A man is born gentle and weak.
At his death he is hard and stiff.
Green plants are tender and filled with sap.
At their death they are withered and dry.
Therefore the stiff and unbending is the disciple of death.
The gentle and yielding is the disciple of life.
Thus an army without flexibility never wins a battle.
A tree that is unbending is easily broken.
The hard and the strong will fall.
The soft and the weak will overcome.
-LAO TZU
We all know that sports are about 80 percent mental, so doesn’t that mean we should practice our mental game 80 percent of the time?
I met with meditation teacher, Jonathan Star yesterday and he explained his theory of “The Art of Being On” to me. It was very intriguing. An average tennis match lasts about 90 minutes and only approximately 18 of those minutes are actually playing. So Star developed a meditation to help you win “the game between points.”
Nobody can do it all on their own. Use all the brains you have and all that you can borrow. (Woodrow Wilson) I have a feeling Mr. Star and I will be collaborating on several projects in the near future. We have already begun planning a joint seminar.
Jonathan sought me out from the Princeton Peak Performance Meetup Group I started (see sidebar). The secret to success is to have a growth mindset and strive for constant improvement, but remember you don’t have to do it all on your own.
Ideas are the best currency – If you exchange dollar bills with someone, you both have one dollar bill. But if you exchange ideas, you both have TWO ideas.
Author’s note: Day 3 of my 21-Day Challenge is in full-force with being on court and hitting lessons. I will be sure to break a sweat and even do some running with my students.
I’d love to hear your comments. Leave them below.
Playing it safe in any form is a recipe for disappointment, frustration, and stagnation.
-JEFF GREENWALD
The quote above is from my friend, Jeff Greenwald, noted sports psychology consultant and author of The Best Tennis of Your Life. Greenwald believes that most people play it safe because they “fear missing and giving up a free point.”
Most people have this mindset. They want to stay in their comfort zone. The problem is that when you are scared of losing the point, you are training yourself to hold back. That is not peak performance. It doesn’t matter whether your weapon of choice is a racquet, pen, paintbrush or frying pan – you have to GO ALL OUT.
I recently had a mental coaching session with a young baseball, basketball and tennis player. He’s only in the 4th grade, but he gets it. Since working with me, he focuses on going all out every time he steps on the court or field. He’s even using my techniques and applying them to school. Not only is he getting better results, he’s also having more fun!
It’s better to go all out and lose than it is to hold back and win.
Leave your comments below.
Just do it.
-NIKE
I love creating blog messages every morning, but sometimes I don’t know what I want to say. So I go over to possibly the biggest motivational library on the planet, aka, my family room (thank you Dr. Gilbert) and I choose a book to get me started.
People talk about writer’s block, but I don’t believe in that. Just start writing – it doesn’t have to be great to start but it will start to be great.
So just write.
Just workout.
Just do the dishes.
Just make that call.
Just do it.
Here are some great quotes from today’s book of choice, STRIVE TO EXCEL, The Will and Wisdom of VINCE LOMBARDI compiled by JENNIFER BRIGGS…
Success is not a sometime thing – it is an all-time thing.
Making the effort to improve as a human being is what Coach Lombardi was all about. He was able to see the gap between where we were and what we could become – both as football players and as people. And he felt it was his God-given responsibility to close that gap.
-JERRY KRAMER
If you settle for nothing less than your best, you will be amazed at what you can accomplish in your life.
Second place is meaningless. You can’t always be first, but you have to believe you should have been – that you were never beaten – that time just ran out on you.
If he’d been a truck driver, he’d have given 100 percent there, too.
-LOU SPADIA, former San Francisco 49ers owner
So there you have it. I could have skipped Message #957 today, but I didn’t. I’m committed.
Exceptions shatter dreams. Besides, motivation is an action, not a feeling.
Have a great day everyone! Leave your comments or questions below.
In this video blog, Ed talks about how to make the most of your tryouts and how you can overcome your nervousness.
What makes YOU nervous? Leave your comments below…
In this video blog, Ed Tseng reports from the Independent Author Event at the Princeton Public Library.
I know what the problem is…
YOUR FEELINGS.
I know what the solution is…
YOUR ACTIONS.
Any questions?
Leave your comments below.
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…
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…
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.