Sports Psychology 101: Setting Goals and priorities is healthy not just in the game of tennis. I believe in goals more than I believe in many things in life. Here are some of my priorities and beliefs...1. Power Greater than Myself
2. Family and Friends
3. Career and Finances
Setting goals, objectives, and priorities are ways to fast forward life to get where you want to be. Personal goal setting is more valuable than you can dream of. I am a dreamer and I think most of us are dreamers. Find direction and live life your way. Goal setting is powerful and creating an ideal future motivates myself to find joy in the present. I believe in the philosophy that if you want anything bad enough you can get it. Whether it be a Ferrari, earn a billion dollars, get that A, win the US Open, be famous, or to have perfect teeth. Letting people know about your goals will help keep you accountable because accountability is extremely important. Sometimes I say things or set goals and then forget I said them until someone repeats them to me. It happens often in my teaching lessons and when my students remember that makes me feel like a success. Emphasizing education during my lessons has been one of my goals because knowledge is power.
Once I achieve a few smalls goals it helps me build confidence and builds it fast. Sometimes I am on cloud 9 and feel like I can do anything. One thing I learned from Pete Sampras was that he knew early on he was going to be a professional tennis player. He did not plan on being number one, but he planned on improving all the time and planned to do that with his life. The earlier you figure out your goals the sooner you will achieve them. I am turning 28 very soon and I have set goals to meet before the age of 30 so I am getting nervous.
Whether it be to improve your ranking, win a tournament, own a club, reduce unforced errors, improve your net game, add 10mph to your serve, beat a certain person, increase your rating, develop a brilliant approach shot, setting goals to do this has great value. Placing deadlines on goals is the best advice I can pass on. Setting deadlines will allow you to measure your success (or failure) and to either extend the goal or move along.
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