MESSAGE #1264 IT’S NOT YOU, IT’S ME

The other day, I was teaching a private lesson to two ladies, who happen to be good friends. We began our normal warmup at the service line and for some reason, they were extremely chatty this particular morning. I gave them some tips, but my voice seemed to get drowned out by their voices. For a moment I was frustrated. They are not competitive players…should I just let them talk and have fun?

I gave them about a minute to chat and then I brought them up to the net and said:

“Okay, here’s what we are going to do. (Puts a target on the court). For the next few minutes, I want you to focus on aiming for this target.”

The chatting instantly stopped and I saw focus in their eyes. They even began hitting better.

Then, I said, “Now you have a new focus, aim high over the net.”

They did it quite successfullly and the focus remained.

After that, I told them to focus on exhaling at contact.

Same great result.

These two ladies ended up having a great session.

So what’s the moral of the story?

It’s not the student. It’s the teacher.

It’s not the customer. It’s the salesperson.

I think you get the point.

If you are not getting the results, change your approach. Focus is not good enough, you need to focus on the right things.

It’s not whether you can focus or not, it’s whether you CHOOSE to or not.