Irrespective of who's up against me at tournaments, I have always relied completely on my own strengths to get as far as I can, and tried to adapt my game according to the match-situation.
An effective executive builds on strengths - their own strengths, the strengths of superiors, colleagues, subordinates, and on the strength of the situation.
Before I was going into tournaments and just hoping I would win one match. But now I'll go into tournaments expecting to do well and if I bring my best game I know I can win them and beat all the big players.
I do think one of my strengths is the ability to adapt to whatever the situation is.
I think every coach has to adapt to what they have, because they're what you get. You can't just go out to the player tree and pick all the great ones. That doesn't happen. You get a Barry Sanders every now and then. You get a Billy Sims every once in a while. And when you have it, you adapt to their strengths. Whoever comes in here and whoever has this job needs to adapt and will do that.
I grew up being a huge fan of Bruce Lee, and this quote always stuck out to me. He said, "Water can flow, or it can crash. If you put it into a teapot, it becomes the teapot." It always made sense to me to adapt the flow and roll with whatever the situation is and to not think about it too much and get caught up in it. It works easier for me that way.
Everyone has strengths and weaknesses, you just have to know how to match up against a player.
Anything that would help me get my ranking up and get me seeded at tournaments will make my draws a lot easier and give me a much better opportunity to go deep in these tournaments.
I didn't learn how to swing a golf club until late in my career. And even though I won all those tournaments, I still struggled with consistency, and I relied on my strengths, which were hitting the ball long and high, and I could chip and putt with the best of 'em.
When it's game situation, when it's game day, game time, when it's World Cup, when it's these tournaments that happen once every so often, I live for that, I live for that challenge.
Reading 'Youth in Revolt' might have ruined my career because suddenly I wanted to abandon all the emotional truth of something and just go out far on a literary limb with completely implausible things that relied completely on voice and humor. And what saved me is realizing that I couldn't do that very well.
They tried to get me to use a pick when I first joined the band. They had certain things they thought were appropriate. I tried to adapt as much as I could.
Everybody evaluates their own situation as far as playing this game.
I am a bit difficult to be around sometimes. I can be stubborn on a lot of things, and I'm set, but I can also adapt in a conflict situation and don't hold on to an ego. I end up seeing the larger good and adapt to it, provided it benefits me. I may come across as a cold person, but I am extremely sentimental.
It's always interesting to be playing against some of my best friends and some of my longtime teammates. You get to see them before the game and after the game and it's always nice to catch up but when the whistle blows it's sort of all business on the field.
I always had fun with my great friend Rey Mysterio Jr. I think it would be fantastic to have my very last match against someone like him because my very first match in WWE was against Rey Mysterio Jr. I know that all the pro wrestling fans, in particular the Mexican fans, would love to see Rey Mysterio against me for my very last match.
I always tried to be an all-around player. In college, I felt like I needed to add to my game to get to another level, to get to the NBA. The NBA has really turned to positionless basketball, so it was very important to me to have an all-around game so I could stand out in front of other guys.