Mental strategies for winning big points

Starting a match down 0–3. It happens to so many players, and it’s almost never about tennis. It’s about what happens in your head before the first point. Most slow starters start their matches by watching the opponent, trying to understand “Can I win today?” And as long as your brain is busy evaluating, you’re not competing. That’s why the first games always slip away. So how do you change that? First: stop thinking about winning before a single point has been played. Nobody knows the outcome at the start of a match, and that’s the wrong moment to think about it. Second: enter the court with match goals. Ask yourself: What are my 1–3 clear goals for this match? Then commit 100% mental intensity to them from point one. For example, “turn around my backhand and dictate with my forehand as often as possible.” When your mind is focused on a mission, not on the result, you stop reacting. You start playing your tennis immediately. If you’re down 0–3, don’t panic, recommit. Go back to your match goals. Point after point. This is exactly how champions turn matches around: they anchor themselves in what they control. Third: understand that confidence is not a switch, it’s a daily construction. It’s built through small victories: showing up to practice when you don’t feel like it, sticking to your routines, solving one detail at a time, talking to yourself positively... Those micro-wins accumulate. They form the belief you carry with you when you step on court. #mindset #confidence #PlayerDevelopment #TheCoach

I've worked with 100+ Olympic athletes and discovered something shocking: Elite performance isn't about talent. It's about overcoming 7 critical mental barriers that BLOCK peak performance. Here's what I learned 🧵👇 2/ First, let me be clear: At the highest level, skill gaps are TINY. What separates champions isn't physical ability - it's mastering the mental game. These barriers silently kill potential. Most athletes don't realize it. Barrier 1: Self-Doubt This is the biggest killer I've seen. It makes athletes question: • Their belonging • Their abilities • Their right to compete But here's the truth: Self-doubt is manageable. How to beat self-doubt: 1. Focus on preparation (what you've ALREADY done) 2. Challenge negative self-talk with evidence 3. Build a "success bank" of past wins I've seen this transform athletes from doubters to closers in clutch moments. Barrier 2: Distracted Thoughts Focus is EVERYTHING in elite sports. But here's what most don't realize: Even Olympic athletes struggle with performance anxiety. The key? Having a system to stay locked in. The Focus Formula: 1. Create a pre-performance routine 2. Practice mindfulness daily 3. Use ONE focal cue (like "quick feet") I've seen athletes go from scattered to sharp using these three steps. Remember: Focus is a SKILL, not a talent. Barrier 3: Performance Anxiety The silent performance killer. It creates a vicious cycle: • Worry about mistakes • Make more mistakes • Worry more But here's what champions do differently: Anxiety Management Blueprint: 1. Reframe nerves as excitement 2. Breathe to regulate your physiology 3. Focus ONLY on controllables Barrier 4: Fear of Others' Opinions FOPO paralyzes even elite athletes. The truth? When you're worried about others, you can't trust yourself. The FOPO Fix: 1. Ask: "What's in MY control?" 2. Build unshakeable self-belief 3. Master self-awareness Remember: Caring less about opinions isn't selfish - it's necessary for peak performance. Barrier 5: Leadership Conflicts Fact: This is the #1 stressor for Olympians at the Games. It destroys focus and creates mental noise. But there's a solution: • Direct communication • Control what you can • See feedback as growth Barrier 6: Limiting Beliefs The invisible walls holding you back. Common thoughts: "I'll never..." "I should be better..." "I can't..." Here's how champions break through: Limiting Belief Breakers: 1. Challenge thoughts with "Is this true?" 2. Focus on progress, not perfection 3. Build a strength-focused support system Barrier 7: Mistake Management Here's what most get wrong: Thinking about mistakes ≠ Fixing mistakes The champion's way: 1. Have a reset routine 2. Evaluate without emotion 3. Next play mentality The truth about mental barriers: They're not permanent. They're not personal. They're not insurmountable. They're challenges waiting to be overcome. Want to perform like a champion? Pick 1 barrier. Take 1 action. Start.

The toughest moment in sports isn’t a grueling workout or fierce competition. It's the instant right after you mess up—a missed shot, a dropped ball, a critical mistake. Why? Your brain immediately spirals into panic. And it's really hard to escape that. Even for the best. Rory McIlroy's near-collapse at The Masters shows exactly this: even champions face moments of spiraling doubt. But they figure out how to navigate it. That single mistake can trigger an "action crisis". Our focus shifts from the present task to the past failure, from executing the next play to replaying the last one. Negative thoughts snowball – "I blew it," "I can't recover," "It's over". This internal debate between persisting and giving up drains mental energy and primes our bodies for a threat response, making refocusing exponentially harder. Why do we choke or spiral after a screw-up? As I write about in Win the Inside Game, our sense of self, our identity, feels threatened by the failure. Our brain, a prediction machine, gets stuck in a loop: it anticipates disaster (loss of status, humiliation), overweights negative signals, and ignores information that contradicts the doom narrative. This misalignment between reality and prediction fuels the downward slide. We've got to re-align our brain with a better reality. We've got to get out of that fear and survive mode. Here's how: 1. Approach, Don't Avoid Your brain, when threatened by mistakes, naturally tries to avoid repeating the error. Yet avoidance heightens anxiety and narrows your focus on the mistake. Adopt an approach-oriented mindset: focusing on what they want to achieve, not on what they're afraid might happen. Always ask, "What am I moving towards right now?" “It’s much better to play to win. If you play to win and you don’t hit the shot that you want to hit, I think you can live with that. But if you play not to — if you play to not lose, you’re never really giving yourself the best opportunity, and that’s hard to swallow." 2. Find control. Have a "reset ritual." Rafael Nadal has his "towel-off" ritual between acts. It could be a deep breath, adjusting gear, or a simple phrase whispered to oneself. Routines bring back control. This consistent action sends a clear signal to your brain: the past moment is over—time to anchor yourself in the present and focus on what's next. When we feel like we're losing control, our inner alarm screams. Grasp on to the smallest thing you can do to re-establish control. 3. Slow Down. Respond Instead of React Researchers found during penalty shootouts in soccer, players who missed shots tended to shoot quicker and look away from the goalie. The stress and anxiety that came with the pressure push the athletes to escape, to get it over with it, to put an end to the situation by getting the heck out of there. Those who tended to score took longer to shoot, they slowed things down, and basically approached the situation instead of avoiding it.

I analyzed how the "Zen Master" won 11 NBA titles with meditation + mindfulness. Here's his 5-step method for peak performance (steal this): Step 1: Understand the problem Phil Jackson inherited the most talented team in basketball with Michael Jordan. But they couldn't win titles. Why? In one word, ego. Jordan was playing hero ball while everyone else watched from the sidelines. Jackson knew the solution wasn't better X's and O's, so he introduced a new method…  Step 2: Mindfulness Jackson's first move was introducing meditation + mindfulness practices. He wove it into team culture: • Before practice sessions • After games • Whenever he sensed tension "We pump iron to build physical strength," he told them. "This builds mental strength." Step 3: Create psychological resets Jackson burned sage in locker rooms before games. While traditionally used for "cleansing spaces," there was powerful psychology behind it: "Smell is a powerful vehicle for symbolism," he said. It helped players release and start fresh each game. Step 4: Personalize the approach Jackson gave each player books tailored to their personalities: • Leadership texts for emerging voices • Zen philosophy for perfectionists • Rebellion studies for wildcards Each player felt seen as a human, not just a basketball machine. Step 5: Synchronize the team Jackson taught players to breathe together using "one breath, one mind" as their mantra. He brought in experts who taught medical patients pain threshold therapy — this became their mindfulness training. The 3 Zen principles behind Jackson's method: 1. Give up control (control by letting go) 2. Trust the moment (stay present under pressure) 3. Live with compassion (compete without hate) And the results speak for themselves… • 30+ years in NBA as player/coach • 2 rings as a player • 11 championships as a coach • Successfully coached the biggest egos in sports — Jordan, Kobe, Shaq Most coaches try to control outcomes. But Jackson controlled inputs — breath, presence, awareness. He understood that your nervous system determines your performance: • Meditation activates parasympathetic response • Sage creates psychological reset • Philosophy expands perspective This is using physiology > psychology. The body leads, the mind follows. The men that Phil Jackson coached were more than just basketball players. Without him coaching, these were some of the highest-performing human beings in history. And he helped them transcend their limitations. Because your highest level of competition will always be internal. - PS: I've been building a system for life design, where we look inwards to unlock the highest performance you’ve ever seen. (Using identity-driven + elite athlete methodologies) If that resonates, DM me — I'm starting to gather a small group to explore this with. — Brandon Hance

"We cannot create that which we cannot imagine." This clip is remarkable. Greatness demands that you SEE the thing in your mind before it can become a reality. Now, I'm sure you've heard all about the powers of Visualization in the past, but from my experience, most people are doing it all wrong. After having coached a number of Olympians, professional performers, and high level CEOs, here's what I've learned about the right way to visualize your goals: It's not enough to simply go through the motions in your mind. You must EMBODY the activity. You must see it, hear it, smell, and feel it. Here's 3 tips to become a master of visualization 1. See It From Multiple Angles Most people visualize an activity from one of two perspectives: God's-Eye-View First Person View Both are good, but the more angles we can see ourselves doing the thing, the more clear the vision becomes. So next time you visualize a thing, try it from as many alternative angles as you can imagine: See it from the eyes of your competitor... Or your coach on the sideline... Or the crowd in the stands... The more angles, the better. 2. Play with Speed Again, we tend to visualize the activity playing out at one of two speeds: Normal Time Slow Motion But there are so many other ways to tinker with this.. Try speeding it up... or playing it backwards. Or try stopping time entirely and swapping Viewpoints. (that one is a personal favorite) 3. Change the Color If you're currently visualizing in color, try it in black-and-white... (or visa versa) Then again, try oversaturating the image so it's brighter than reality. Again, all of these techniques are simply designed to help us embody success from as many angles as possible before we step into the arena... That way, success is simply a formality because you've already been there and done that.