The name Shane Watson is synonymous with cricketing excellence. But little do the fans know there is a personal tragedy behind all those accolades that have transformed his life and career.
It was during a Sheffield Shield match in 2014 that Watson witnessed one of the worst incidents in cricketing history. A bouncer from his teammate and close friend Phillip Hughes hit him on the neck. Two days later, Hughes died, though he had been wearing a helmet at the time. The incident served as a rude reminder of cricket's inherent dangers and left Watson struggling with an immense sense of loss and fear.
For Watson, Hughes’s death marked a turning point. Every time he stepped onto the field, memories of that day haunted him. The fearless batsman, once undeterred by the prospect of facing a 150-kilometer-per-hour delivery, found his mind clouded with doubt. The fear affected his form, leading to a downward spiral in his career. “I’d never had any fear before, but suddenly, every short ball brought negative thoughts,” Watson recalls. "I didn't know how to override them."
It nearly made him retire early, but a random get-together with Australian IndyCar champion Will Power turned out to be a ray of hope in the tunnel. Watson had confided his problem in Power at one of the award nights, to which Power confided that he had also faced the same fear that gripped Watson, when a friend was killed due to a mishap in a race. A Canadian high performance mindset coach had helped Power regain confidence over it. Watson, motivated by this chance meeting, connected with Dallaire.
Dallaire introduced Watson to 'performance thinking': science-based thinking that allows people to take control of their thoughts and emotions in high-pressure situations. The result was immediate and deep-reaching: the phobia of short-pitched deliveries was gone, and Watson could think straight, hanging in there until the form flew off, taking the astonishing T20 century against India with it. These, however, did not just happen on the cricket field, but Watson was becoming a better father, partner, and friend with deeper bonding and more uplifting interactions.
Empowered by this journey, Watson wanted to share these life-changing techniques with others. Along with his wife Lee Furlong, Watson started Beon Performance—a mindset coaching business that helps individuals unleash their full potential within both their professional and personal lives. His book, The Winner's Mindset, amplifies all these ideals and puts them into practice so that many obstacles can be overcome. Written from his own personal experience and knowledge of cricketing legends such as Ricky Ponting and Viv Richards, the book is an outpouring of the power in a person's control of their mind towards success.
The book’s success inspired Watson to collaborate with global technology company SafetyCulture to create an interactive online course, The Winner’s Mindset: When Performance Matters. The course combines videos, quizzes, and audio segments to provide an engaging, self-paced learning experience. “Developing the course has been one of the most fulfilling things I’ve ever done,” Watson says.
Today, Watson's story has come full circle. The cricketing icon is now a mindset coach, an author, and a motivator, committed to helping others cross their own hurdles in life. "Learning how to get into a high-performance mindset changed my life," he reflects. "I want to spread the word so it can bring joy and fulfillment to others."
The story of Shane Watson serves as proof of the power of resilience, where tragedies may become successes through human strength and endurance. Transforming all he went through to inspire and serve others has formed his legacy, transcending the confines of cricketing arenas and creating an ever-expanding wave of support for those facing fear and unlocking true potential.
