MESSAGE #954 PRINCETON INDEPENDENT AUTHOR EVENT
In this video blog, Ed Tseng reports from the Independent Author Event at the Princeton Public Library.
MESSAGE #953 HOW TO BE A LEADER
Recently, I was teaching on a court next to another instructor. All of a sudden I heard, “Watch this…” as the teacher stood with three tennis balls in his hand. The ball cart was on one side of the net and the he was on the other side, pretty far away. He threw the first tennis ball high and far…and missed. Then he threw another, high and far…and missed, all while his students watched. The final ball, he threw and actually made it. Everyone on his court celebrated.
Pretty cool, right?
WRONG.
We lead by example. Our students respect us. They want to use the same racquet that we use. They want to wear the same clothes that we wear. They may even start to walk like us.
When we (coaches, teachers, parents, managers) throw balls when we should be picking up, we are conditioning our students (employees, children) to do the same.
Sure enough, the next time his class was picking up balls, two of the four students attempted to throw balls into the ball cart.
Do you know what the instructor said?
“COME ON guys…you should be picking up.”
MESSAGE #952 THE PROBLEM…
I know what the problem is…
YOUR FEELINGS.
I know what the solution is…
YOUR ACTIONS.
Any questions?
Leave your comments below.
MESSAGE #951 DR. SEUSS
Yesterday was my father’s birthday. Do you know who else had a birthday yesterday?
Dr. Seuss.
He’s the childrens book author, right?
Wrong.
Everyone can learn from his words.
Here are some great quotes…
You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes.
You can steer yourself, any direction you choose.
Today you are you, that is truer than true. There is no one alive who is youer than you.
Today is your day! Your mountain is waiting. So… get on your way.
And will you succeed? Yes indeed, yes indeed! Ninety-eight and three-quarters percent guaranteed.
Happy Belated Birthday, Dr. Seuss.
What’s YOUR favorite quote? Leave your comments below…
MESSAGE #949 ACTING OUT
The key to mental toughness is staying in the present moment. Whenever we are not performing well, we are usually focused on either the past or the future, but the power is in the present. Below is a great excerpt from a great book…
The people who bother us most often reflect aspects of ourselves that we haven’t yet allowed into our present-moment awareness. These aspects reside in what psychologists refer to as the “shadow.” Pretending to be the people who bother us, and acting out those people’s worst qualities, is a powerful way to bring what’s in shadow to light.
The Practice:
Pick someone who really bugs you, who has a behavior so annoying that it makes you cringe. Now act out this person’s behavior. Don’t just make a timid attempt–exaggerate the quality until you can really feel it. Continue acting this way for at least a few minutes. When you’re done, investigate whether even a trace of this annoying quality exists in yourself. If so, are you willing to accept it? Keep in mind that complete acceptance is always the first step toward positive change.
(From “How Now” by Raphael Cushnir)
MESSAGE #948 FROM THE BEATLES
There’s nothing you can do that can’t be done.
Nothing you can sing that can’t be sung.
Nothing you can say but you can learn how to play the game. It’s easy.
Nothing you can make that can’t be made.
No one you can save that can’t be saved.
Nothing you can do but you can learn how to be you in time. It’s easy.
-THE BEATLES
The Beatles are no different from you and me.
“There’s nothing you can do that can’t be done.” It’s easy, just find successful people and do what they’re doing.
John, Paul, George and Ringo had a growth mindset, but they also knew the value of hard work.
In fact, in his book, Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell talks about how instead of playing one hour sets, once in a while in Liverpool, The Beatles went to Hamburg and played 7-8 hour sets seven days a week! Supposedly they were terrible on stage at first, but improved by putting in the time.
Everyone wants be an overnight success, but it takes ten years to become an overnight success…or 10,000 hours, according to Gladwell.
I know what you’re thinking, 10,000 hours is a long time!
I can help make it easier:
1. Instead of focusing on 10,000 hours, focus instead on one good hour…then do it 10,000 times.
2. Enjoy the process and those 10,000 hours will fly by.
3. Remember that hard work beats talent when talent doesn’t work hard.
Also from Outliers…
“The emerging picture from such studies is that ten thousand hours of practice is required to achieve the level of mastery associated with being a world-class expert–in anything. In study after study, of composers, basketball players, fiction writers, ice skaters, concert pianists, chess players, master criminals, and what have you, this number comes up again and again. … No one has yet found a case in which true world-class expertise was accomplished in less time. It seems that it takes the brain this long to assimilate all that it needs to know to achieve true mastery.”
There’s no short-cut…now get to work.
What are you trying to master? Leave your comments below…
MESSAGE #947 A GREAT STORY
In this video blog, Ed Tseng, Pro of the Year USTA 2005 and author of “Game. Set. Life.” shares a great story about “acting as if” and peak performance in sports and life.
MESSAGE #946 WALK LIKE A MATADOR
It’s easier to act yourself into a way of feeling than it is to feel yourself into a way of acting.
Dr. Jim Loehr once watched hundreds of hours of videotape of professional tennis matches and noticed a difference between the champions and everybody else. The difference wasn’t talent or skills, but what they did in the 15-20 seconds between points.
“Champions like Chris Evert…kept their heads high even when they’d lost a point, maintaining a confident posture that telegraphed no big deal. Loehr nicknamed this ‘the matador walk’ after a Spanish matador told him, ‘The most important lesson in courage is physical, not mental. From the age of 12, I was taught to walk in a way that produces courage.’
The tennis champions like Evert would next concentrate their gazes on their rackets or touch the strings with their fingers and stroll toward the back court–focusing, avoiding distraction, relaxing, and effectively letting the past go. After this mini-meditation, they’d turn back toward the net, bounce on their toes, and visualize playing the next point.” (Source: Psychotherapy Networker; “Living on Purpose” by Katy Butler)
What’s the point?
How you act is how you are going to feel.
Act how you want to feel and you will feel the way you act.
MESSAGE #944 TODAY IS THE ONLY DAY THAT MATTERS
If you would not be forgotten, as soon as you are dead and rotten,
either write things worth reading, or do things worth writing.
-BENJAMIN FRANKLIN
My only question to you is…
ARE YOU GOING ALL OUT?
If you’re a writer, write things that are worth reading. But if you’re not a writer, do things worth writing about.
I may not know you, but I know THIS about you…
1. You have unlimited potential.
2. All of the ability is already inside you (you just have to discover the strategy).
3. You can learn any skill, mental or physical.
4. You can’t win when you’re focused on winning.
5. You don’t have to be great at the start, but you need to start to be great.
So today is the only day that matters. Why?
Because you can only live one day at a time.
Make every day the most important day of your life.
Make every practice the most important practice of your life.
Make every competition the most important competition of your life.
If you do this, I’m sure you will be pleased with the results.
Go all out today!
MESSAGE #943 A MENTAL TOUGHNESS EXERCISE
It’s not what’s happening around you. It’s not what’s happening to you. What matters most is what’s happening inside you.
Today’s message is especially dedicated to the great Steven Nakagama Magee in Millburn, NJ.
EXERCISE:
Think back to a “good day” in your sport. Visualize what went on before, during and after that peak performance. Re-create those feelings and actions.
Now go back to a “bad day” that you had. Visualize what went on before, during and after that poor performance. Re-create those feelings and actions.
Compare the two.
The difference is always in your head.
So what does this mean?
It means you have to be mindful of your self-talk during practice and competition.
Instead of breaking yourself down, build yourself up.