IT has been challenging to convince myself that I can start learning a totally new skill at a relatively old age. Here is how it went.

The first impression holds no water!

I went through three stages when I tried to assess the difficulty of tennis as a new skill:

First I thought of tennis to be too difficult, and I’m too old to start.

After that, watching many tennis matches convinced me that I got it. I can analyze why Federer lost this point and how Nadal managed to win the other one. Tennis could be difficult to learn on top of me starting at a relatively old age, but I’m gifted.

In the end, I started to learn tennis. I tried very hard to hit the ball, but it was like a phantom ball. I failed to even make the racquet touch the ball. That’s how under-qualified I was.

Showing up is a magical skill!

I was shocked by how difficult it is, and it seemed easy to quit. I actually kinda quit few times. Maybe, because I didn’t have any better thing to do in life, I showed up again. After a few weeks, when it seemed hopeless, I noticed some improvement. At that point, I was happy I didn’t quit.

Regardless the reason that drives each person, showing up is the least one can do.

Look at the ball!

In the process of hitting the ball, I ended up shooting out most of the time. I was told to focus on just sending the ball to the other side. I was trying so hard. However, Even that seemed to be very difficult. I was told to look at the ball while I’m hitting it. That seems simple in theory, but doing that means that I won’t look at where I want to send the ball. Unlike the logical idea, I learnt from riding my bicycle when I was younger, that I shouldn’t look at my feet and focus on the road.

It seems like life-hacks aren’t always universally applicable, and it’s a life-hack to know when to use which one.

Tennis is one of the life activity you need to focus on the details; look at the ball even if that means you sacrifice looking at end goal; where you want to send the ball.

To survive, do fewer mistakes. To win, develop your own style!

Now I can play tennis and I was looking forward to the next step; winning. Ironically, my performance declined. I lost a lot of points and started hitting wild balls. One key skill I learnt is to resist finishing the points, and put pressure on the opponent to make the mistake. Learning how to play tennis, dictates avoiding mistakes. Excelling in tennis is developing a style. And that introduced me to the next concept.

Tennis is as difficult as every point you lose and as easy as every point you win.

Continuing with the importance of doing my part comes the fact winning the match isn’t a treasure I find at the end of a journey.

Every match is one set at a time, every set is one game at a time, every game is one point at a time, and every point is applying a collection of every skill I’ve learnt throughout the way.

You need less power than you think to win a point!

I believe I heard Mike Tyson saying something about boxing, it goes like this, “boxing is 10% physical work, and 90% mental work”. That being said, I realized that tennis isn’t about how much power you put into the ball, it’s about hitting the right spot at the right time.

Knowing what you need to do, doesn’t mean you will be able to do it from the first try!

I’m still struggling with tennis, but I believe that’s part of enjoying it. Just like how life has always been, things we like don’t always come easy. The question is whether I’m ready to fight for it. I’m still here, with a shoulder injury and a knee injury, taking breaks and trying again. Until I find a new battle to fight, I’ll be learning tennis.

Learning a new skill introduces you to new skills you didn’t sign up for!

The mindset of a child is totally different from an adult. I remember being eager to learn new things just because I wanted to be like adults, they know everything. I realized that they don’t necessarily know everything, but their priorities change, and learning new skills usually falls down from the top of their priorities.

I don’t think there’s anything wrong with having different priorities growing up. However, I can recall being happier as a child who isn’t ashamed of my ignorance, and always trying to discover new worlds.