Tennis has proved to be a great tool for teaching us life lessons. Whether it’s something as a simple as practice makes the difference or the tricky art of focus, tennis has a way of helping us grow. Here’s just a few life lessons, we’ve learnt from tennis over the years.
Practice, practice, practice!
If at first you don’t succeed, then practice, practice, practice till you become better! Whether it’s your backhand or presenting in public. Study, refine and keep trying until you’ve practice enough that it just become natural.
Only recoveries matters
Everyone slips up sometimes, It’s human nature. However, the biggest test of character is how you recover. If you screwed up at work or on the court. Who cares? Handle your misstep with grace and dignity, and people will applaud your maturity.
Bad days don’t count
Look, even the pros have an off day now and then. No one is perfect. If you want to remain unhappy, keep holding yourself to impossibly high standards. This is a sure fire way to be unhappiness and possibly develop an ulcer or two.
Emotional intelligence
In most situations your emotional intelligence is as important, than your technical skills. A lot of tennis players on court lose not because they are technically not strong, but because they are unable to take the pressure. They are unable to regulate their emotions and focus in that final moment when the stakes are sky high.
Focus on the positives
If you want improve any skill then focus on the positives. By overlooking what you didn’t do so great and giving yourself praise based on what you performed well at, helps to build your self-confidence. This in turn enables you to understand your strengths. If you understand why you won and what makes you tick, then your chances of winning are so much greater.
Smarts not force
It’s not always about brute strength. You can’t always bulldoze your way through life’s obstacles. While muscles are great, sometimes getting where you want to go requires finesse, balance and intelligence.
The art of the comeback
There’s always time for a comeback. You might be down, but you’re not out. Not until you talk yourself into giving up. Victory will always taste better if you have to work for it.
Strategy
Tennis helps you to plan and develop a strategy for each game or goal. Each opponent offers you the chance to refine your strategy and forces you to tweak your plan during difficult times. This applies to life in general. You have to be ready for the opportunity and willing to revise/reassess your goals, as well as hitting the ground running.
Feel good
Playing tennis can make you feel better as exercise releases a lot of endorphins (as does eating chocolate!).
Perspective
Whether you win, lose, or draw, it’s your perspective that really counts. If you’re a sore loser, you probably lack the perspective to see tennis a great work out, an interesting challenge and not an all consuming fight to the death! If you win gracefully and deal honestly with defeat, you’ll find it easier to reach your goal as you are more level-headed.
Over to you, what life lessons has tennis taught you?
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