Focus On The Decisions You Make, Not The Outcomes You Get.

Jun 22, 2023

Hey!

Before we keep going, welcome back to another edition of the blog. If you’re new to the blog and want to go back and check out past editions, go here!

Today’s edition has three parts: 

1. A Helpful Tip (Video) – Dominate the Kitchen: 7 Strategies for Success.

2. For the Pickleball Nerds – Focus On Decisions, Not Outcomes.

3. My Journey Playing Pro – PPA Denver With Pesa (Soon)!

A Helpful Tip (Video):

To win more games, get to the kitchen more often.

It’s why your 3rd shot drop is important.

It's why your 3rd drive — 5th drop is important.

It's why your "reset'' game in the mid court is important.

Because at higher levels, if you try to rip everything hard — you'll face the consequences. 

Losing.

For example, my first pro match ever was mixed doubles against Jesse Irvine and Kyle Yates. I lost 11-0 and 11-0. We hit everything hard. And yeah, that didn't work out well. Two days later, I played again at a lower division (5.0 mixed doubles) with the same partner. We won Gold. So you might wonder, "what happened at the pro match?"

Two things: 

#1. We couldn't get to the kitchen. And…

#2. When we got to the kitchen, we didn't know what to do. 

So after that tournament. I dedicated myself to improving #1. Because I realized what was easy at 5.0 wasn’t as easy at the pro level. Then after improving #1, I got better at #2. So with that being said, I’ve realized through conversations and comments from many of you...

You understand the importance of getting to the kitchen. But, as one person recently asked me, “but then what?” Well, the video I made for you today answers the question, “but then what?”

Enjoy!👇

For the Pickleball Nerds: 

Where do you focus after you win a point or make a mistake? Is it on the decision you made or the outcome you got? In her book, “Thinking in Bets,” Annie Duke says,

“We hold a tight relationship between outcomes and decisions… We often decide whether a decision is good or not based on its outcome.” She calls this, “Resulting.”

But as we have all experienced, good outcomes are possible even when we make bad decisions, and vice versa. For example, if you’re late and decide to run a red light and don’t get caught, it was still a bad decision, you just had a good outcome and didn’t get caught. 

In other words, just because you got away with it, doesn’t make it a good decision.

The same applies to pickleball. Think about it like this. If you speed up a soft dink and the opponent hits a strong counter to win the point — that doesn’t necessarily mean you were wrong to hit that shot. It means you got one bad outcome on a single shot. 

But what you do in the next 10 seconds following that moment is crucial.See, most respond to a point with celebration or a miss with frustration. Which is fine. I do the same. And I’m not saying not to. We’re all human. What I’m saying is…

…after two seconds of having that emotional response, most don’t do this one thing next.

GCQ - “Get Curious Quick.”  **say that three times fast.** 

Actually, not as hard as I thought it’d be 😂. Don’t fall into the trap of “Resulting.” Instead, respond (internally) with a question. “Did I make the correct decision with that shot?” 

And you might wonder, “but how would I even know that?” Back to the speed up example. Well…

  • Was their paddle position down?
  • Was the ball high enough to speed up?
  • Have you ever practiced that shot before?
  • Does the player standing in front of you have slow hands?
  • Were you aiming at their right hip / shoulder? (a tough place for righty’s to counter). 

If the answers are yes, it was probably a good decision that yielded a bad outcome (in this example). See, if you hit that same shot 10 times and win 7, it’s a good decision. The problem is, most of us (me included) don’t think about the entire match and the odds of certain shots working. We give too much weight to each shot we hit — whether good or bad.

And all of the sudden, we operate on an emotional roller coaster — too easily impacted by whatever the outcome is. This is hurting your game and just pissing you off. So here's your one actionable tip for the week: Next time you play, redirect your focus to what you can control, rather than the outcome you got.

Ask yourself, “Is the decision I made, regardless of the outcome I got, going to win the point 6-7 out of 10 times?” If you think the answer is yes, hit it again the next time you see that ball. If the answer is no, don’t hit it again and improve your chances of winning the point by doing something different.

This philosophy, to separate the decision from the outcome, will free you from the emotional rollercoaster many of us go on while playing.

Give it a shot next time you go out and play!

My Journey Playing Pro Pickleball: 

I'm back in training mode. I have a month off until I play the PPA Denver with my guy Pesa Teoni. I’m stoked to play with Pesa, who’s been a good friend for awhile and in my opinion, is the most underrated guy in all of pickleball! 

In the month leading up to it, I’ll spend 3 weeks training and one week leading, what is the best basketball experience for middle school and high school players who want to play at a high level — PGC Basketball Camp. Which, I’m biased because I was full time with PGC before I went full time into pickleball...

But PGC is a top 3 contributor for schaping me as a person. And I’m stoked to get back on court for a short time and teach some hoops to aspiring basketball players. 

On court over the next 3 weeks, I’ll spend a majority of my time on kitchen work! Time to level up my kitchen game because in pro men's doubles. That’s where the money is made! 

Talk soon, 

Kyle  

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