1
00:00:05,400 --> 00:00:08,060
Welcome to the Pickleball Therapy podcast.

2
00:00:08,085 --> 00:00:12,880
It is the podcast that's dedicated to your
pickleball improvement, and it is the only

3
00:00:12,905 --> 00:00:17,260
podcast dedicated to your pickleball mind.

4
00:00:17,285 --> 00:00:23,180
Today, we're going to talk about how to
actually achieve your goals,

5
00:00:23,205 --> 00:00:28,180
how to take those New Year's resolutions
that may be rambling around in your brain,

6
00:00:28,205 --> 00:00:33,900
and to actually achieve some of by the
time we get to the end of this year.

7
00:00:33,925 --> 00:00:35,360
My name is C.
J.

8
00:00:35,385 --> 00:00:39,380
Johnson.
I am not your regular podcast host.

9
00:00:39,405 --> 00:00:43,100
Tony, Roig, is out on
the pickleball courts.

10
00:00:43,125 --> 00:00:44,280
He's in Tampa.

11
00:00:44,305 --> 00:00:46,140
That's 20th hometown.

12
00:00:46,165 --> 00:00:50,100
We're hosting three Better
Pickleball Camps in Tampa.

13
00:00:50,125 --> 00:00:56,040
Our team member, Kylene, is down there
coaching players, helping them put

14
00:00:56,065 --> 00:01:00,320
together their goals and their vision for
their pickleball

15
00:01:00,345 --> 00:01:02,580
improvement plan for 2025.

16
00:01:02,605 --> 00:01:07,130
It was time for me to grab the
mic and talk about resolutions.

17
00:01:07,160 --> 00:01:11,080
Speaking of camps, if that is something
that's interested to you, we are adding

18
00:01:11,105 --> 00:01:14,360
a couple more dates to camps coming up.

19
00:01:14,385 --> 00:01:17,100
I know we have some new dates for Florida.

20
00:01:17,125 --> 00:01:23,480
Tony will be doing an additional camp in
Florida in February, and I am going to be

21
00:01:23,505 --> 00:01:28,060
in beautiful Phoenix
at the end of February.

22
00:01:28,085 --> 00:01:33,400
If you are looking to to get on court with
us, a Better Pickleball camp

23
00:01:33,425 --> 00:01:35,140
is the perfect way to do that.

24
00:01:35,165 --> 00:01:39,120
Go to betterpickleball.
com/camps.

25
00:01:39,520 --> 00:01:44,520
All right, now let's get
into pickleball resolutions and really

26
00:01:44,545 --> 00:01:48,460
how to make How to make those come true.

27
00:01:48,485 --> 00:01:52,020
I don't know that I've always
liked the word resolution.

28
00:01:52,045 --> 00:01:56,210
It's not the word itself
or the meaning of the word.

29
00:01:56,240 --> 00:02:00,020
It's the problem that it
causes for many of us.

30
00:02:00,045 --> 00:02:07,210
When we think about a new year, I think
that most of us are filled with hope and

31
00:02:07,240 --> 00:02:12,420
promise and a lot of excitement for
the coming year.

32
00:02:12,445 --> 00:02:18,500
It really is a very natural time
for us to take a look at

33
00:02:18,525 --> 00:02:22,340
our lives, or in this case today, we'll be
talking about your pickleball game,

34
00:02:22,365 --> 00:02:26,780
and say, Wow, here's something
I'd like to be different.

35
00:02:26,805 --> 00:02:30,450
I think it's a super
natural time to do that.

36
00:02:30,480 --> 00:02:36,660
But unfortunately, for most people,
we look at that,

37
00:02:36,685 --> 00:02:40,100
and then we never do anything with it.

38
00:02:40,125 --> 00:02:46,610
So we set New Year's resolutions,
and then we either don't take any action

39
00:02:46,640 --> 00:02:49,900
or we take very inconsistent action.

40
00:02:49,925 --> 00:02:56,540
In short order, by the end of January or
perhaps by the end of February,

41
00:02:56,565 --> 00:02:59,740
most of those are by the wayside.

42
00:02:59,765 --> 00:03:06,480
And we have forgotten some of those things
that we said were important, that we

43
00:03:06,505 --> 00:03:10,040
promised ourselves
that we wanted to change.

44
00:03:10,640 --> 00:03:16,300
Rather than look at it maybe as a
resolution, let's look at

45
00:03:16,325 --> 00:03:21,700
what is it in your pickleball game
that you would like to be different?

46
00:03:21,725 --> 00:03:26,020
We can call it whatever you want, but
I like to call it my pickleball goals.

47
00:03:26,045 --> 00:03:32,360
Who do I want to be at the end of 2025.

48
00:03:32,600 --> 00:03:40,900
To me, the first steps to doing that
are making it achievable.

49
00:03:40,925 --> 00:03:45,720
I think those, for me
and for the players that I've coached, who

50
00:03:45,745 --> 00:03:53,020
I've seen successful with this,
are that we take small, consistent

51
00:03:53,045 --> 00:03:57,260
steps over a period of time.

52
00:03:57,285 --> 00:04:01,080
And so somehow,
it's a lot of wonder, I guess, in what

53
00:04:01,105 --> 00:04:06,960
happens, but those small steps
add up to big change.

54
00:04:07,360 --> 00:04:15,720
I think when players
set resolutions for the year or set goals,

55
00:04:15,840 --> 00:04:21,900
that it's very easy to fall into the trap
of trying to tackle too

56
00:04:21,925 --> 00:04:25,600
many things at once.

57
00:04:25,680 --> 00:04:30,920
We can look around a pickleball court and
we can say, Oh, I need this a serve, or I

58
00:04:30,945 --> 00:04:37,020
need this a third shot, or I need
to execute this strategy better.

59
00:04:37,045 --> 00:04:42,080
Before you know it,
in our minds, we have decided that there

60
00:04:42,105 --> 00:04:49,740
are 15 things, or maybe more,
that we need to do better.

61
00:04:49,765 --> 00:04:53,680
To add to that,
sometimes for some of us, we're a little

62
00:04:53,705 --> 00:04:58,540
bit older in our pickleball careers, in
our pickleball lives,

63
00:04:58,565 --> 00:05:04,140
and we feel this real sense of urgency to
get it all done and to get it

64
00:05:04,165 --> 00:05:07,380
all done as quickly as possible.

65
00:05:07,405 --> 00:05:12,040
I have to do it all now, so therefore,
I have to do all these things at once.

66
00:05:13,760 --> 00:05:19,220
It has not been my experience as a coach
or as an athlete

67
00:05:19,245 --> 00:05:21,320
that that has ever worked for me.

68
00:05:22,560 --> 00:05:32,100
I am far better off
tackling one thing at a time

69
00:05:32,125 --> 00:05:38,560
and doing that consistently
until that becomes a habit.

70
00:05:40,280 --> 00:05:42,940
I don't know if you've
ever tried to lose weight.

71
00:05:42,965 --> 00:05:51,380
Back when I was 38, I weighed more than
250 pounds, and I made a decision

72
00:05:51,405 --> 00:05:56,000
to change my life, my physical life.

73
00:05:56,120 --> 00:06:03,040
It started with committing to eating
correctly, and it started

74
00:06:03,065 --> 00:06:06,640
with a commitment to exercise.

75
00:06:07,200 --> 00:06:15,620
I started a program where I was changing
my habits really one step at a time.

76
00:06:15,645 --> 00:06:20,740
I did not go to the gym seven
days a week for an hour at a time.

77
00:06:20,765 --> 00:06:28,860
It started for me, it was three times a
week that I went to the gym, and I went

78
00:06:28,885 --> 00:06:33,040
at the time for for 30 minutes a time.

79
00:06:33,720 --> 00:06:40,100
When I started with eating,
I didn't change everything in my diet.

80
00:06:40,125 --> 00:06:42,520
I cut out some of the fat in my diet.

81
00:06:42,545 --> 00:06:44,820
I was living in Wisconsin, loved cheese.

82
00:06:44,845 --> 00:06:51,320
I made the decision that I was going to
eliminate cheese from my

83
00:06:51,345 --> 00:06:54,280
diet for a period of time.

84
00:06:54,840 --> 00:07:02,900
As those habits solidified in my practice,
I increased some of those habits

85
00:07:02,925 --> 00:07:07,560
and eventually lost the weight,
lost more than 100 pounds and have kept it

86
00:07:07,585 --> 00:07:12,980
off for a long period of time,
lost the weight based on those habits,

87
00:07:13,005 --> 00:07:18,140
but then successfully kept off the weight
based on the habits that I built, really,

88
00:07:18,165 --> 00:07:23,580
it took me about a year, year
and a half to lose the weight.

89
00:07:23,605 --> 00:07:29,260
Now, too oftentimes, what too many people
do in the weight loss in the fitness

90
00:07:29,285 --> 00:07:30,940
is they go all in.

91
00:07:30,965 --> 00:07:39,120
They're like, Oh, I am going to just eat
vegetables, and I am going to get to the

92
00:07:39,145 --> 00:07:42,980
gym for an hour a day, every single day.

93
00:07:43,005 --> 00:07:47,760
They go all in because the beginning of
the year, we have all that enthusiasm for

94
00:07:47,785 --> 00:07:52,980
it, and they go all in, and in two
or three weeks, they're burnt out.

95
00:07:53,005 --> 00:07:56,860
Pretty soon, they miss one day at a gym,
and one day at the gym turns into

96
00:07:56,885 --> 00:07:59,180
three days away from the gym.

97
00:07:59,205 --> 00:08:02,500
Then pretty soon, it's like,
Well, why the hell should I go?

98
00:08:02,525 --> 00:08:04,160
I'm not accomplishing.

99
00:08:04,185 --> 00:08:06,620
I'm not sticking to my goals.

100
00:08:06,645 --> 00:08:08,540
The same thing happens with eating.

101
00:08:08,565 --> 00:08:12,200
We change and we eat all these vegetables,
and it's like, Man, I need something

102
00:08:12,225 --> 00:08:14,720
beyond what I'm eating right here.

103
00:08:14,745 --> 00:08:18,260
Pretty soon, maybe we eat
something that's not on our plan.

104
00:08:18,285 --> 00:08:22,060
Once we eat something that's not on
our plan, that leads to something else.

105
00:08:22,085 --> 00:08:27,520
Pretty soon, we're
not following anything we did.

106
00:08:27,545 --> 00:08:29,280
Then we say, Oh, the heck with that?

107
00:08:29,305 --> 00:08:32,020
It doesn't work anyway.
We're out of here.

108
00:08:32,045 --> 00:08:34,600
By the end of the year, nothing changes.

109
00:08:34,720 --> 00:08:39,780
Our pickleball journey can be much the
same way if we try to do

110
00:08:39,805 --> 00:08:43,020
too many things all at once.

111
00:08:43,045 --> 00:08:48,740
If you're really going to make some
changes in a game, I recommend that you

112
00:08:48,765 --> 00:08:52,800
start with small, consistent actions.

113
00:08:53,880 --> 00:08:57,060
Here's a way for you to do that.

114
00:08:57,085 --> 00:09:00,380
Begin by taking a look at your
pickleball game right now.

115
00:09:00,405 --> 00:09:04,980
Pull out a piece of paper and
just draw a line down the middle.

116
00:09:05,005 --> 00:09:09,240
On the left side of the paper, try and do
an honest assessment of where you

117
00:09:09,265 --> 00:09:11,740
are right now as a pickleball player.

118
00:09:11,765 --> 00:09:14,415
Take a look at different
parts of your game.

119
00:09:14,440 --> 00:09:15,740
Take a look at different shots.

120
00:09:15,765 --> 00:09:18,260
Oh, I serve the ball well.

121
00:09:18,285 --> 00:09:22,040
I have a consistent deep serve.

122
00:09:22,080 --> 00:09:24,020
I have a consistent return.

123
00:09:24,045 --> 00:09:25,640
My third shot could use some work.

124
00:09:25,665 --> 00:09:30,740
Just do an assessment of who you
are today as a pickleball player.

125
00:09:30,765 --> 00:09:33,040
It doesn't have to take you very long.

126
00:09:33,065 --> 00:09:37,740
Then, fast forward
and do a little visioning

127
00:09:37,765 --> 00:09:47,140
and think of who you would like to be
as a pickleball player at the end of 2025.

128
00:09:47,165 --> 00:09:51,500
Write that all down as well.
What would you like to have?

129
00:09:51,525 --> 00:09:58,240
Then, pick out
one thing on the list, that most important

130
00:09:58,265 --> 00:10:03,360
thing on the list to
That's the one thing that you're

131
00:10:03,385 --> 00:10:07,240
going to start closing the gap on.

132
00:10:07,400 --> 00:10:10,160
Let's say, I'm just going to use an
example, I'm going to pick the first

133
00:10:10,185 --> 00:10:13,900
shot of the game, and that's the serve.

134
00:10:13,925 --> 00:10:20,300
Let's say that your serve,
you want it to be consistently deep.

135
00:10:20,325 --> 00:10:24,640
In the pickleball system
and the pickleball academy, we define

136
00:10:24,665 --> 00:10:29,860
consistently deep as 4 feet from the
baseline in the center of the box.

137
00:10:29,885 --> 00:10:33,640
That is the type of serve that is going to
give your opponents the most amount

138
00:10:33,665 --> 00:10:36,500
of trouble for a variety of reasons.

139
00:10:36,525 --> 00:10:43,100
But your serve is not deep,
so you want a consistently deep serve.

140
00:10:43,125 --> 00:10:50,040
Begin by practicing 10 consistent serves.

141
00:10:50,120 --> 00:10:52,720
There are multiple ways
that you can do this.

142
00:10:52,745 --> 00:11:00,380
You can go to the courts early before your
open play and just hit 10 deep serves

143
00:11:00,405 --> 00:11:04,660
You could stay after your open play
and hit those serves.

144
00:11:04,685 --> 00:11:09,620
We have a student in Toronto who a few
years ago, she was working on her serve.

145
00:11:09,645 --> 00:11:11,380
She went out in her front lawn.

146
00:11:11,405 --> 00:11:16,640
If you're in Toronto and it's January this
time of year, you know that there's snow

147
00:11:16,665 --> 00:11:21,060
on the ground, or chances are good that
there's snow on the ground in Toronto.

148
00:11:21,085 --> 00:11:28,100
She practiced her serves in her front
lawn, getting the depth on the serve.

149
00:11:28,125 --> 00:11:29,820
Maybe you can't do that.

150
00:11:29,845 --> 00:11:34,400
But I'm going to bet you have a mirror
inside of your house, so you could

151
00:11:34,425 --> 00:11:40,180
position yourself in front of the mirror
so that you could see your stroke

152
00:11:40,205 --> 00:11:47,080
and you could visualize
the shot landing in the service box,

153
00:11:47,200 --> 00:11:52,400
4 feet from the baseline
in the center of the box.

154
00:11:53,720 --> 00:11:58,340
Start by doing that every day.

155
00:11:58,365 --> 00:12:03,460
Just 10 and realistically, how long
would it take you to hit 10 serves?

156
00:12:03,485 --> 00:12:07,080
I mean, certainly less than five minutes.

157
00:12:07,560 --> 00:12:14,460
Ten focused, thoughtful serves.

158
00:12:14,485 --> 00:12:15,580
That's it.

159
00:12:15,605 --> 00:12:20,680
Total focus, total attention to it,
and just 10 of them.

160
00:12:21,920 --> 00:12:26,960
When you commit to that
and you start doing something small

161
00:12:27,000 --> 00:12:32,100
every single day, it starts to
do a variety of things for you.

162
00:12:32,125 --> 00:12:36,560
The first thing it does is
it starts to build momentum.

163
00:12:36,720 --> 00:12:39,620
I live in snow country.
I live in Lake Tahoe.

164
00:12:39,645 --> 00:12:45,480
If you've ever seen snow roll down a hill,
when it starts to roll down the hill,

165
00:12:45,505 --> 00:12:48,540
it starts as a very small snowball.

166
00:12:48,565 --> 00:12:53,360
But as it rolls and it gains momentum, it
gains more snow, and it gets

167
00:12:53,385 --> 00:12:55,300
bigger and bigger and bigger.

168
00:12:55,325 --> 00:13:01,700
Before you know it, it goes from
a snowball that's the size of a softball

169
00:13:01,725 --> 00:13:07,520
to a snowball that's the size of a snocker
ball to the snowball that's the size of a

170
00:13:07,545 --> 00:13:11,200
boulder, potentially,
because of the momentum that it

171
00:13:11,225 --> 00:13:13,420
gains from rolling down the hill.

172
00:13:13,445 --> 00:13:21,340
You will gain that gain momentum by
showing up for yourself every single day.

173
00:13:21,365 --> 00:13:26,100
Not only do you gain momentum,
you gain confidence.

174
00:13:26,125 --> 00:13:28,100
You're out there, you're doing it.

175
00:13:28,125 --> 00:13:32,780
You're taking action, not
not just towards the shot.

176
00:13:32,805 --> 00:13:38,040
You're showing up for yourself,
potentially showing up for yourself in a

177
00:13:38,065 --> 00:13:42,360
way that you've never shown up for
yourself before or never consistently

178
00:13:42,385 --> 00:13:44,160
shown up for yourself before.

179
00:13:45,040 --> 00:13:49,920
That, in turn is going to start to reduce
some of the overwhelm and some of the

180
00:13:49,945 --> 00:13:55,500
anxiety that you feel
once you get to the court.

181
00:13:55,525 --> 00:14:01,300
It's going to make improvement
seem so much more manageable.

182
00:14:01,325 --> 00:14:05,400
But most importantly, just like I talked
about in my weight loss journey,

183
00:14:05,600 --> 00:14:14,840
that's the habit that starts to create
sustainable long-term habits.

184
00:14:15,160 --> 00:14:22,220
Because that's what's going to get you
from wherever you are at the start of 2025

185
00:14:22,245 --> 00:14:31,480
to wherever you want to be
at the end of 2025 is sustainable habits,

186
00:14:32,000 --> 00:14:34,940
showing up for yourself.

187
00:14:34,965 --> 00:14:40,740
So even though it doesn't sound like a
lot, 10 consistent serves,

188
00:14:40,765 --> 00:14:45,020
whatever it may be, and maybe it's 10
consistent third shots, maybe it's

189
00:14:45,045 --> 00:14:46,980
you want a different style of dink.

190
00:14:47,005 --> 00:14:50,460
Maybe there's a certain strategy
that you want to put in play.

191
00:14:50,485 --> 00:14:55,300
It doesn't matter what the
item that you choose is.

192
00:14:55,325 --> 00:14:58,900
What matters is the habit
that you're building.

193
00:14:58,925 --> 00:15:05,020
And by consistently showing up for just a
small period every single day,

194
00:15:05,045 --> 00:15:08,840
make it five minutes, make it maybe 10
minutes,

195
00:15:08,920 --> 00:15:14,180
showing up for yourself every single day,
that's what's going to build

196
00:15:14,205 --> 00:15:16,820
those long term havens.

197
00:15:16,845 --> 00:15:22,440
Now, for those of you who have decided
that you would like to change some of your

198
00:15:22,465 --> 00:15:27,240
physical fitness around pickleball,
we do have an eight week fitness

199
00:15:27,265 --> 00:15:29,680
challenge coming up at the end of January.

200
00:15:29,705 --> 00:15:32,580
We're going to have our
kickoff on January 23rd.

201
00:15:32,605 --> 00:15:35,880
The fitness challenge is built in...

202
00:15:35,905 --> 00:15:41,980
We do small, short sessions, and it is
specific to pickleball fitness.

203
00:15:42,005 --> 00:15:50,080
It's really specific for players
who are over 50, and we want to improve

204
00:15:50,105 --> 00:15:53,175
our health and fitness in
a way that's manageable.

205
00:15:53,200 --> 00:15:55,220
It's designed for all
types of fitness levels.

206
00:15:55,245 --> 00:15:59,840
If that's something that you want to
improve, we've got that program for you.

207
00:15:59,865 --> 00:16:05,640
It also has a coaching accountability
component to it, everything you need if

208
00:16:05,665 --> 00:16:08,180
you really want to change
your pickleball fitness.

209
00:16:08,205 --> 00:16:12,660
If that sounds like that's something
that's interesting to you,

210
00:16:12,685 --> 00:16:18,140
I'll put the link down in the show it's
below, but go to betterpickleball

211
00:16:18,165 --> 00:16:20,260
8-week challenge.

212
00:16:20,285 --> 00:16:22,220
It's 8-week-challenge.

213
00:16:22,245 --> 00:16:27,480
We'll put the link down in the show notes
below, and you can get all the information

214
00:16:27,505 --> 00:16:29,920
about the 8-week challenge
inside of the challenge.

215
00:16:29,945 --> 00:16:33,660
Inside of the challenge, we will teach you
how to build those small habits

216
00:16:33,685 --> 00:16:40,500
over a period of time that really do
change that part of the game for you.

217
00:16:40,525 --> 00:16:45,660
Even if it's not fitness,
make sure that you get out there, look at

218
00:16:45,685 --> 00:16:52,140
who you are at the start of 2025, who
you want to be at the end of 2025.

219
00:16:52,165 --> 00:16:59,460
Pick one thing and start taking small,
consistent action towards those goals.

220
00:16:59,485 --> 00:17:04,080
Now, if you found value in this podcast,
chances are your pickleball playing

221
00:17:04,105 --> 00:17:05,980
friends will find value in it as well.

222
00:17:06,005 --> 00:17:12,440
We would ask that you share this with them
because together we can help to grow

223
00:17:12,465 --> 00:17:15,700
each other as pickleball players.

224
00:17:15,725 --> 00:17:20,140
Next week, your regular host, Tony
Roig, will be back in this seat.

225
00:17:20,165 --> 00:17:30,010
Until then, have fun out there, and I hope
you reach your pickleball goals in 2025.

226
00:17:30,040 --> 00:17:30,800
See you on the courts.