Thought Leaders Unpacked -> Clutch #1: Focus (Part 2)
It’s always an ordinary serve.
It’s a great angle on a great image. If all that preparation (see last week’s post) does anything for us, it sets us free to be present in the game. Our minds are freed up to pay attention to what is going on around us and adjust along the way instead of thinking about technique or rethinking the game plan.
Tennis is the perfect metaphor for me. Relaxed during the pre-game rally, I generally fall apart once the game starts. I’m busy doing my thing and doing it just fine until I start thinking about it.
My attention has somehow moved from what is going on with the ball to how I need to win the point.
Hence my deep draw to the phrase, “It’s always an ordinary serve.”
The wording itself suggests the obvious fact that all serves in one sense are merely serves. It is I who change any given serve to something else.
I carry this tendency into my sales. When talking with a client about their challenges, I am relaxed, present, attentive, and extremely helpful. When talking with a client about my services, I am tense, apologetic, eager to impress and determined to prove myself.
I come across completely differently in essentially the same conversation depending on whether the focus in the client or myself.
Lesson to self: Relax and be  yourself. You’re good at what you do. If fact, you’re great at what you do. Trust that. The experience of being with you will sell itself. It’s always an ordinary serve.
What is your version of, “It’s always an ordinary serve?” At what do you excel until you start thinking about it too much? Why do you think that is? What was your main take-away from this chapter?
