TennisOne Lessons

Process vs. Result Goals

Daryl Fisher

Do you ever wonder why your tennis ability fluctuates from day to day? There are a variety of potential answers to this question—including how your opponent happens to be playing, of course—but this is the first of a set of articles meant to address some of the answers over which you might actually have some control.

One thing you can control are your goals. Your goals play a role with regard to how well you play, but conflicts between your goals can actually cause you to play worse. There are countless potential goal conflicts, but here I am going to focus specifically on the common conflict between two types: process and result goals.

Process vs. Result Orientation

Many of us have goals associated with results such as winning tennis matches. With these goals, however, automatically come processes that are required in order to achieve the desired results. Processes include such things as moving your feet, tracking the ball, contacting the ball, and innumerable other things.

Paying attention to the processes associated with winning a tennis match entails observing and feeling yourself in the moment; feeling your way along, and being ready to adjust when necessary. This is also what it feels like to learn something, which is why many players find success more easily in a practice session or a lesson. Practice sessions and lessons are conducive to experimentation and feeling your shots. You do not have to worry about whether something is going to work or not, because if it doesn’t work, then it is just a failed experiment, no harm done, no score kept. You are free to feel what is happening and focus on the process of how to make something happen.

In a competitive match, on the other hand, we often just want results. Unfortunately, by focusing on winning, some of the attention you could be using for the process is now attending to the results. Allowing your mind to dwell too much on the desired result takes attention away from your ability to adjust to what is happening on the court at the moment. As an example, you might have had the experience of learning how to do something new, then overconfidently attempting to show your new trick to someone else only to have it not work. You know the feeling, “Hey Mom, watch this new trick! WHOOPS!”

The primary problem with having your attention shifted toward the results is that you are no longer giving as much attention to the process, to how you achieve the results, or to what is happening in the moment. In other words, you stop paying attention to what is right in front of you, the very thing that will lead to the results you want in the future. It sounds foolish when we hear it out loud, but almost all of us, at some time in our lives, have stopped paying attention to what we are doing in order to focus on the result we want, and thereby, stopped moving toward the result.

What to Do

The answer, of course, is straightforward, but easier said than done. We need to have a goal in mind, such as the result we want to achieve, but we need to stop fixating on that goal and simply focus all of our attention on the steps required to achieve the goal. In the case of tennis, the goal of winning a tennis match can be broken down into sub-goals, such as winning points.

Thinking in terms of just winning the next point is a valuable perspective. Rod Laver suggested something along this line of thinking in his excellent book The Education of a Tennis Player: “The next point—that’s all you must think about. ‘Gotta get the next point!’ is what you tell yourself. ‘Gotta get the next point!’”

While paying attention to the next point is a valuable perspective, the score is just information, a measure. What Laver really meant was along the lines of forgetting about everything including the past and anything beyond the very immediate future of the next point to be played. He was encouraging us to feel and observe what we are doing right now and to forget anything other than that.

A friend of mine, who played on the professional tour, made this point clear to me. His mantra, when he stepped onto a tennis court, was “this ball.” What he meant when he would say “this ball,” was that the only thing that mattered at the moment was the shot that he was about to hit. He used this mental technique to block out the score, to block out his desire to win the match, to block out anything other than what was most immediately pressing, which was to take care of the shot that was right in front of him. Of course with a professional’s eye, he would gather, evaluate, and use an incredible amount of information throughout the match, but the only instruction he gave himself was “this ball.”

Similarly, another friend of mine, who played professional tennis, said the best he ever played was when he “just couldn’t wait to hit the ball.” Many of us can relate to this statement. When we are eager just to play, we typically play well. Ask yourself, are you playing because you love the feeling that you get through your whole body when you strike a ball well? It is one of the best feelings in the world, perhaps one of the reasons you started playing tennis, and it can be the goal that leads you to play some excellent tennis.

Try It!

Every shot should be hit with a purpose! This is true even if the only purpose is to pay attention to what you are doing. As an experiment, when you go out to play next, try giving each shot you hit your full attention. You might even go so far as to say quietly to yourself, “this ball.” Many people have had success with this mental technique, and, at the very least, it will help you learn how your concentration works. If you are serious about improvement and performance, or if you just want to have a fun hit, giving your attention to what you are doing will only help.

There are countless ways to pay attention to what you are doing right now, which means there are an infinite number of process goals. A classic way of paying attention to what is happening right now is to say “bounce” out loud to yourself when the ball bounces in front of you, and then “hit” when you strike the ball. This is an example of a process goal that requires you to pay attention and thereby know on every shot when the ball is bouncing in front of you and when you are striking the ball. It sounds absurdly simple, but your timing will almost certainly improve, and, more than anything, the process will help you pay attention to what is happening in the moment. Paying attention in such a way will also, guess what, help you win more matches.

Conclusion

If you realize there are more aspects to level fluctuation than are described here, you are correct, and more articles are on the way with the hope of addressing as many as possible. Of course, your opponent might play particularly well on any given day, and there are potentially numerous additional contributing factors that are beyond your control, but this does not mean you must throw your hands up to the fates. In fact, there are some factors you can control, and to achieve your best results on the tennis court, and in your day to day life, you should give these factors some attention.

Result goals tend to put our attention on some time other than right now. Process goals, however, involve giving attention to awareness of something that is happening in the moment, and they often help us enjoy the challenge of the game more. If your goal is to win a tennis match, then pay attention to some smaller goals, all of which start with hitting the ball that is in front of you for the purpose of trying to win the next point. “Gotta get the next point!”

“Bounce.”“Hit.” Keep it simple!

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