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10 Daily Habits to take you to your next level on the court






1. Make a Daily non-negotiable list


Motivation can be hard to come by for a variety of reasons, however, there is no need to beat yourself up about this. This first step is vital in beginning to understand what is important for you. Typical non-negotiable’s are centred around sleep, diet, exercise and information gathering and these are a good place to start.

So let us take a look into more detail at at what is a non negotiable? These are routine tasks that you will simply not compromise on. These are tasks that you will make time to do no matter what else happens during your day, by having these tasks you will have a framework for you to stick to enabling you to make small improvements every day. I would suggest between 3-5 small tasks that are made as convenient as possible in both time and location.


“Over to you, what is going to be on your list?”


So, in the spirit of practicing what I preach, here are my 5 daily non negotiables;

  1. Wake up before 7am every day. (This includes going to bed early the night before!)

  2. Do at least 10 minutes of exercise every single day. (I often end up doing more than 10 minutes).

  3. Eat and drink healthily every day. (Having an understanding of what I am fuelling my body with so I can perform at my best at any given task)

  4. No T.V. before 6pm! (Any ‘work T.V.’ is exempt from this rule but I finish my day off with some low cognitive tasks).

  5. Connect with friends and family every day. (This can be visiting, messaging or calling at least one person every single day.)


2. Practice gratitude and self appreciation


Over the recent years, plenty of research has been done into the lasting effects of gratitude and its closely linked friend, self appreciation. The improvement on the well being of the individual has been documented time and time again, signposting links to ways to practice gratitude and self appreciation.

The way that has worked best for me and so many individuals I have spoken to is to practice gratitude in the mornings and self appreciation in the evening. For example, before getting out of bed in the morning telling yourself the things that you are truly grateful for, these could be simple things such as health, family or simply having a roof over your head. The important part here is that these are personal to you and that you truly believe them.

In the evening, I make a list of things that I am good at. Again personal to me, these can be simple such as “I am good at helping people” or “I am prepared for today because of what I did yesterday”. Once you’ve made your lists, keep it updated.


3. Make your bed


One recommended read is “Make your bed: 10 life lessons from a Navy Seal” written by Admiral William .H. McRaven. The book is a fascinating read and details how this task was a key part of the forces daily routine. If this task wasn’t completed they would be sent on a 10 MILE RUN!

It sounds simple enough but there are some key benefits to doing this. Making your bed will, simply enough, help you start your day off right setting yourself up to having a productive day. Another key benefit is that this practice will help you establish good habits, this small shift can start a chain reaction to helping other positive habits take hold.


4. Training your willpower


Ever heard of the phrase “What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger?”, in this case I am thinking more day to day challenges such as having a cold shower or using our opposite hand more often. These may seem small and meaningless but behind the task is the required practice to strengthen ones willpower.

Fair warning here though, these tasks are challenging so your willpower will be challenged and thus become worn out from overuse however they are scientifically proven to get results. In the short term it will be tough, but in the long term you will find it easier to say no to temptations and stick to your end goals.


5. Review how you spent your day


A great exercise for this is the ‘good, better and best exercise’. What did you do well today? What could I do better or how could I improve? What do I need to do to be the best version of myself?

I first read about this in the article by Jonas Salzgeber at https://www.njlifehacks.com/review-your-day-the-stoic-evening-routine/ . A fascinating read with a really useful video to use for those who prefer that type of learning.

By making this one of the last thoughts you have before bed you are also ticking off the self appreciation side of these tips, alongside your night time routine as simple as that!



6. Creating a night time routine


This one rings true to me as I have seen countless tennis players change their lives using this one simple trick. Typically when getting to know a new tennis player I am working with one of my first questions is “What time do you go to bed?” which is usually greeted with a waffling answer.

Our sleep has such a huge impact on our lives and is said to be one of the most performing enhancing tools in our arsenal. More on this in the future! So what can you do to be the best version of you? Well, working backwards from how many hours you’d like to sleep away from your wake up routine a good place to start is deciding how you tell your body that it is time to rest, do you read a book? Do you have a bath/shower? Research tells us how important routines are for success so the marriage between routine and sleep is crucial to perform at our best. This is a biggie!


7. Developing a growth mindset - reading!


Another recommendation, Matthew Syed is a world renowned speaker who has written a number of self help books. One that I have found particularly powerful is his book titled “How to be awesome at stuff”, in which Matthew speaks about his beginning to his Olympic Table Tennis journey starting, humbly, in his garage playing against his older brother.

In this book, Matthew explains the growth mindset, the science behind it, examples and the importance of it. A must read for any sports person! Link in the further reading at the end of the book.



8. Creating a vision board


Now this tip is one that not many of you will have heard of but its popularity is increasing, for one very obvious reason. By creating a sacred space that shows you the things you desire the most will bring those things to life. Thus enabling you to essentially visualise the end goal and exercising that every single day. Visualisation is one of the most powerful mind exercises that we can do!

How to create one of these is really simple, however, one very important point to note is that the board should be created with the idea of how you want to feel in the future and not just material things (as great as these may be) therefore triggering that intrinsic motivation we crave for long term success. All you’ll need is some form of board (cork or poster board work really well), scissors/glue stick, markers/stickers, photos/quotes, some time and a bucket load of creativity! Put some relaxing music on and know that you won’t get this wrong so go for it!


9. Developing self confidence - “Paying your bills”


This one came to my attention whilst listening to Dan Kiernan from Soto Tennis Academy at a National Coaches Conference, link in the future reading to more of their resources.

The concept of owning your choices or actions, becoming comfortable at being uncomfortable is not one that we all take lightly too. However, listening to Dan speak, it became obvious to me that we all have choices and too often allow ourselves to get away with something and then beat ourselves up about it. This concept challenges you to understand the choice you have and if it goes wrong for you to “pay your bill” better known as facing the consequences.

Ways to practice this are by challenging friends/family to a game and putting a intentional pressure on the game/challenge to force you both to play under pressure. Whomever loses the challenge “pays their bill” whilst the winner can rest comfortably in the knowledge that they performed whilst under pressure. Simple hey!


10. Creating rewards based on your new habits


Whilst the previous tip focuses us to play under pressure and “pay our bill” if we lose, this tip allows us to treat ourselves based on the new habits that underpin our day to day lives.

My suggestion on this one is to pick a few daily habits that you’d like to reward yourself for, these tend to be things that you find difficult such as trying Yoga for the first time or eating better. At the same time, choose some of your favourite rewards, for example binge watching your favourite series or treating yourself in some other way, to use as rewards.

When low on motivation, this tip can be a real game changer to give you that gentle nudge you need to make those small wins every day that accumulate into a BIG WIN!


Further reading







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