{"id":4094,"date":"2023-09-03T22:26:18","date_gmt":"2023-09-04T04:26:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost:10043\/?p=4094"},"modified":"2024-02-13T09:34:53","modified_gmt":"2024-02-13T15:34:53","slug":"a-little-consistency-goes-a-long-way-in-tennis-and-business","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.atiba.com\/a-little-consistency-goes-a-long-way-in-tennis-and-business\/","title":{"rendered":"A little consistency goes a long way in tennis – and business"},"content":{"rendered":"

This article originally appeared in\u00a0The Tennessean<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

Double fault.\u00a0Three times in a row.<\/p>\n

I would say it just wasn\u2019t my day, but that\u2019s not entirely true.<\/p>\n

As part of my quest to stay in shape and keep connected to friends during the dark and lonely days of the pandemic, I decided to start playing tennis. Relatively safe being outdoors and always over 6 feet away from my opponent\u2014it seemed like a good way to exercise and socialize without getting sick.<\/p>\n

I played tennis as a kid. But after losing every match I ever played as a member of my high school team, I threw my racquet in the closet and vowed to never play again.<\/p>\n

But the pandemic did strange things to all of us.<\/p>\n

With the help of YouTube and some tips from friends (the same ones who destroyed me back in high school), I was back on the court trying to become a better player.<\/p>\n

Tennis is hard, as anyone who\u2019s played knows.<\/p>\n

It takes proper form, endurance, strength, and speed.\u00a0 When I picked up my racquet again after so many years, I quickly realized I had none of those.\u00a0 What little of each I had when I was younger felt just as out of reach as my friend\u2019s backhand was whenever it flew past me.<\/p>\n

But I persisted. I practiced serves, forehands, backhands, lobs, volleys every week.<\/p>\n

After a couple of years of playing I can proudly say that I am now…inconsistent!<\/p>\n

For me, being inconsistent at tennis is an improvement (I used to be consistently terrible.)\u00a0 I will serve an ace and then 25 seconds later I will serve straight into the net.\u00a0I can hit two forehands in a row that go over the fence, followed by two in a row that go straight down the line.<\/p>\n

So, I\u2019ve discovered that the key to improving is to simply learn how to be more consistent.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s the same at work.\u00a0 Thirty years into my career, I have a decent knowledge of what to do, but consistently making the right decisions day in and day out is still hard.<\/p>\n

As it turns out, being inconsistent, whether at tennis or work, is not uncommon. Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal have good and bad points throughout every match.\u00a0 And Bill Gates and Warren Buffett make some good decisions and some bad ones\u2014just like me.<\/p>\n

Inconsistency is simply part of the game.<\/p>\n

So, how best to deal with the ups and downs that we all face?<\/p>\n

In tennis, there\u2019s a rule that you only have 25 seconds between points.\u00a0 Win or lose, you must be ready to serve or return in less than half a minute.\u00a0 And given that inconsistency at some level is impossible to avoid, the best players are the ones who hit the ball out of bounds and come right back on the next point with a winner.<\/p>\n

In the workplace\u2014especially for those of us who are not professional tennis players\u2014dealing with inconsistency is even more important.<\/p>\n

Some say the key is to have a short memory. Make a mistake and move on to the next challenge.<\/p>\n

But I have found the opposite is true.\u00a0 When you make a mistake at work, remember it but don\u2019t dwell on it.\u00a0The goal is to learn but not let the emotions that come with a bad decision carry over to the next task that comes your way.<\/p>\n

Just like in tennis\u2014this mental game is easier said than done.\u00a0 But accepting an error, learning from it, and the quickly getting over it can help individuals and entire companies get more long-term wins.<\/p>\n

JJ Rosen is the founder of <\/em>Atiba<\/em><\/a>,<\/em>\u00a0a <\/em>Nashville custom software development firm<\/em><\/a>\u00a0and <\/em>IT support company.<\/em><\/a>\u00a0Visit <\/em>Atiba.com<\/em><\/a>\u00a0for more info.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This article originally appeared in\u00a0The Tennessean. Double fault.\u00a0Three times in a row. I would say it just wasn\u2019t my day, but that\u2019s not entirely true. As part of my quest to stay in shape and keep connected to friends during the dark and lonely days of the pandemic, I decided to start playing tennis. Relatively […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":4095,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"content-type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[217],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4094","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-tennessean"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.atiba.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4094","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.atiba.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.atiba.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.atiba.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.atiba.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4094"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.atiba.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4094\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.atiba.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4095"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.atiba.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4094"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.atiba.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4094"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.atiba.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4094"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}