24 Mar What Tennis Has Taught Me About Everything
These past two weeks my life has been saturated with the one game I most love. As many of you know, I play tennis 4-5 times a week, play in tournaments and just spent two weeks after my return from a speaking tour in Miami and London to watch the world’s best tennis players compete at Indian Wells here in California. I saw seventeen year old Mirra Andreeva take out the world # 1 and #2 players to win the championship. Then it occurred to me-I have never blogged about tennis, even though its such a big part of my life.
So, what has tennis taught me about, well, everything.
First. Focus on getting better more than you focus on the score. One of my tennis mentors told me “You play better when you aren’t focused on the score.” In any given match or point, the most important thing is whether I am getting better each time I play. Are my strokes improving, is my footwork getting better and am I adjusting each moment to my opponent’s game? On any given day, I may lose or win but if I focus on getting better at those three things, I will win more often. Business and life are like that. We may lose a sale or miss a metric but are we getting better at the important parts of our “game” and learning even when we lose?
Second. Judgment is the enemy of change, but awareness is the path to progress. One of my best coaches, Mark Sun, gave me a great piece of advice. After each point, especially if you lose, don’t judge yourself. Just notice what happened and ask what you might do differently next time. Research shows when we judge ourselves, we get discouraged or quit whether it’s trying to be better at some aspect of leadership, living a healthier lifestyle or persevering through an obstacle to reach a goal. But awareness is the path to progress. After each meeting – what did I notice? After each presentation – what did I notice? After each sales call – what did I notice? By being aware and asking those two simple questions, what did I notice and what do I want to do differently next time, we stay positive and keep making progress.
Third, Know your superpower. One of my coaches said to me once that every new player who comes to him for coaching wants to work on the weakest part of their game. Then he asked this question: Why would you want to spend all your time practicing the one shot you hope you never have to hit? In my case, my crosscourt forehand is my superpower. In fact, when people first play me, they often say: “Oh yeah you’re the guy with the forehand.” I do practice the lesser parts of my game, but I practice my forehand just as much or even more. The better I get at my superpower, the less I’ll have to hit any other shot. Businesses, leaders and professionals also have superpowers. They are the things that make us successful. We should work on our weaknesses, but it’s even more important to get so good at what we do best that we can outcompete every time.
Finally, I’ve learned that a happy life includes something you love so much you could do it every day and never get tired of it. I found that on the tennis court. My good friend Gene has been playing the game for seventy years and will turn ninety next week. He just gave up singles a few months ago. I am pretty sure finding something he loved is one of the secrets to a long and happy life.
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