{"id":32288,"date":"2021-04-13T22:39:33","date_gmt":"2021-04-14T02:39:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=32288"},"modified":"2021-04-24T17:22:49","modified_gmt":"2021-04-24T21:22:49","slug":"relaxed-concentration","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/relaxed-concentration\/","title":{"rendered":"Relaxed Concentration: Focus Without Judgment"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

What is relaxed concentration? How can it improve your game?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Relaxed concentration is the idea that you can have focus without trying too hard, or psyching yourself out. When you’re using relaxed concentration, it’s important not to be judgmental. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Read more about relaxed concentration and what it means in tennis. <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Relaxed Concentration: How Much Relaxing Is Too Much?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

If this problem is related to trying too hard, and the answer is to relax, how far should we go? How much \u201ctrying\u201d is enough? The answer is that there is a significant difference between \u201ctrying hard\u201d and physical effort. We can think of \u201ctrying hard\u201d as Self 1<\/a> castigating Self 2, while \u201ceffort\u201d is the physical exertion it takes to do well. Think about the following example of Joan hitting a forehand:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Example of relaxed concentration: Joan\u2019s Forehand<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Joan comes in for a tennis lesson complaining that she is constantly hitting the ball on the frame rather than nicely on the strings. Her eyesight is fine and she appears to be limber enough. But when her coach serves her 10 forehands, she hits eight on the frame. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Next, he asks her to try very hard to hit all 10 on the strings, expecting worse results. She actually manages to do a little better, hitting only 6\/10 on the frame. After that, he asks her to try<\/em> to hit balls on the frame. She hits 4\/10 on the frame and takes this at first to mean that she can never do what she tells herself to. She says this in frustration, but it actually might be the key to improving her game. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Next, he asks her to focus on the seams of the ball and not on the frame or the center of the racket at all. She hits 9\/10 well, only 1\/10 on the frame.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Joan didn\u2019t exert less actual physical effort, she just exerted herself in a more productive way. She trained her focus on the ball<\/a> rather than on not screwing up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Players who successfully master the Inner Game are good at three specific skills:<\/p>\n\n\n\n