| When you undertake a new endeavour or project | | | | strength to progress from the previous stage to |
| such as improving an aspect of your tennis game you | | | | realistic pessimism. |
| experience the emotional cycle of change. Mastering | | | | This is where you confront the challenges, assess |
| this change cycle is a key element in the inner game | | | | them realistically and develop a plan to overcome |
| of tennis. | | | | them. This may entail setting aside a different time for |
| The four stages are described below. | | | | tennis practice, taking on a short stint of coaching or |
| Stage 1: Unrealistic optimism | | | | finding a new practice partner. |
| You might decide to focus on one of your tennis | | | | Persistence wins the day here and persistence builds |
| groundstrokes to improve your overall tennis game. At | | | | your inner strength and your inner game of tennis. |
| first you are full of enthusiasm because you are | | | | Stage 3: Realistic optimism |
| optimistic about the outcome, an improved tennis game | | | | With practice and persistence, you start to experience |
| with more enjoyment. | | | | the reinforcement of success in improving your game. |
| This stage is often referred to as looking through | | | | Things start to fall in place and you play a good |
| rose-coloured glasses. As you set out to make the | | | | groundstroke more often than a bad one. |
| change, you are oblivious of all the obstacles and | | | | You are now realistically optimistic about the outcome |
| difficulties that can get in the road of reaching your | | | | of your efforts to improve your tennis game. |
| goal. | | | | Stage 4: Realisation |
| Very quickly you come up against the stubbornness of | | | | If you persist with your improvement efforts, you will |
| past learned habits, lack of time to practice, the | | | | achieve your goal. What seemed uncomfortable and |
| discomfort of doing things differently and a multitude of | | | | awkward at the outset will become a natural part of |
| other impediments. | | | | your game. You will become unconsciously competent |
| You are now confronted with the reality of your | | | | at that particular groundstroke. |
| unrealistic optimism. Many people give up at this stage | | | | You will have passed from unrealistic optimism to the |
| because they are depressed by the lack of progress. | | | | realisation of your goals. |
| If you persist, you build your capacity to win the inner | | | | In the process you will have learnt one key aspect of |
| game of tennis. | | | | the inner game of tennis. You will understand that you |
| Stage 2: Realistic pessimism | | | | can develop your inner strength by mastering the |
| It does not take long for the reality of the learning task | | | | emotional cycle of change. |
| to set in. However, it requires considerable inner | | | | |