd
[01:14:23.520 -> 01:14:27.000] pan dydw i'n gweithio gyda phobl fel y test Gandhi, oherwydd mae'ndu, dwi'n dweud hynny'n ddiddorol i chi rannu, Jake, oherwydd rwy'n credu, rwy'n ymddangos arno pan dwi'n gweithio gyda phobl fel y test Ghandi,
[01:14:27.000 -> 01:14:31.000] oherwydd mae'n Ghandi sy'n dweud y byddwch chi'n meddwl, eich sgwyrion a'ch gynnyrch yn ymgyrchu,
[01:14:31.000 -> 01:14:35.000] dyna lle mae harmoni a'r amgylchedd yn dechrau dod yn fyw.
[01:14:35.000 -> 01:14:38.000] Ac rwy'n credu, os oes unrhyw un yn clywed hynny i ddeall,
[01:14:38.000 -> 01:14:41.000] gweithio'n ymchwil arno, gweithio'n ymchwil arno ar y momentau
[01:14:41.000 -> 01:14:44.000] sy'n llunio eich dyn, sy'n cynnwys eich cyffredin,
[01:14:44.000 -> 01:14:47.000] sy'n ffwylio' ffasion hwnnw,
[01:14:47.000 -> 01:14:48.000] ac yna gweithio allan.
[01:14:48.000 -> 01:14:49.000] Pa mor allaf i wneud o hynny?
[01:14:49.000 -> 01:14:52.000] Ac nid yw'n bair iawn i unrhyw un o ni,
[01:14:52.000 -> 01:14:53.000] fel y dywedwch chi yno.
[01:14:53.000 -> 01:14:56.000] Rydych chi wedi cael gyrfa arbennig,
[01:14:56.000 -> 01:14:58.000] ac i gyd rydych chi'n ddysgu hyn
[01:14:58.000 -> 01:15:01.000] fel y pryd rydych chi'n teimlo'n ddefnyddiol,
[01:15:01.000 -> 01:15:03.000] mae'n gwybod arbennig iawn i bobl
[01:15:03.000 -> 01:15:06.960] nad ydym ni'n dynnu'r gwybod hyn, rhaid fynd i'w ddysgu a'i ddod o'r gwybod ar gyfer ni.
[01:15:06.960 -> 01:15:09.160] Diolch Damien, mae'n ddiddorol i chi ddweud hynny
[01:15:09.160 -> 01:15:11.160] a dydych chi'n rhaid i mi ddod o'r gwybod
[01:15:11.160 -> 01:15:25.400] o ran fy mod i'n dod o'r gwybod o'r gwybod o'r gwybod o'r gwybod o'r gwybod o'r gwybod o'r gwybod o'r gwybod o'r gwybod o'r gwybod o'r gwybod o'r gwybod o'r gwybod o'r gwybod o'r gwybod o'r gwybod o'r gwybod o'r gwybod o'r gwybod o'r gwybod o'r gwybod o'r gwybod o'r gwybod o'r gwybod o'r gwybod o'r gwybod o'r gwybod o'r gwybod o'r gwybod o'r gwybod o'r gwybod o'r gwybod o'r gwybod o'r gwybod o'r gwybod o'r gwybod o'r gwybod o'r gwybod o'r gwybod o'r gwybod o'r gwybod o'r gwybod o'r gwybod o'r gwybod o'r gwy to his first ever blog. And basically what happened was he was feeling rubbish. He was having a really difficult start to the year
[01:15:25.400 -> 01:15:27.280] after homeschooling an eight year old
[01:15:28.360 -> 01:15:30.760] and his work-life balance was completely blurred.
[01:15:30.760 -> 01:15:33.080] And then he said, he listened to the Matthew McConaughey
[01:15:33.080 -> 01:15:35.080] episode of the High Performance Podcast,
[01:15:35.080 -> 01:15:37.480] which lit a fire inside him and made him realise
[01:15:37.480 -> 01:15:39.280] he needs to find some green lights.
[01:15:39.280 -> 01:15:41.840] And so he's there finding green lights, which is great.
[01:15:41.840 -> 01:15:44.040] And really what he wants to say there is,
[01:15:44.040 -> 01:15:45.960] you know, this made me start a whole new journey.
[01:15:45.960 -> 01:15:47.160] It can do the same for you as well.
[01:15:47.160 -> 01:15:50.160] And I just want really people to understand Damien,
[01:15:50.160 -> 01:15:53.120] that you can get inspiration from anywhere.
[01:15:53.120 -> 01:15:55.040] Susie Ma spoke at the beginning of her episode
[01:15:55.040 -> 01:15:56.760] about watching a Disney film, Soul,
[01:15:56.760 -> 01:15:58.240] and getting some inspiration from that.
[01:15:58.240 -> 01:15:59.840] I don't want people to think,
[01:15:59.840 -> 01:16:01.560] yeah, I really have got this thing I want to do,
[01:16:01.560 -> 01:16:04.560] but, you know, a podcast can't change my mind
[01:16:04.560 -> 01:16:28.460] and make me go for it. Like it can, it doesn't matter where the inspiration comes from. Dwi ddim yn meddwl, dwi ddim podcast like this and listening to today's guest, Stephen or Matthew,
[01:16:28.460 -> 01:16:30.140] as that comment was about,
[01:16:30.140 -> 01:16:33.020] or the soul film that Susie described.
[01:16:33.020 -> 01:16:35.780] I think it shows you that if you've got that mindset
[01:16:35.780 -> 01:16:38.460] of being open to learn and being a sponge,
[01:16:38.460 -> 01:16:40.500] the lessons are out there for all of us.
[01:16:40.500 -> 01:16:41.700] Yeah, absolutely.
[01:16:41.700 -> 01:16:43.280] And I hope that for you at home,
[01:16:43.280 -> 01:16:46.480] you've really learned and enjoyed this conversation
[01:16:46.480 -> 01:16:47.320] with Stephen Hendry.
[01:16:47.320 -> 01:16:49.160] I'm not saying that you will necessarily have agreed
[01:16:49.160 -> 01:16:50.680] with everything that he had to say,
[01:16:50.680 -> 01:16:53.720] but both Damien and I think there was a real bravery
[01:16:53.720 -> 01:16:56.800] to come on something like this and be totally honest.
[01:16:56.800 -> 01:16:58.480] I think we both feel, don't we Damien,
[01:16:58.480 -> 01:17:00.960] that Stephen told us absolutely everything.
[01:17:00.960 -> 01:17:03.000] I don't think there's any part of that
[01:17:03.000 -> 01:17:04.640] that was him saying, well, I think this,
[01:17:04.640 -> 01:17:06.080] but I'm only going to say this.
[01:17:06.080 -> 01:17:08.200] I think he just told us exactly what he really thought.
[01:17:08.200 -> 01:17:10.800] Yeah, I thought it was incredibly brave
[01:17:10.800 -> 01:17:13.600] to come and just give a undiluted view of the world,
[01:17:13.600 -> 01:17:18.240] not worry about sounding, whether it's politically correct
[01:17:18.240 -> 01:17:21.600] or whether he feels that it would go down well.
[01:17:21.600 -> 01:17:23.480] He was being completely honest
[01:17:23.480 -> 01:17:48.720] and whether you agree with him or not, that's not the point. He's telling you his journey. oedd yn dweud, iawn, iawn, iawn, iawn, iawn, iawn, iawn, iawn, iawn, iawn, iawn, iawn, iawn, iawn, iawn, iawn, iawn, iawn, iawn, iawn, iawn, iawn, iawn, iawn, iawn, iawn, iawn, iawn, iawn, iawn, iawn, iawn, iawn, iawn, iawn, iawn, iawn, iawn, iawn, iawn, iawn, iawn, iawn, iawn, iawn, iawn, iawn, iawn, iawn, iawn, iawn, iawn, iawn, iawn, iawn, iawn, iawn, iawn, iawn, iawn, iawn, iawn, iawn, iawn, iawn, iawn, iawn, iawn, iawn, iawn, iawn, iawn, iawn, iawn, iawn, iawn, iawn, iawn, iawn, iawn, iawn, iawn, iawn, iawn, iawn, iawn, iawn, iawn, iawn, iawn, iawn, iawn, iawn, iawn, iawn, iawn, iawn, iawn, iawn, iawn, iawn, iawn, iawn, iawn, iawn, iawn, iawn, iawn, iawn, iawn, iawn, iawn, iawn, iawn, iawn, iawn, iawn, iawn, iawn, iawn, iawn, iawn, iawn, iawn, iawn, iawn, iawn, iawn, iawn, iawn, iawn, iawn, iawn, iawn, iawn, iawn, iawn, iawn, iawn, iawn, iawn, team for their hard work, to Will, to Hannah, to Finn from Rethink Audio for what he's done on the
[01:17:48.720 -> 01:17:53.520] pod as well, but most of all we want to thank you. Just a reminder that for you to rate
[01:17:53.520 -> 01:17:56.920] and review the pod, to share the pod, to tell your friends, to talk about it on your social
[01:17:56.920 -> 01:18:02.280] media accounts, it changes everything for us. So please, if you can, keep on doing that
[01:18:02.280 -> 01:18:06.960] and don't forget, on Wednesday, really big news
[01:18:06.960 -> 01:18:08.400] from the High Performance Podcast.
[01:18:08.400 -> 01:18:10.720] So check in for a new episode
[01:18:10.720 -> 01:18:12.600] and a big announcement as well.
[01:18:12.600 -> 01:18:13.420] See you soon.
[01:18:28.840 -> 01:18:32.680] Save big on the brands you love at the Fred Meyer 5AM Black Friday Sale! Shop in-store on Black Friday for 50% off socks and underwear!
[01:18:32.680 -> 01:18:35.880] Board games and card games are buy one get one free!
[01:18:35.880 -> 01:18:39.880] Save on great gifts for everyone like TVs and appliances!
[01:18:39.880 -> 01:18:44.160] And the first 100 customers on Black Friday will get free gift cards too!
[01:18:44.160 -> 01:18:49.360] So shop Friday, November 24th and save big! Doors open at 5 a.m. so get there early!
[01:18:49.360 -> 01:18:53.440] Fred Meyer, fresh for everyone!