Jim Loehr: From Negative to Positive

Even successful players limit their potential with negative thoughts and actions. Is your time on the tennis court punctuated with negative thoughts and self-criticism? Are you frequently disappointed, even bitterly dissatisfied with your tennis, so that you leave the court questioning your ability to play the game? How does this kind of self-abuse affect your ability to achieve the ideal performance state in tennis? Frequently, we see successful competitive tennis players abuse themselves unmercifully during their matches. "You're the worst tennis player on the planet. You should just quit this game right now, etc, etc.." Hang around at junior tennis events and you'll see this kind of extreme negativity is all too common. Yes, some successful players are negative. But the fact is, high negative energy rarely, if ever, brings out a player's real potential or best performance. It doesn't lead to the biochemistry of the ideal performance state or a sense of fun on the court. If you win, it feels good at the end of the match just to be out from under all that strain. But if you lose, the negativity can stay with you for hours or even days. In extreme cases, the result can lead...