MESSAGE #955 TENNIS TRYOUTS
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…
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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 #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.
MESSAGE #790 MENTAL TOUGHNESS SECRET…
“I don’t want to find myself in a nursing home someday, thinking that all I did was play it safe.”
-CHARLIE EITEL
I have dedicated myself to researching how the great ones became great.
One reason is because they take risks.
Most athletes like to stay in their comfort zones. For example, I see too many doubles players stay back at the baseline because they are more comfortable. But the truth is, they will win more points at the net, even if they don’t want to be there. They think that if they come in, they will either get passed or lobbed.
They’re worried about something that hasn’t even happened yet!
This happens in the workforce too. Many people don’t want to start their own business for fear of failure.
Many musicians don’t like to play in front of audiences for fear of a poor performance.
The winners take risks because their mindset is that they can get back whatever they lose.
It’s not about the results anyway. The great ones know that it’s all about learning, improving and having fun.
How can you learn and improve if you don’t takes risks?
MESSAGE #750 TEACHER IS STUDENT, STUDENT IS TEACHER
“Though he acts as a teacher, within himself, he should be a learner.”
-B.K.S. Iyengar
Today’s message is especially dedicated to the great B.K.S. Iyengar in Prune, India.
I’m a tennis teacher. I’m also a tennis learner.
Yes, I teach tennis – the strokes, strategy, preparation, character, fitness, nutrition and mental training.
But it goes deeper than that.
My students learn from me, but I also learn from my students. On a daily basis.
I believe that part of teaching is learning and re-learning.
The last thing I want to do is be on automatic. I don’t want to be a parrot. Every student has different needs and challenges, therefore, I learn from them – I learn new ways to teach. This also helps me customize the lesson for my student. It’s like playing a match – sometimes you have to make adjustments. Conditions will never be exactly the same, so why do we act like they are?
“There are many unknown things to be known.”
I even look at my opponent as a teacher. They are attacking my weaknesses in order to win a point, so they are teaching me how to improve. I, on the other hand, am doing the same to them.
In the past, I used to think of my opponent as the enemy. Someone I wanted to beat. But once I realized that there was another way to look at it, my game changed. I thought of my opponent as a teacher and student. I started to relax. I started to play to my potential. And I started to really have fun. The result was no longer an issue. It was all about the present moment.
This may be strange or a paradigm shift for you, but try to think about this for the rest of your day. Think about how you are a teacher and how you are a student. In the end, we are really all the same.
Thanks for reading.
MESSAGE #719 THAT WAS HARD…AND I LOVED IT!!
“Focus on your breath or other body parts…anything but the fact that you can’t do it any longer.”
-VANESSA KUDRAT
So I took my first yoga class last night with the great Vanessa Kudrat. It was hard, but it was great.
It was difficult for me to hold some of the poses, but I stuck with the class and am proud of myself.
One of the poses had us holding our arms out for what it seemed like an hour. I had to stop a couple times. I was focused, but I was focusing on the wrong things. Instead of focusing on the fact that you cannot hold your arms up any longer, you should focus instead on your breath or other body parts. I already knew that your mind gets tired before your body, but I didn’t execute.
I had so many thoughts going on in my head like…
“Why can’t I do this?”
“Why is that 60 year old lady holding it longer than me?!”
and
“Why am I thinking so much?”
I wanted to quit.
So you know what I’m going to do?
I’m going to take a hatha yoga class this morning at 7am to practice my mental toughness.
I don’t believe in trying your best.
I believe in doing whatever it takes.
Here I go…
Stay tuned for Vanessa Kudrat’s amazing peak performance tips…
Thanks for reading.
MESSAGE #623 THE MASTERS…
“I get nervous before every shot.”
-TIGER WOODS
One thing I love to do is listen to interviews after peak performances by athletes.
The Masters was won yesterday by Angel Cabrera, after a three-way, sudden-death playoff. In his interview, he made some great comments.
Q. It looked like you were having a lot of fun out there, especially as things got particularly tense; is that true?
ANGEL CABRERA: Yes, you’re right, I was happy with my game and I had confidence. I was just trying to enjoy the moment.
Q. Any nerves?
ANGEL CABRERA: Oh, at this stage of the Tournament, any player who says he does not feel nerves, he’s not human.
Q. What do you think of your chances to actually win this Tournament, when you were two shots down with two holes to play?
ANGEL CABRERA: I told my caddie, you know, “It’s a birdie against a bogey, two holes left, I still have a good chance.”
Why did Angel Cabrera win the Masters?
1. He was having fun and stayed in the moment.
2. He was nervous, but didn’t act nervous.
3. He was optimistic even when he was down.
It doesn’t matter who you are, or what you do…you can still use the mental skills that the world’s top athletes, like Angel Cabrera have.
Thanks for reading.