Being a competitor requires a certain level of toughness and courage. You have to be willing to risk failure without letting it affect your self-esteem or self-identity. That’s hard. Sometimes you may feel like a bad player, especially after a poor performance. But if you are a regular reader of this blog, then you know […]
read moreHave you ever wondered just why it feels so good to participate in sport and competition? Besides being so fun and all. Well, it unsurprisingly has a lot to do with play. See, play, for all intents and purposes, is just awesome all around. It’s enjoyable, it’s liberating, it takes us outside the ‘ordinary’ world for just […]
read moreMany of us have role models, people we look up to for inspiration. Especially as competitors. Having an idol that serves as an example of what is possible can be one of the most supremely powerful ingredients in your personal development. In fact, you can go as far as saying that actualizing your full potential […]
read moreIn the philosophy of sport, the ethics of athletes’ behavior is a big focus. It should come as no surprise, then, that the idea of sportsmanship is a very popular subject for sports-minded thinkers. There isn’t an athlete or player out there that hasn’t heard all about it. But I don’t need to tell you […]
read moreIn this article, I’d like to address a thought many amateur athletes may have from time to time. That is what I’d like to call the “it-doesn’t-really-matter” thought. You might know just the thing I’m talking about. This is that rather seductive feeling that emerges when you’re really pushing yourself during your training sessions or […]
read moreAs athletes and high performers, we all have dreams of achieving true greatness. But what is true greatness? What does being great mean to you? And how do you achieve it? These are important questions to consider. And here is a first principle of being on the path to greatness: If you want to be […]
read moreOne of the realities of sport, especially a sport like tennis, is that sometimes we don’t play well. Sometimes things don’t go our way. It could even be that the opponent is playing out of his or her mind – that’s annoying. In these moments, our natural tendency is to be judgmental and overanalyze the […]
read moreWhenever we compete, we are going up against one or more opponents. But perhaps “against” isn’t the right word to use to describe what is happening. The verb to compete actually comes from the Latin competere which means “to strive for with.” Interesting. With, not against. However, that’s not how we’ve been taught to think […]
read moreLet me ask you something: Have you ever thought about how many forms of intelligence there are? Does that seem like a preposterous question to you? There’s only one type of intelligence: intelligence. If you’re smart, you’re smart, right? Well, not quite. While there is certainly an overarching general intelligence within the human mind, it […]
read moreOn this episode of the PerformanceXtra podcast, I discuss our natural tendency to fight ourselves more than we fight the opponent during competition. It is something that we all do to a certain extent. Let’s do it less. We’ll perform better and enjoy ourselves more. Listen below and please leave a comment with your thoughts […]
read moreIn competition, you are always building toward some end, some culmination. It might be the end of a tournament, the end of a match, or the end of a performance. The present moment is almost never the end itself, but this is where things can get confusing. What you are doing in the present moment […]
read moreNote: Even though this post is written from the perspective of tennis, it applies to any sport in which the action can be broken down to the next play, the next pitch, the next possession, the next 1-on1 battle, the next move, the next moment, the next whatever. It’s always about what comes next. When […]
read moreOne of the great paradoxes of striving for improvement and mastery is that we expend a lot of energy avoiding situations that will make us better. We avoid adversity. We avoid obstacles. We avoid challenges. But the reality is that all of these things are normal. Adversity is normal. Challenges are normal. Trying to avoid […]
read moreWhen I think of the most powerful mindsets that a competitor can have, this one stands out: You have to LOVE to learn more about your sport. The best competitors in the world are great students of their game without exception. Are you? Do you have a love for learning in your sport? The Learning […]
read moreOne of my favorite competitive mindsets for success is what I call the “Warrior Mindset.” It is a fundamental mindset of a great competitor and it is best expressed by the following quote: “The basic difference between an ordinary man and a warrior is that a warrior takes everything as a challenge while an ordinary […]
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