Novak Djokovic won the Most Improved Player of the Year award in 2007. That was the year he won his first Grand Slam and defeated both Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal for the first time.

But it wasn’t until 2011 that Djokovic started consistently outperforming his rivals.

Before 2011, Djokovic’s record:

• Against Federer: 6 wins and 12 defeats
• Against Nadal: 7 wins and 16 defeats

By the end of Federer and Nadal’s careers, Djokovic had reversed the record:

• Against Federer: 27 wins and 22 defeats
• Against Nadal: 31 wins and 29 defeats

So what changed? How did Djokovic improve his game?

He started winning more games when he had to return the serve. While Djokovic already won 86% of the games serving first, he began winning more than 33% of games while returning as well.

Djokovic’s return game improved because he learned to wait.

Experts analyzing his game say that Djokovic seems to find more time to play a shot than others. He waits just a split second longer before playing his shot. This lets him make fewer mistakes and play the optimal return.

How did Djokovic cultivate this patience? To ensure he can consistently wait that little bit extra, Djokovic trained hard. He cultivated patience to sharpen his timing and decision-making skills. But can anyone learn this kind of patience?

The Marshmallow Experiment

The marshmallow experiment is a famous longitudinal study conducted by psychologist Walter Mischel. A child was placed in a room with a single marshmallow. The researcher told the child they could eat the treat immediately or wait until the researcher returned and get an additional treat.

Only about a third of the kids could wait for the instructor to return. But over the years, the children who delayed gratification were the ones who had higher marks in school, better emotional coping skills, a lower likelihood of addiction, and higher-paying jobs.

Delaying and waiting have tremendous benefits. When you wait, you make better decisions and lead a better life.

So what did the kids who delayed gratification do? How did they resist temptation?

They would look away from the marshmallow. They would hum, play with their hands, or make up imaginary games. The main idea: they focused on something else actively.

Waiting is an active task.

As Alex Hormozi says: “Patience is figuring out what to do in the meantime.” It takes energy to wait. You have to plan for it. Lazy people cannot wait. It takes hard work to do nothing and wait.

Djokovic puts in that hard work. He practices for the pause. He plans for it. His strategy mirrors the kids who delayed eating the marshmallow: he tunes out distractions and shifts his focus.

Before the game, Djokovic prepares his mind by visualizing how he waits just a bit longer before hitting the ball.

During the game, he stands with a wider leg stance and jumps when the opponent’s ball touches their racquet. This stance gives him the power to react faster.

But what he does during the wait is what helps most. Djokovic focuses on his breathing, not on the ball. In fact, he considers the ball a distraction. By focusing on the player rather than the ball, Djokovic gathers more details on how to react effectively.

Through breathing control and shifting his focus on the opponent player, Djokovic achieves the extra split-second wait that sets him apart.

It’s this skill of patience – of figuring out what to do in the meantime – that Djokovic developed that has allowed him to win a record 24 Grand Slams!

Action Summary:

• Cultivate patience to give yourself more time, which leads to better decision making.

• Patience is simply figuring out what to do in the meantime. It means shifting your focus away actively.
  
• Patience is not passive. It is an active task and requires discipline and practice.