The Mental Game of Tennis

Watching Andy Murray crash out of the Australian Open Tennis Championship finals yesterday was painful viewing.

By contrast, his victor, the excellent young Serbian, Novak Djokovic, who won in three straight sets, really did play the bigger game and was an absolute joy to watch.
 
The Mental Game of Tennis
Was it only me, but did anyone else notice Andy come on to the court and play the match with 'defeat' written all over him? Djokovic however, had a spring in his step (even with a plastered knee and shoulder), moving around the court chest out, shoulders back, a smile on his face - even though obviously concentrating on the task in hand. He looked as if he was enjoying playing tennis.

Contrast this to the Murray slouch; shoulders down, face looking bemused into a grimace, breaking only to shout expletives every time he missed a shot - which happened a lot. Whilst he has undoubtedly done much work on technique and strength, what he also obviously needs is to work on his inner game - the mental game of tennis. Whether it's with a mentor, someone who's been there and done it before, or a mental conditioning coach, he needs to figure out a way to enjoy his game, whether winning or losing.

Mental Coaching & Training
Yesterday, we saw two very different mental games at play. Dvokovic wanted to win and believed he could, whereas Murray wanted to win but doubted he could. That slight difference can so often be 'the difference that makes the difference'. Federer also played a negative mental game in his semi-final and lost, as did Nadal before him - and I know Nadel was injured, but 'positive' Nadel may well have carried on, and won that match.

In tennis, as in business (there are so many parallels, which I'll discuss another day), talent, fitness, strength and dedication,  are all important. The thing is, if you have a plentiful supply of them, as Andy Murray does on the tennis court, and yet still somehow play the smaller game when we can all see he's capable of playing the bigger one, that's the real sadness of yesterday's loss.

Grand Slam
On paper, Andy Murray can still win a Grand Slam final in the future. However, if you look at the inner games he tends to play in his head, then winning a tournament actually looks very unlikely.

An in form Federer is simply graceful to watch. Nadal 'in his zone' he is a force of nature. Watching Djokovic yesterday was an inspiration - I felt better for having watched a player so obviously at the top of his game.

...and Murray, let's just say he was a disappointment. He wasn't just beaten, he was wiped off the court, with a whimper and a scowl.

If You See Andy, Tell Him
So, if you know Andy, please give him my number and tell him to call me! Because until he plays a better mental game of tennis, winning a Grand Slam first in his head before he ever steps on to a court - and I know we're all talking Wimbledon here -  doing it for real might just remain a 'shoulda, woulda, coulda' pipe dream.

Sell The Sizzle, Not The Steak!

How many times have you found yourself listening to someone at a networking event going on and on and on about the technicalities of how they do what they do?

They’re making the mistake of talking about the features too early in the conversation, when all we want to hear about are the benefits – what’s in it for us.

It's helpful to think about features as the bare-bones of a service or product, whereas the benefits are the value or the solution the customer will get from buying it.

If you recognise yourself doing this, in essence what you're doing is talking about the steak, when all you should be talking about is the sizzle.
(Read more)

Get Out of Your Cave!

BNI founder and networking expert, Dr Ivan Misner, suggests you should ‘get out of your cave’, meaning you should step out of whatever your comfort zone is once in a while and introduce some new networking dynamics, to keep things fresh.

New Year - which I look on as the whole of January - is a great time to consider venturing out and joining a new interest or business group to increase your networking circle.

Ask yourself the following questions:

• What do you enjoy doing?
• What have you always wanted to learn?
• What new sport or pastime do you want to take up?

Choose something you enjoy, rather than thinking ‘potential business opportunity’, as it’s the relationships you’ll be forging that will help you.

Think ‘diverse’, and step into your ‘stretch zone’. That could mean:

• Taking up a new sport, such as golf, football, basketball
• Joining a running or ramblers club
• Joining a choir
• Taking an evening class
• Attending a book club

The secret of course is to make your new endeavour a group activity.

After all, as the old adage suggests, ‘people buy people before they buy products or services’.

Knowing When To Take A Break

It's been a busy weekend, with two coaching workshops; one in London on Saturday and the other in Birmingham yesterday. Always lively, fun and a chance to meet and work with lot of new people. I love what I do.

Today is a much quieter day. Yes, there is writing to do and emails to reply to, as well as taking some much needed relaxation time. Everyone, including business owners need time out, a chance to recharge, relax and come back a fresh.

People ordanarily use weekends for this. However, for some people running their own business, this valuable time can get squeezed out, weekends eventually becoming a distant memory.

Time Out
As much as business planning and being pro-active is important, so is honoring the time needed to take away from work.

I help clients explore what the balance is for them, and if it needs adjusting. It helps to think of a 24 hour period in three 8 hour chunks:

• One 8 hour chunk will account for an average persons' sleep time.
• Another is dedicated to work or business.
• And the third is 'you time' - relaxing, recharging, having fun, enjoying personal relationships and friendships, hobbies, etc...the chunk that often gets squeezed first.

It's the balance that keeps us fresh, alive and vibrant. Upset the balance and our well being is effected. Once this happens, it's often a one way route to stress.

Vital balance
Since for many, a modern day reality is to work unusual hours, including for some like me, weekends, making sure we retain balance becomes even more important.

Many find a simple three step approach helps:

1. Define a schedule. Know when you should be doing what you should be doing. Defining, using whatever scheduling system that works best for you, will help you become aware of how the balance is for you.
2. Acknowledge your relaxation time. Relaxation is just as productive as work, as is sleep. Sleep and relaxation give you the energy to do your best work.
3. Add 'spice' to your relaxation. What book did you never get around to reading as a child or teenager? Seek it out and read it. Join the club or class you intended to join last year, but were too busy to. Go on a weekend break with your partner or someone special - and remember, a weekend can be any two consecutive days in your diary - if you work Saturday & Sunday, make it Wednesday & Thursday!

On purpose
By enjoying your life 'on purpose' rather than feeling the victim of it, will give you the balance every successful person needs and deserves.

Wishing you a fabulous week!

Great Speakers

If you think back to the most powerful, inspirational, most poignant speakers in history, who comes to mind? JFK, Gandhi, Martin Luther King?

What makes a great speech memorable? Words are important, as is the subject matter, but it's got to be so much more than that.

It's the panache, the attitude of the speaker (and the crowd), the 'eye candy' - not necessarily in the conventional sense, but more that everything about the speech; the setting, energy, and even the moment in history has to be on the button, or 'on brand' as my branding expert Andy Patterson-Jones calls it.

It's now 50 years since President John F Kennedy's inaugural address. Click here to find some top tips and analysis from that speech as discussed by the BBC, as well as an opportunity to hear it again.

On of the measures of a great speech is its longevity. Having listened to JFK's again myself, I can honestly say the impact in his delivery hasn't lost any of its energy and passion, even half a century later.

Truly one of our greatest ever speakers.

Press Release

With last week’s release of ‘The King’s Speech’, starring Colin Firth as the late King George VI, stuttering is being thrust into the public consciousness.

Widely acclaimed by critics, this movie balances first class cinematography with successfully tackling a subject so often overlooked or even still taboo.

Stuttering affects more than 500,000 people, or 5% of the population, in the UK today and an estimated 42 million individuals worldwide. Whilst UK laws are aimed at supporting and protecting individuals with such disabilities, the reality is so often very different.

Motivational speaker, trainer and business communications coach, Mike Blissett, suffered a debilitating and severe stutter until his mid-20s. (read more)

Thanks For Your Feedback

It seems I really hit a chord with my last few posts regarding the poor quality of customer service in many companies today.

You are always welcome to email me direct, and I will always respond with a personal reply - as more than 40 of you did after Saturday's post.

And, from today you can also post a comment directly on to the Blog. This is a great new addition, as it enables us all to share ideas and thoughts for everyone to see.

My website and blog will soon be going through a significant update (due for early March), and I look forward to building a more interactive business minded community of people wanting a better communication and customer service experience from companies large and small in the marketplace today.

Watch this space, and have a fabulous week!

Good Customer Service

It's ironic that I'm now integrating some of the stories from my Christmas travel debacle as funny stories in my training events.

Think cancelled flights, 5 days delay at Heathrow Airport, 6 hours in telephone queuing systems, cancelled hotel bookings, etc.

My tale of holiday woe even got a laugh whilst delivering my 60 second marketing presentation at last Tuesday's BNI meeting.

But here's the thing: whilst bad weather and lack of investment in dealing with it is one thing, what really upset me and I believe the vast majority of other people affected, was the poor public relations, bad customer service, and abysmal communication skills in general.

Whilst I would say that some companies, whilst still affected by the snow, delivered excellent interpersonal service with their customers,the majority did not.

This is where I come in!

I've made it my aim this year to raise awareness that good communication skills and respectful service are important in business. I want companies to banish the 'I can't be bothhered' attitude of some of its staff.

As a business communications coach it is my role to take this message to companies, and to show them techniques so that they can raise their game.

Some call the models I use lessons in common courtesy, good manners, clear and concise communication. I simply call them good business sense. With them, business grows, yet without them clients dwindle, revenue falls, and ultimately businesses fail.

As a traveller, those companies that showed me no courtesy over the Christmas period will no longer get my custom, whereas those that demonstrated good communication skills, empathy, and a 'can do' attitude have now become my go-to providers when next I need their services.

Surely, that's good business?

New Year, New Opportunies

January is more than simply 'New Year, New You' in the first week!

In fact, it's a great month to spend valuable time looking at what you want to achieve over the next 12 months.

Clients I work with tend to break dreams and aspirations for the year down into their vital components - namely the important areas they want to improve upon during 2011, which can include:

• Personal
• Health
• Relationship(s)
• Family
• Business
• Career
• Money
• Leisure
• Personal Development

The above is a general list. If you're doing this exercise for yourself, yours may be similar, or include other topics or areas important to you.

The next step is to get all your ideas down on paper, and as US property tycoon Donald Trump once said, 'if you're going to dream, you may as well dream big'. Think of this New Year exercise as like designing a new menu for a restaurant - get all your ideas down first, and then you'll have lots of ideas from which to chose the best from.

The first step is however, to recognise you have opportunities, hence the above exercise.

Click here for more ideas to help set achievable goals for 2011.