"What was going through your head on those last three points you hit into the net?"
I wanted to throw my racket at his face.
We were playing tennis—me and David Creswell, this psychology graduate student the team had brought in to work with us. I was fifteen years old. He was asking questions I didn't want to answer about a casual game I didn't even care about.
But here's the thing I couldn't ignore: I hadn't just hit three random shots into the net. I'd been winning the entire game. Dominating. Then something changed in the last few points and I lost.
"I don't know," I said.
"Yes you do."
The whole team had dismissed this guy immediately. He wasn't a "real athlete." What could some academic possibly tell Olympic-caliber athletes about peak performance?
But he kept asking questions.
"Why did you hesitate there? What were you thinking when you pulled back at the end? What's that voice in your head saying right now?"
Then one day, after I'd lost another game I should have won, Creswell said something that stopped me cold:
"You're not losing to me. You're losing to that voice that tells you to pull back the moment you're about to win."
I stood there holding the racket, and I couldn't move.
He was right.
This is what I call "The Voice Before the Finish Line"—and it's one of the most important concepts I explore as a leadership speaker. There was something in me—some self-sabotaging instinct—that kicked in right at the moment of victory. Most people have a version of this voice. It speaks different words in different contexts, but the function is the same: it shows up right when you're about to succeed.
I've seen this pattern in executives, founders, and leaders across every industry. The VP who undermines their own promotion interview. The founder who sabotages the deal at the last minute. The executive who picks a fight with their board right before a critical vote. The pattern is so common it's almost universal.
In corporate workshops on mental peak performance, I help leaders recognize this pattern in themselves. The arrogance that says: I'm so good I can spot you these points. And the worthlessness that says: You don't actually deserve this.
Both voices running simultaneously. Feeding each other. Trying to destroy everything.
When I advise executives through high-stakes moments, we often spend time mapping their internal voices. Who shows up when? What are they saying? The ones who can articulate their sabotage patterns are the ones who can interrupt them.
That conversation with a guy I didn't respect changed my entire career. Not because he taught me techniques. Because he showed me what I was doing to myself and once I could see it, I couldn't unsee it.
We sometimes carry that pattern into everything. Racing. Relationships. Business. The voice that whispers right before the finish line: you don't actually deserve this.
What's your voice saying right before the finish line?
About Apolo Ohno: Apolo Ohno is a sought-after keynote speaker and leadership advisor known for translating elite performance principles into practical leadership behaviors. His work focuses on authentic leadership, executive presence, and the Gold Medal Mindset - helping executives and teams perform with clarity under pressure, communicate with conviction, and lead with credibility when the stakes are high. In his keynotes and workshops, Apolo helps leaders identify the unseen patterns, narratives, and habits that quietly limit performance, then replace them with a repeatable system for focus, resilience, and decisive action.