Short YouTube clip in which Dr. Don Wood recounts advice from his tennis coach: to improve, deliberately play stronger opponents (e.g., older age divisions) and 'lose a lot' so you adapt and develop faster. He frames this as a general principle applicable to sport, business, and life.
Chapters
And I played tennis. And so the tennis pro was sort of my mentor. He was phenomenal. And he said to me one day, he says, you really want to be a great tennis player, don't you? And I said, yes. And so he looks around to make sure no one's listening, right? And he goes, okay, I'm going to tell you the secret, you know, and at 13, you actually think there's a secret. And so I said, okay. And he says, lose a lot. And I said, what do you mean lose a lot? And he said, you're playing in competitions where you could win. You're playing at 13, 14 year old divisions. I want you to play in the 15, 16 year old, 17 and 18 year old divisions. He says, you haven't seen that kind of speed and power, but if you see it, you will adapt to it and you will actually pick up your good athlete. You will develop faster by playing better people than you will by playing people at your skill level. I mean, you could apply that to everything, to business, to life.