As an athlete, the vast majority of problems that we experience in Our Game, are closely tied to this feeling of being “stuck.”

That can be stuck in a rut, stuck being unmotivated, stuck in doubt, stuck in worry or fear, stuck in insecurity, stuck in lack of belief, stuck in anger or frustration. And sometimes it’s unclear, but we just feel stuck.

This feeling is due to what we’ll call “The Trap.”

When an athlete makes the decision to take tennis “seriously” or “competitively,” the idea of improvement becomes a new top priority.

When improvement becomes a priority, we begin to “measure” ourselves and our game based upon the outcomes we create.

We then proceed to compare these outcomes to our peers and our own expectations, in an attempt to track progress.

But by judging and comparing your current self, based on past outcomes, you are defining your current self by the past, creating nothing but a distorted and limited view of yourself.

And although we can definitely learn from the past, this is how we drag the past into the present, and end up repeating the same patterns.

What’s important to see, is that it’s THROUGH these very measurements and comparisons that we form and reinforce false and limiting beliefs about ourselves and our process.

And then it’s from this point we make the assumption that “getting unstuck” happens by fixing, solving, or changing these “problems”.

We think that, “if I know what’s wrong, then I can fix it!”

And that sounds great in theory, but the truth is, what you focus on grows. And as you focus on fixing, solving, and changing yourself, you simply reinforce the beliefs that YOU are not good enough.

Your efforts are reinforcing the very problems you are hoping to solve. Which, is a tell tail sign of The Trap.

The more you intend to “improve,” the more you “measure” yourself.

The more you “measure” yourself, the more “stuck” you feel.

The more “stuck” you feel, the more you intend to “improve.”

The Trap is a vicious cycle, which makes it hard to explain logically. But if we had to summarize The Trap this would be it.

   - Most athletes define success through outcomes.

   - But we can’t get the outcome all the time.

   - And so, when we don’t, we feel like we’re failing.

   - This sense of failure causes us to analyze what’s wrong.

   - From this point, we “Think” about our game, fixated on what’s not good enough, in an attempt to improve it.

   - And through thinking about what isn’t good enough, we form and reinforce the limiting beliefs and patterns hindering the natural processes of improvement and performance.

Our capability appears to be stuck in problems that we can’t shake.

And our hope tends to be stuck in outcomes that we can’t reach.

You’re stuck between who you think you are. Rooted in judgment.

And who you think you should be. Rooted in expectation.

And putting more effort into a failed system doesn’t make it succeed.

Trying means control.

And you can’t control a performance.

You can only GIVE a performance.

And you can only GIVE what you HAVE, Now.

A fundamental FACT is that ANY form of improvement or performance happens through, and ONLY through, how you engage with THIS moment. And the onslaught of The Trap, the confusion and pressure it creates, is severely hindering your ability to BE Present with THIS moment.

You don’t achieve a Peak Performance by reaching upwards or striving forwards.

You achieve a Peak Performance by moving inwards.

As you move IN to the moment, you RISE to the occasion.

And as you RISE to the occasion, you’re FREE to Give a Complete Performance.

When you begin to direct your effort and energy into the moment, into Playing YOUR Game, the problems associated with The Trap begin to dissipate.

The fear of failure fades away.

The pain of insecurity is released.

The weight of pressure is lifted.

We invest our effort inwards, into this moment.

To become more completely ourselves.

So, we can express ourselves outward, through each moment.

So, in a way, Mental Training is about…

Getting out of The Trap, and into The Moment.

Getting out of The Mind, and into The Game.

Getting out of Your Head, and into Your Heart.

If The Trap is really just an over complication, just us getting in our own way trying to control outcomes, then Mental Training is about RETURNING to the essence of what an athlete IS and what an athlete DOES.

You are a Tennis PLAYER. And you are HERE to PLAY.

You just forgot… that Play is The Way.

And taking ownership over how you’re being, or being in STATE, is how you transform yourself into a ceiling shattering machine.

Because at the end of the day, our interactions with “challenge” are binary.

1) Avoid it

2) Meet it

There’s an unlimited number of ways to avoid it by being in The Trap.

But there’s only one way to meet it.

As we meet our fear in State, it’s transformed into Confidence.

As we meet our worry in State, it’s replaced with Composure.

As we meet our insecurity in State, it fuels our Focus.

As we meet our discouragement in State, we grow in Heart.

As we meet our doubt in State, we gain Command.

As we meet our disbelief in State, we discover the Flow.

As we meet our stress in State, we become free to Play.

Imagine Your Game free from fear, worry, insecurity, discouragement, doubt, disbelief, and stress…

Imagine Your Game equipped with Confidence, Composure, Focus, Heart, Command, Flow and Play…

These are the key states of being for an athlete to gain mastery over.

They are different ways of meeting the variety of challenges we face in our athletic journeys, resulting in a more COMPLETE Athlete capable of giving a COMPLETE Performance.