"Mindset is everything": Ramla Ali and Katarina Johnson-Thompson on how to bounce back after failure

The top athletes Ramla Ali and Katarina Johnson-Thompson are used to success: Ali is the first Somali boxer to compete at the Olympic Games, and Johnson-Thompson is a double world champion heptathlete. But at this year’s Bazaar At Work Summit, the pair emphasised the importance of losing as well as winning over the course of your career, during an empowering panel discussion on the power of resilience.

From the importance of a healthy mindset to regaining your confidence after setbacks, they shared their advice for success – in every field.

1/ Stay determined

“When I started boxing – I’m a Somali and a Muslim – I was told that Muslim girls shouldn’t box,” explained Ali, who moved to England from Somalia as a refugee when she was a toddler. “They should go to school, get their education and then get married and have babies. So I was always encouraged to stop boxing. And I think the best advice I could give my younger self would be, don’t let anybody put you in a box because it serves them. Never stop achieving anything that you want to achieve.”

Ramla Ali (left) and Katarina Johnson-Thompson were just two of the headline speakers at the annual Summit

2/ Losses can be as formative as wins

“I used to think of winning as being the ultimate result, and losing being a bad result,” Johnson-Thompson told the audience. “And then I realised that they sort of intertwine. That’s when I started to do well.” Since 2019, she has sustained multiple – potentially career-ending – injuries, from rupturing her Achilles at the end of 2020, to tearing a calf muscle during the 200m sprint at the Tokyo Olympics. “They’ve definitely shown my character a lot more,” she says of the losses she sustained, and the difficulties she faced when she was injured. “Some of the times when I haven’t finished have ended up being some of my proudest moments.”

Katarina Johnson-Thompson told the audience that wins and losses intertwine on the route to success

For Ramla Ali, determination has been key to her career

For Ali, coming back to the ring after her first professional loss in June 2023 against Julissa Guzman was “very mentally challenging. Boxing is a horrible sport, because the fans are the worst! If you’re winning, you’re amazing, but if you’re losing – and excuse my language – you’re a piece of shit. And that’s literally what was being written on social media. That was quite hard. As a result, I wanted to avenge that loss. So I asked for a rematch with the same person. I had to fight a lot of demons to get myself into that ring again, especially with the person who beat me.” This time, she won against Guzman in Monaco.

3/ A good mindset matters

“For me, mindset is everything,” said Johnson-Thompson. “A disciplined mindset has changed my life. I kind of struggle with a fear mentality. That can look different for different people; for me, fear looks like, ‘Why would I put myself through this? I just want to cuddle my dogs all day and I don’t want to train.’ I’ll start saying these phrases because I’m scared to try again. Realising that I have a lot of different aspects to myself helped. I can be two people: I can be the person who wants to cuddle my dogs, and I can be the person who puts myself in the highest possible pressure situation. Those two people were fighting, and now I just wake up and make the choice: that’s the person I want to be today.”

The two athletes appeared on stage at our annual careers event to discuss the power of resilience

4/ Confidence is key

“I always say this: if you’re not 100 per cent confident that you’re going to win, then you shouldn’t do it,” advised Ali. “Because that’s when you get hurt and when you lose. You don’t want to put yourself in that mental headspace of feeling less than you are. Being confident is so important – I think that it’s a trait that can be transferred. You should always be confident in everything you do.”

5/ Lean on others

For Johnson-Thompson, the support of another outstanding athlete in her field – Jessica Ennis-Hill – has proved invaluable. “She’s almost like a mother figure. She helped me find different coaches, she’s been there in the lowest of lows, and she’s always on the end of the phone to text for advice,” she said.

Ramla Ali arriving at the 2023 Bazaar At Work Summit

Similarly, Ali recognises the importance of community through her not-for-profit initiative The Sisters Club, which she founded in 2018. “What started off as me just wanting to donate an hour of my time a week to teaching sport to vulnerable women turned into this massive community, a sisterhood,” she said. “I teach ethnic and religious minorities and women who suffer from domestic violence. Basically, women who find it hard to gain access to sport.”

6/ Remember that it’s about the process, not the result

“When I look at all my medals, what strikes me most is not what colour they are, but the journey that’s gone with them,” said Johnson-Thomson. “And that, to me, is more valuable.”