The following post is an excerpt from Blunders and Cures. Thanks for visiting, Frank Giampaolo
BLUNDER: Postponing Happiness
Happiness is the state of being satisfied- choosing to experience more positive emotions than negative emotions. Happy memories are one of life’s’ most valuable possessions. Despite the challenging full time demands of the competitive tennis player, tennis offers secret rewards.
Even though happiness is within everyone’s reach, some players (and their entourage) spend their entire tennis career frustrated, anxious, and depressed by choosing to dwell only on failures, problems, and future concerns. I often hear players say, “I’ll be happy when I finally win one!”
Don’t be the player who postpones happiness, gratitude, and love. Enjoy the journey. If you are a junior competitor you will be off to college and missing junior tennis sooner than you think.
CURE: Take some time to enjoy the “positives” tennis has to offer. Begin by looking at the benefits the game has brought into your life. Tennis is known to help people develop valuable life skills. Here are just a few: strong work ethic, discipline, perseverance, responsibility, problem solving skills, time management skills, networking skills, team work, improved fitness, coordination, balance and flexibility. Tennis also opens the door to friendships across the world by giving you reason to visit other cities, states, and even countries.
Ask Yourself?
Has tennis helped you improve any of the above life skills? Do you know those same life skills are mandatory in order to be successful later in life? What makes you happy? If you listed winning, then you are deceiving yourself! Do you think winning a tennis tournament is going to give you lasting satisfaction? The reality is that winning bumps you up into a tougher level of competition. True competitors hate losing more than they enjoy winning. They find satisfaction in their performance. The tragedy is not enjoying the moment. Here is a trick to turn pessimism into optimism: List 5 things a day to be grateful for? Can you make a list each day for 5 days?
Write down your Personal Action Plan:
Contact: Frank Giampaolo
FGSA@earthlink.net
MaximizingTennisPotential.com
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