1.      Use deliberate practice and mindfulness – Do everything with a purpose. When on the court, always have something specific in mind that you need to work on to improve that day. Be fully present in each moment and don’t just mindlessly hit the ball for the sake of just getting in the hours of training.

2.      Evolve your racket set up along with your game – In order to reach your full potential and to avoid plateauing, adjusting your racket setup and specs is a must. At Impacting Tennis, we are firm believers that you should always include the racket setup in the problem-solving process.

3.      Be radically open-minded about equipment, diet, training regimes etc. – Set aside your ego and biases. In the words of Ray Dalio: »it’s what you would do if you weren’t biased to think that your opinions are best and instead wanted to objectively weigh what you’re thinking in relation to what other smart people are thinking to raise your chances of being right.«

4.      Identify and trust believable people – Chances are that the obstacles you are facing are just »another one of those« for the more experienced or so-called believable people. Believable people are those who have repeatedly and successfully accomplished the thing in question — who have a strong track record and have great explanations of their approach when probed.

5.      Seek out discomfort and do hard things every day – The more discomfort you introduce into your life, the more your comfort zone will expand. The whole point of expanding your comfort zone is to be more comfortable in more situations. Having a high tolerance for discomfort can, for example, really come in handy when facing those hard moments on the court when you need to grind it out. A simple way to expand your comfort zone can be something as simple as taking cold showers in the morning.