The Value of Optimism: Part 1: Michael Chang

Michael Chang at age 17: precocious, fast, underpowered, optimistic. An optimistic attitude gives you tremendous advantages –on the tennis court as well as in life. It helps you maintain your drive and a productive emotional state in the face of setbacks. And it almost always means more match wins. Pessimism, on the other hand, leads to early discouragement and defeat. But can you become optimistic if you are the type of person who naturally thinks negatively? What if you find yourself in an obviously bad situation? Are you supposed to lie to yourself and claim it's good? No, you don't have to lie in bad situations to make them look better. You can create an optimistic outlook, realistically and truthfully, by directing your attention towards actual positive aspects of your situation. You always have that choice. And making the choice for optimism can produce on court results that at times seem almost unbelievable. In the first two articles in this series, let's look at two of the most famous comeback matches in tennis history that demonstrate this point, matches that were influenced by optimism in the face of seemingly impossible circumstances. In the first article, we'll analyze Michael Chang's shocking...