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Welcome to Pickleball Therapy, the podcast
dedicated to your pickleball improvement.

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This is the podcast that puts your
mind at the center of your game.

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I am the host of your weekly podcast,
Tony Roig it's a pleasure to be with you.

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This is episode 235 of the podcast.

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This week we're going to talk
about the learning space.

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It's a really interesting way of thinking
about your journey as a pickleball player

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and dealing with the most common feeling
that we have, which is frustration.

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And when we're in the learning space, I
think you're going to find

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it really interesting.

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Before we dive into the podcast, I'm going
to repeat the favor from the last episode,

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which is if you know a player out there
who's on a journey of improvement, someone

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who's, you know, maybe feeling like
there's more to the game than

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they're able to connect with.

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Right now we have a boot camp coming up
right now in March which I think will

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really connect with them and help them
improve in their sport.

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It's a super recently
priced podcast or boot camp.

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And then if they like that, then they
can join us for our upcoming TPS course.

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So that's the.
That's the plan.

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So if you can help us reach players like
you who are interested in more than just

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hitting the ball when they're out there
on the court, we would appreciate that.

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All right, so let's talk about
this learning space idea.

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So I came across this video and that's
actually one of the reasons I like

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sometimes just flowing through videos,
because I wasn't looking for

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this, you know, the idea.

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And I came across it was.

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It was a psychologist speaking at Duke,
and she was talking about how,

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you know, she basically had two dots on a
board and one dot was not knowing

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and the other dot was knowing.

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Now, this could apply to anything.

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In our case, we're using it for
pickleball, but it can apply to

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anything that you don't know.

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So not knowing, and you
want to get over to knowing.

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And then she had this kind of a squiggly
line between the two

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dots, kind of up and down.

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And then so the focus
was on the space between.

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Between knowing and not knowing.

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The squiggly line.
What is that?

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So she calls that the learning space.

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And what's really interesting about that
idea is that, is that it, like it gives.

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It puts something a name on something,
right, that we know we're

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doing, but we don't really.

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We're not clear on what's happening kind
of like when you play pickleball, right,

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you have the baseline and you
have the non volley zone line.

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Well, we call the space in the middle
either transition zone or no man's land,

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something like that, to give it like a.

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So that we can understand
that it has a name, right?

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It's not just like blue cord or red cord
or whatever color it is in your facility.

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So this area between not knowing
and knowing is the learning space.

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And what she said is, she said, when
you're in the learning space,

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there is one.

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There's one feeling or one emotion and
only one emotion that's associated with

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anyone whenever you're
in the learning space.

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And that one feeling, that
one emotion is frustration.

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That's the natural state when
you're in this learning space.

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So if you think about it for a second,
right, you say, okay,

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I don't know something.

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And in this case it's pickle, right?

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Or I don't know it the
way I want to know it.

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So I want to go from
not knowing to knowing.

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I'm going to be traversing this space,
this transition zone

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called the learning space.

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And the emotion that I'm going to be
feeling during this time is

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frustration, right?

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So I expect frustration when
I'm in the learning space.

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And she continued to expound on that.

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So I'm basically saying that the persons
who are able to grow the most, right?

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Persons who are able to continue on their
journeys the furthest are those who

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are able to withstand frustration, right?

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The persons who are able to just
dive in and say, you know what?

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I'm embracing the frustration, right?

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There's a saying, you know,
embrace the suck, if you will.

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So basically I'm just embracing the
feeling of being frustrated.

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And I know that it's fine because it's
necessary for me to progress

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from not knowing to knowing.

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The more you're able to do that, right?

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The more you're able to either accept it
or resist it, however you

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want to think about it.

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But the more you're able to stay in that
middle zone between not knowing and

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knowing,
the more you'll grow, in this case, as a

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pickleball player, but
also in life, right?

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The more you're willing to put up with
frustration or just accept it, right?

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If you want to be more Buddhist about it,
you're just kind of like,

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oh, that's the state of now.
And I'll just.

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It is what it is, right?

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You can do a stoic approach, a nihilistic
approach, whatever you want, right?

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But at the bottom line is
it's not bucking.

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Don't buck frustration, right?

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Avoid the temptation to.

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To get upset about
being frustrated, to be.

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Be disappointed that you're frustrated,
to, you know, feel bad

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that you're frustrated.

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In fact, if you think about it, big
picture, it's the opposite, right?

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You should embrace frustration.

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You should say, not only am I not upset
that I'm frustrated, I'm

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excited that I'm frustrated.

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Because if I'm frustrated, what I know
is what I'm in the learning space, right?

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If I'm frustrated, what I know is
I am moving from not knowing

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closer to knowing, right?

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If I'm frustrated, I'm moving
forward towards what I want.

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There are the puppies.

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So the puppies are active right now, and
so you might hear them in

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the background a little bit.
That's Benita and Olivia.

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Every once in a while,
they're pretty quiet dogs.

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They don't bark a lot, but every once in a
while, they get a little

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excited about something.

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But, you know, so frustration is not only
not bad, frustration is a positive because

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we're moving forward.

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And what I would suggest to you is if you.

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The more you work this through, the more
you understand that

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it's a permanent state.

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And allow me to explain this to you.

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So right now we have two
dots, not knowing and knowing.

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And we're looking at the space
in between as a learning space.

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And then we're talking about frustration
being the natural feeling in that space.

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But here's the thing.

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As I go from
not knowing to knowing, as long as I'm

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still curious, as long as I still want to
grow, that not knowing

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dot continues to slide, right?
Because.

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And let's just.
Let's make it simple.

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Let's start at the beginning.

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So let's say that you just started playing
pickleball and you don't

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know how to keep score.

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Frustrating, if you remember, right?

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It's kind of like I can't remember how to
keep score, so I don't

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know how to keep score.

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And then there's knowing
how to keep score.

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And in the middle learning
space, frustration.

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Okay, Now I know how to keep score, but I
don't really understand the strategy

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for what to do in my return of serve.

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So I'm back into a not knowing knowing and
a not knowing knowing and

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a not knowing knowing.

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Right now you have a
not knowing knowing gap.

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If you're, excuse me, curious and want to
grow, you have a not knowing gap between

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where you are and where you want to be.

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And that continuously slides, right?

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There is no.

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There is no end point in pickle ball
unless you decide the only end point in

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pickle ball is when you say
to yourself, I'm done growing.

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And there's.
Don't, don't take this the wrong way.

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It's not a, it's not a adjudication that
you're a bad person or

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that it's perfectly fine.

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You're entitled to engage with
the sport however you want.

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You know, I would submit to you that
personally, whether it's inside or

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outside of pickleball, you should.

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I would suggest it's more fulfilling to
engage in this life with a constant growth

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idea, with a never, you know, always.

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There's this idea of always thinking
yourself as a beginner

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in everything, right?
You're always.

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I'm always like looking at
it as I'm, I'm new to this.

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What can I continue to grow in, right?
As a person?

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I think pickleball is a
great place to do that.

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Think about it like a canvas for yourself.

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And we've talked about a little bit
before, but just don't

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lose sight of that, right?

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Pickleball is a great space that allows
you to work on yourself physically,

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socially, emotionally,
mentally, everything.

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And actually the way.

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Recent interview with pro player Richard
Livernis, he talked about it like

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basically it gives him more reps.

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You know, let's say you're playing
pickleball four or five

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times a week, right?

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There's going to be plenty of
places there for you to work on your

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mental journey because you're going to
have so many different exposures to

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potentially adverse
mental reactions, right?

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You missed a shot, you lost
a game, you should have won.

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Whatever, whatever you're thinking, right?

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All these different things are different
repetitions that you have that allow you

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to continue to strengthen your, your,
your mental journey muscles, right?

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Your ability to, to deal
with those situations.

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Whereas if you remove that, right?

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So let's say you weren't playing
that, those pickleball games.

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And, and let's assume, let's
go completely the other way.

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Completely sedentary lifestyle, sitting
on the couch, watching television.

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There's no adversity, right?

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Other than, you know, maybe once a month
or something, you're looking back

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on like, what did I do last month?

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But other than that, I mean, like during
day in and day out, you're just kind of

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receiving information there' Whatever.

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So these, these pressures that pickleball
creates for us allow us to continue to get

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the reps, to continue to, to continue to
work on our mental processes inside

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the game, but also outside the game.

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So as you work forward, right?

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From not knowing to knowing, understanding
that those are always going to be moving

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goalposts as long as you are open to that
and understanding that the space between

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them, this learning space is a learning
space is an area that when you're

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transiting it, it's going to be
characterized by feelings of frustration.

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Then what happens is you can
embrace the frustration, right?

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And definitely, at least don't
fight the frustration, right?

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Don't get upset about the frustration.
Just embrace it.

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And then you'll continue to grow as a
person, knowing that your

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frustration is a necessary piece to your
growth, from not knowing to knowing.

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Which will improve your pickleball and
more importantly, will improve your life.

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So hopefully this helps you navigate not
just pickleball, but also outside of

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pickleball, in terms of any kind of growth
process that you are engaged with,

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as long as you remain open to growth.

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That's this week's podcast.

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I hope you enjoyed it.

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If you have a minute to rate
and review it, fantastic.

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And as always, if you can share
it with your friends, great.

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Because remember, if you
enjoyed the podcast, thanks.

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They probably will too.

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I hope you have a great weekend and week
and I will see you at the next

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episode of Pickleball Therapy.
Be well.