CONFIDENCE/BELIEF..Optimism/pessimism SELIGMAN XXXX done
Yes is a world and in this world of yes live... all worlds... E. E. Cummings
Thoreau quote: Takes practice to learn to think differently.. To create a path on the earth, we walk over and over again. To create a pathway in the mind, we must think over and over the thoughts we want to have running our life.
When we consider the toughness part of Mental Toughness training, we often speak of a competitor's fighting spirit, emphasizing the character traits of grit, fight, resolve and a never say die attitude.
I'd like to introduce another trait to this important list, a trait we could all use more of, not just for our tennis but life in general.
That trait is Optimism.
Optimism defined is: The quality of being positive and full of hope while emphasizing the good parts of a situation, with an unflappable belief that something good will happen.
Whether you're aware of it or not, we've been indoctrinated with optimism from our earliest learning. At the risk of dating myself, who can forget the children's story of The Little Red Engine, whose refrain "I think I can, I think I can"
And what better duo of the Optimism/pessimism dynamic than Winnie the Pooh and Eyeore, Pooh the eternal optimist with Eyeore always finding the negative in everything
Now I don't know about you, but when I'm down a set and two breaks and can't find the court with anything, I'm likely a little short on positivity and hope and have pretty much given upon something good happening.
But that's precisely what an optimistic person would be feeling. Every situation is a challenge, every predicament an opportunity. The optimist would say
"Ok, this isn't going well, and though I'm way behind and not my best today, I'm still in the match and most importantly... I haven't lost anything yet!!
And how the optimist retains hope is... "I've never come from a set and two breaks down before. Let's dig in right now and make this the first!!
Such a huge part of tennis success is never giving up and when I say giving up, I'm not talking about quitting or tanking. What I'm talking about is continuously fighting, trying to problem solve, to never cease looking for a way out of predicaments. Literally the hardest player to play against, a player who refuses to give up or give an inch no matter the score or situation.
It's been said a pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity whereas the optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.
Hundreds of studies have shown that pessimists give up more often than optimists. If you've played competitive tennis long enough, you know you've won some matches playing terribly simply from not giving up. You've also won some matches from your opponent just not able to compete that day.
Being Optimistic does not mean you never get disappointed or have negative feelings. We are not robots. What optimists do is over ride feelings of doubt and helplessness with hope and clarity and perseverance.
As evolution has it, the negative emotions of fear and anger and anxiety play a much more dominant role in our species survival. So we need to acknowledge that and accept that... they will always be our default emotions in times of stress
But as it pertains to tennis competition and competing your best, pessimism has no real use in high performance tennis competition.
The Dalai Lama said.. Choose to be optimistic. It feels better.
And that's not mere philosophy. Our minds and bodies respond to positive emotions far differently than negative emotions. If you don't believe me, try to compete at tennis when you're sad. Or try to concentrate when you're mad
Which leaves us to the most important part of optimism. Optimism is attainable for everyone. We've all been around people embodying optimism. They unflappably see the best in all situations, are always seeing the best aspects in the people they meet. We do have a choice in how we engage the world
XXXXX
Optimism plays out in many ways in our tennis
Big picture: I have a long career with endless opportunities, if I stay with it, the only way I won't succeed is if I just wasn't very good at tennis. It certainly won't be from the areas I can control, like my preparation, my education, my training, my toughness etc
Within an event.. 128 enter, only 1 will not lose. Why can't that be me.
Within a match... Get behind, nothing is lost yet.
It is being disingenuous seeing the world through rose colored glasses. Of course not
Franzen quot...When the big change in life is a mere shift in perspective...
Takes practice to learn to think differently.. To create a path on the earth, we walk over and over again. To create a pathway in the mind, we must think over and over the thoughts we want to have running our life.
Optimism is the fuel that inspires achievement. Without hope, nothing gets done.
Psych has shown that people can choose the way they think
We are not Robots...We have emotions that seem to have a mind of our own...
Learned Helplessness
In our preparation section, we discussed how we need to be ready for every imaginable situation...so you're going to have these big points, tough stretches, enticing leads, huge opportunities.. We can not be surprised by them..we will not be surprised if we go in to the match with belief.. belief that you're going to have some chances..and you're going to miss some of them
Goldilocks zone
Who is Cinderella The clock strikes 12
Confidence creates belief. Its hard to fake if you're not feeling it
hopefulness and confidence about the future or the successful outcome of something
But optimism is different. Optimism is a quality, it is the prism by which we run all of life's activities. No matter the situation, on court or off, being optimistic is the toughness part of tennis
Its the unflappable positivity and belief that no matter the predicament, everything is going to work out favorably
Cinderella
Eyeore/Pooh
How we respond to situations determines how energized we get..
Let's say your getting your butt handed to you.. Down a set and 4-1 and nothing's going your way.. It'd be real easy to pull the rip cord and go away meekly the next two games.. The mistake in that is feeling defeated before you've lost anything
be a great actor.. show nothing, give nothing, always positivr
be a great actor.. your performer self..
Little Red engine
What is it?
An Event Occurs...
Give Different Events.. couple different ones...
Lets do a test.. Missing easy overhead on a big point
Pessimist: Bad events will last a long time
This will undermine everything I've been working toward
Somehow its your fault..that you are somehow not capable of performing, that you are deficient, not worthy
Optimist:
Temporary setback, its just confined to this one point, do not catastrophize (TOOLS TO DO THIS)
little bad luck
Confronted by a trying circumstance, they try even harder
CLASSIC FIGHT OR FLIGHT SITUATION
Thoreau quote: Takes practice to learn to think differently.. To create a path on the earth, we walk over and over again. To create a pathway in the mind, we must think over and over the thoughts we want to have running our life.
When we consider the toughness part of Mental Toughness training, we often speak of a competitor's fighting spirit, emphasizing the character traits of grit, fight, resolve and a never say die attitude.
I'd like to introduce another trait to this important list, a trait we could all use more of, not just for our tennis but life in general.
That trait is Optimism.
Optimism defined is: The quality of being positive and full of hope while emphasizing the good parts of a situation, with an unflappable belief that something good will happen.
Whether you're aware of it or not, we've been indoctrinated with optimism from our earliest learning. At the risk of dating myself, who can forget the children's story of The Little Red Engine, whose refrain "I think I can, I think I can"
And what better duo of the Optimism/pessimism dynamic than Winnie the Pooh and Eyeore, Pooh the eternal optimist with Eyeore always finding the negative in everything
Now I don't know about you, but when I'm down a set and two breaks and can't find the court with anything, I'm likely a little short on positivity and hope and have pretty much given upon something good happening.
But that's precisely what an optimistic person would be feeling. Every situation is a challenge, every predicament an opportunity. The optimist would say
"Ok, this isn't going well, and though I'm way behind and not my best today, I'm still in the match and most importantly... I haven't lost anything yet!!
And how the optimist retains hope is... "I've never come from a set and two breaks down before. Let's dig in right now and make this the first!!
Such a huge part of tennis success is never giving up and when I say giving up, I'm not talking about quitting or tanking. What I'm talking about is continuously fighting, trying to problem solve, to never cease looking for a way out of predicaments. Literally the hardest player to play against, a player who refuses to give up or give an inch no matter the score or situation.
It's been said a pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity whereas the optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.
Hundreds of studies have shown that pessimists give up more often than optimists. If you've played competitive tennis long enough, you know you've won some matches playing terribly simply from not giving up. You've also won some matches from your opponent just not able to compete that day.
Being Optimistic does not mean you never get disappointed or have negative feelings. We are not robots. What optimists do is over ride feelings of doubt and helplessness with hope and clarity and perseverance.
As evolution has it, the negative emotions of fear and anger and anxiety play a much more dominant role in our species survival. So we need to acknowledge that and accept that... they will always be our default emotions in times of stress
But as it pertains to tennis competition and competing your best, pessimism has no real use in high performance tennis competition.
The Dalai Lama said.. Choose to be optimistic. It feels better.
And that's not mere philosophy. Our minds and bodies respond to positive emotions far differently than negative emotions. If you don't believe me, try to compete at tennis when you're sad. Or try to concentrate when you're mad
Which leaves us to the most important part of optimism. Optimism is attainable for everyone. We've all been around people embodying optimism. They unflappably see the best in all situations, are always seeing the best aspects in the people they meet. We do have a choice in how we engage the world
XXXXX
Optimism plays out in many ways in our tennis
Big picture: I have a long career with endless opportunities, if I stay with it, the only way I won't succeed is if I just wasn't very good at tennis. It certainly won't be from the areas I can control, like my preparation, my education, my training, my toughness etc
Within an event.. 128 enter, only 1 will not lose. Why can't that be me.
Within a match... Get behind, nothing is lost yet.
It is being disingenuous seeing the world through rose colored glasses. Of course not
Franzen quot...When the big change in life is a mere shift in perspective...
Takes practice to learn to think differently.. To create a path on the earth, we walk over and over again. To create a pathway in the mind, we must think over and over the thoughts we want to have running our life.
Optimism is the fuel that inspires achievement. Without hope, nothing gets done.
Psych has shown that people can choose the way they think
We are not Robots...We have emotions that seem to have a mind of our own...
Learned Helplessness
In our preparation section, we discussed how we need to be ready for every imaginable situation...so you're going to have these big points, tough stretches, enticing leads, huge opportunities.. We can not be surprised by them..we will not be surprised if we go in to the match with belief.. belief that you're going to have some chances..and you're going to miss some of them
Goldilocks zone
Who is Cinderella The clock strikes 12
Confidence creates belief. Its hard to fake if you're not feeling it
hopefulness and confidence about the future or the successful outcome of something
But optimism is different. Optimism is a quality, it is the prism by which we run all of life's activities. No matter the situation, on court or off, being optimistic is the toughness part of tennis
Its the unflappable positivity and belief that no matter the predicament, everything is going to work out favorably
Cinderella
Eyeore/Pooh
How we respond to situations determines how energized we get..
Let's say your getting your butt handed to you.. Down a set and 4-1 and nothing's going your way.. It'd be real easy to pull the rip cord and go away meekly the next two games.. The mistake in that is feeling defeated before you've lost anything
be a great actor.. show nothing, give nothing, always positivr
be a great actor.. your performer self..
Little Red engine
What is it?
An Event Occurs...
Give Different Events.. couple different ones...
Lets do a test.. Missing easy overhead on a big point
Pessimist: Bad events will last a long time
This will undermine everything I've been working toward
Somehow its your fault..that you are somehow not capable of performing, that you are deficient, not worthy
Optimist:
Temporary setback, its just confined to this one point, do not catastrophize (TOOLS TO DO THIS)
little bad luck
Confronted by a trying circumstance, they try even harder
CLASSIC FIGHT OR FLIGHT SITUATION
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