On this New Year’s Eve, we are rounding out an introductory kickoff of a year-long examination of how we all can design our ideal tennis life. This series is inspired by a best-selling book describing methodologies developed for student career counseling at Stanford University. It is a book I have leveraged extensively at my day job.
A common practice exhibited by some of the best engineering designers is an insatiable curiosity and a habit of lifelong learning. One way those traits work well together is a behavioral pattern of asking questions and then developing methods of research or experimentation to discover the answer. In other words, the pursuit of excellence is a journey rather than a destination.
In my experience, New Year’s Eve Resolutions are typically developed with the assumption that the person already understands exactly what it is they want to do. One possible reason that most Resolutions are inevitably broken is that they are out of alignment with what would actually bring happiness and fulfillment.
For example, setting a goal to complete a marathon is a stereotypical Resolution trope. Unfortunately, if that person quickly discovers that they genuinely hate running or injure themselves by over-training, the Resolution basically sets them up for failure.
In the design-oriented approach, the person might ask themselves the question, “Do I enjoy running?” The experiment might be to simply jog three days a week throughout the month of January. Whether they decide that they like running or not, it is a successful experiment. If they enjoyed it, the next questions and experiments could build to the completion of that marathon. If not, then the follow-up activity might explore alternative types of exercise.
We started out this weekend by examining a broad question, “Why Do You Play Tennis?” That was followed up by an alternate framing of “What’s Your Problem?” That is a different perspective to start a journey of self-discovery. Using this approach, you can design a happy life in tennis, one step at a time.
This New Year’s Eve, in addition to any Resolutions or goals you might be setting for the coming year, also consider what questions and experiments you might perform. It is a methodology that works really well.
Throughout 2024, I will be publishing a series of essays imaging how to apply the principles in ‘Designing Your Life: How to Build a Well-Lived, Joyful Life‘ (<- sponsored link), which is a non-tennis book that I have come to believe that everyone should read.
New posts in this series are published on the first Friday, Saturday, and Sunday of each month. A chronological summary of all previous posts on this topic is available on the Designing Your Tennis Life summary page.
