Serena Williams Turns to Prince Harry for Life Advice
He’s solved a few problems of his own in recent years. So it comes as no surprise that when Serena Williams’s needs a little bit of life advice, she often turns to Prince Harry.
During a virtual event for BetterUp, the employee coaching and mental health service provider that Harry joined in 2021, Williams admitted that the Duke of Sussex has become one of her go-to people for help solving some of life’s problems.
“I know I joke a lot, but Harry is actually one of my coaches,” Williams said during a conversation with the company’s CEO, Alex Robichaux. “Whenever I see him, he’s always solving all my life’s problems, so I kind of give that to your BetterUp coach. It’s kind of helped me. … I’m like, ‘Okay, I need some more problems to solve. When can I come over? ’Cause you just always figure it out for me.”
Though helpful, Harry admitted that he has to regularly remind himself to focus on his well-being. “The self-care is the first thing that drops away [when you are experiencing burnout]. I’m happy to admit that—as a husband, as a dad,” he shared, adding that he tries to spend 30 to 45 minutes every morning to focus on himself.
He added, “Okay, one of the kids has gone to school. The other one’s taking a nap. There’s a break in our program. It’s like, right, it’s either for workout, take the dog for a walk, get out in nature, maybe meditate.” It’s me-time that the duke says is just as important as brushing one’s teeth.
Williams, who admitted she still has “a little work to do” on following in Harry’s footsteps, confessed that her biggest struggle is when it comes to losing. “I even hate that word,” she explained. “Because for me, if I have a loss, I actually learn so much from it. … [But] some of my best growth has come from a loss.”
The tennis ace continued, “Even when I’m investing in a company, I actually want to know about your losses. If you started a company before, how did you do? … Where did you kind of fail at? Because if everything was so good and so clean and so easy, then that doesn’t even build character, you know?”
Harry added that life’s setbacks are often what help people continue to grow. “If you’re in your 20s, your 30s, your 40s, and even your 50s, and you think you’ve got it sorted, then bad stuff’s gonna happen,” the prince said.
During @BetterUp's #InnerWorkDay event, CEO @Arobichaux asked Prince Harry and @serenawilliams what advice they would share related to practicing mental fitness.
"It's work, but out of all the work we do... it is the most fulfilling," Harry said. "Apart from being a dad!" pic.twitter.com/xnKLXg7Hbl— Omid Scobie (@scobie) February 3, 2022
The pair were speaking as part of a series of virtual talks for BetterUp’s February 3 Inner Work Day, an event dedicated to “fueling” personal and professional growth. Harry was speaking in his role as chief impact officer, which he took on after being impressed with his experience of the company’s service. He went on to introduce the coaching app to Williams and make it available to all staff working at the Sussexes’ Archewell Foundation.
“The proof is in the pudding,” he said. "Just look at these companies that signed up or that had BetterUp coaches, you know, for the last however many years, and the numbers speak for themselves. The employees, their potential, their performance at work, but also at home has increased tenfold in some cases.”
Harry continued, “So not only are they better at work, therefore as the employer, you are welcome, you’re getting more out of me than you thought you would. But also you’re creating more capacity and more ability for those individuals when they go home to show up and be the person they need to be for their friends and their community, to be the parent that they need to be for their kids. So it is one whole sort of cycle of connectivity that ultimately means everybody around you starts to benefit. That’s the way I see it.”
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