MESSAGE #1000 THANK YOU!!!
In this video blog, Ed talks about blog Message #1000 and an exciting contest that runs today only!
MESSAGE #999 LEADERSHIP (and failure)
Today I’m going back to where I failed out twice, Rider University, while studying computers.
No, I’m not going back to get my degree (I have a degree from Ferris State University’s Marketing/Professional Tennis Management program).
I’m going back to Rider to be the opening speaker for their Team Leadership Challenge. This is my second time speaking at this great event and this year’s theme is “Navigating Your Way to Success.”
That’s funny to me.
When I started college it was as if I needed a map, but after failing out twice, I CHOSE to follow my passion (sports) and transferred to Ferris State. My grades skyrocketed. I graduated in 1997 and was named Pro of the Year for the USTA in 2005. After that, I started my own business, wrote a book and became a motivational speaker.
So what is leadership?
I think a big part of leadership is being brave enough to follow your passion. It’s about helping others. Leaders do things because it is the right thing to do, regardless of what others may think. That’s when people will follow. But it’s not about having followers…
The function of leadership is to produce more leaders, not more followers. -RALPH NADER
If you look at all of the great leaders in history, they all made everyone else better, whether it is Michael Jordan, Oprah Winfrey, Martin Luther King or Henry Ford. Focusing on yourself is weak. Focusing on others is powerful.
So today I hope to motivate, energize, and inspire the students at Rider, but more importantly, I hope to produce more leaders.
MESSAGE #998 THE TAO
From the Tao Te Ching (written around 500 B.C.)…
A great misfortune comes about
With the feeling, ‘I have an enemy’
For when ‘I’ and ‘enemy’ exist together
There is no room left for my treasureThus, when two opponents meet
The one who does not see an enemy
Will surely triumph (69)
MESSAGE #997 HOW ‘BOUT THESE APPLES
Today’s message is especially dedicated to the great Laura Mosiello.
One of my all-time favorite quotes is, “Anyone can count the number of seeds in an apple; no one can count the number of apples in a seed.”
What does this quote mean?
You have unlimited potential. Don’t let what others say affect what you are capable of. NOBODY knows what you are capable of. The sky’s the limit.
Here’s another type of Apple – I recently got an iPhone and I absolutely love it. I know many Apple users and they all agree that their customer service is by far the best. Below is a great quote, this time by Apple co-founder and CEO, Steve Jobs.
Your time is limited, don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma, which is living the result of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of other’s opinion drowned your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition, they somehow already know what yo truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.
MESSAGE #996 FEAR
Today’s message is especially dedicated to Justin Cohen and Kristen Carlin. Happy Birthday to two peak performers.
FEAR – False Experiences Appearing Real
Have you ever feared an opponent before you even started playing?
Why would you do that?
Once we perceive our opponent as a “threat” they own our power and our energy.
Let me put it this way…
Think back to a time when you were totally “on” your game. Did you notice that everything was “just” flowing? Did you notice that you were playing with loose focus and had very little self-talk?
We play best when we “just do it” and focus on our strategy, effort and energy (controllables).
Fear to some people is excitement to others. (Think of a roller coaster).
Supposedly, when Pete Sampras was at 5-5 in a set, a time when most people tighten up, he thought to himself, “Oh yea, this is what it’s all about.” He loved the pressure.
It may take ten years (or the rest of time) to get even close to Sampras, physically, but you can be just as good as him almost instantly by having the same mindset as him.
MESSAGE #995 PERSPECTIVES
Today’s message is especially dedicated to the great Andrew Gong.
So I have a new puppy, Jordan (above). She’s 10 weeks old and probably only a couple of pounds. As I was on the floor, observing and playing with her, something amazing happened. I started seeing things differently. I noticed things closer to the ground, under tables and I even noticed the temperature of the floor. Neither perspective is right or wrong, they are just different. I also noticed how puppies stay in the present moment – mine loves to explore and everything is so interesting. She’s not thinking about yesterday or if she’s going to grow up to be a successful pooch.
Children have this mindset as well. Somewhere along the line, we (adults), have been conditioned to focus on the past and the future. It doesn’t have to be that way.
We have a habit of looking at things from our narrow points of view (and we think that our way is THE way), but the reality is that there are many perspectives. When you lose a match in tennis, do you look at it as failure or feedback?
Here’s your assignment for today…
Look at things from others’ perspectives today (your clients, your students, your teachers, your parents, your pets, etc). See how the world looks different from their eyes. Really put yourself in their shoes (Go ahead, get down on all fours with your puppy). Then think how you might see others and treat others differently.
Thanks for reading.
MESSAGE #994 OPPORTUNITY
Every game is an opportunity to measure yourself against your own potential.
— Bud Wilkinson
MESSAGE #993 THE MENTAL GAME: A SNEAK PREVIEW
There is an amazing book coming out soon and I had the pleasure of getting my hands on the first draft of the manual. The book is called Game “On”: The Flow, the Zone, & the State of “On,” in Sports and Life by Jonathan Star. Here is an excerpt…
You are not your thoughts
A major step in the mental game is coming to the understanding that you are not your thoughts (or emotions). You are not your mind or your self-image. So, the first step involves changing the relationship you have with your thoughts and emotions. (The mere fact that you have a relationship with your thoughts , and that you can change your relationship, tells us rather clearly that you are something different from your thoughts). You must make a distinction between you (the one who is aware of your thoughts) and your thoughts (which you are aware of). There is a very clear distinction between these two, yet most people are not cognizant of it; they fully identify with their thoughts and somehow believe that they are their thoughts, and that life is about reacting to every thought and emotion that comes into their awareness. This is living life like a puppet – where your thoughts and emotions pull the strings and you dance. Shouldn’t you be the one controlling the strings?
Stay tuned for more, as well as workshops with me and the great Jonathan Star.
MESSAGE #992 CAESARS TENNIS CLASSIC
In this video blog, Ed reports from the Caesars Tennis Classic in Atlantic City, New Jersey with Andy Roddick, Marat Safin, Ivan Lendl, Mats Wilander, Pete Sampras and Venus Williams.
MESSAGE #991 A PEAK PERFORMANCE PRINCIPLE: HOW TO CREATE GREATNESS
Today’s message is especially dedicated to Manon Bollegraf in the Netherlands, Ash Kulkarni in New York City, Candice Carlin in Philadelphia and Kimberly Slater in Cherry Hill, NJ. Happy Birthday to you all!
Before you set foot onto the tennis court next time, ask yourself this question…
Am I going to let how I play determine my attitude, or am I going to let my attitude determine how I play?
Think about it – most people react to how they play, but the great ones CREATE how they want to play; it’s a choice.
Act as if it were impossible to fail.
For those of you going to the Caesars Tennis Classic in Atlantic City today, look for me in the press box. I will be taking photographs and shooting videos. Find me and you win a prize.