Changing Habits: The Art of Waiting in Sports and Life

Changing habits. How do habits sabotage performance? Playing tennis, ping pong, baseball, juggling, Hacky Sack, and more. Rushing to hit or kick in sports oftentimes leads to a poor outcome. You miss the ball. You don't connect. But you continue to rush, hit too soon, misjudge distances. You repeat the very behavior that you know doesn't lead to success. This is the nature of habits.

Instead, by waiting just a moment longer, pausing, you essentially expand the time between stimulus and response. A relaxed alert response allows for better coordination, better cognition, better relating, better decision making. Deciding to make a change takes courage. Experimenting without a care of the outcome, without "endgaining," is a skill. Find an activity where you can safely experiment and you will be delighted with the outcome.