When under pressure in games, you have two choices: Play cautiously and minimize risks. Stay aggressive and continue to take risks. There are pros and cons of each of these strategies, but in theory, the second strategy is the best option if it's executed well. This is because it not only makes you play better, but it also makes your opponent play worse by putting more pressure on them. While playing aggressively under pressure may increase the chances of making a mistake, it also increases the chances of your opponent making a mistake. By playing aggressively, you make things more difficult ..read more

Have you ever asked yourself these questions: "Am I addicted to my smartphone?" "Is staring at screens all day negatively affecting my life and mental health?" "Are my devices serving me, or am I serving my devices?" If you've asked yourself these questions, don't feel bad. These are valid concerns you should be worried about. Technology/screen addiction is a real thing with serious consequences. And even if you're certain that you're not addicted to your devices, you may still have an unhealthy relationship with your smartphone, computer, TV, or video games. Let's be honest, in today's cult ..read more

The Anti-Anxiety Notebook, written by professional therapists, is a book, workbook, and journal all-in-one. Not only does it teach you the basics of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and other helpful mental health treatments, but it gives you lots of space to write down and process your thoughts and emotions. This makes this notebook very helpful. Anyone who reads and uses this notebook will gain quick and noticeable improvements in their mental health. Here are the six mental health treatment methods taught in this book: 1. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. In this section, the authors giv ..read more

Four Thousand Weeks by Oliver Burkeman is a thought-provoking book that challenges the conventional wisdom about time management, success, and happiness. Here are the top lessons I learned from this unique self-help book: The premise of this book is that in reality, our human lives are actually pretty short, and therefore, we should be more conscious about how we spend our precious time here on earth. Assuming you live up to the age of 80, you'll only live for about 4000 weeks. Under this perspective, it's easier to accept how short our lifespans really are. On top of this, there's also the fa ..read more

As an athlete, your goal for every game should be to play a "complete game." This means to play your best for an entire game, from start to finish. Many athletes can reach peak performance for a short stretch of time, but only the mentally strongest athletes can maintain peak performance for an entire game. Obviously, playing a truly "complete", or perfect game is almost impossible, but still, you should always try your best to get as close as possible to playing a complete game. So how exactly do you play a complete game? To truly answer this, I'd have to give you hundreds of tips to cov ..read more

Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance by Angela Duckworth is one of the best self-help books I've read. Not only is it very motivational and insightful, but it's also very easy and fun to read. Here are the top lessons I learned from this great, well-researched book: Natural talent is somewhat overrated. Natural talent is important, of course, but it isn't everything. In the long run, effort matters a lot more than natural talent. Natural talent may determine how fast you learn skills and how high your ceiling is, but by itself, natural talent doesn't lead to greatness. Without putting i ..read more

The golden rule of peak performance: never do anything on the field/court that doesn't help you play your best and win. This is an idea I learned about from Dr. Allen Fox, the author of Tennis: Winning the Mental Match. You can read my review of this book here. For this blog post, I want to go into more detail about the golden rule of peak performance. The rule, "never do anything on the field/court that doesn't help you play your best and win," may seem pretty obvious, but it's actually very helpful and meaningful. This is because athletes often do many things on the field/court that don't he ..read more

As an athlete, one of the most valuable traits to have is competitiveness. The desire to improve, play your best, and win can drive you to succeed, but is it possible to be too competitive? The answer is yes. Being overcompetitive can cause more harm than good. Here are some signs of being overcompetitive: Wanting to win in everything. Making everything a competition. Cheating, bending the rules, and playing dirty in games. Talking trash during games. Bragging and being arrogant after wins. Making excuses and being a sore loser after losses. All of these symptoms of overcompetitiveness stem ..read more

When I think about the greatest athletes of all time, I think about athletes such as Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, Tom Brady, Manny Pacquiao, and Novak Djokovic, among others. What do these athletes all have in common? They are all fearless competitors. They never back down from tough competition. They aren't afraid of big moments. They embrace competition, challenges, and high-pressure situations. This combination of competitiveness and fearlessness is one of the main reasons why they are so successful. This mentality allows them to perform at a very high level, and sustain success for a very ..read more

Win Forever by Pete Carroll and Yogi Roth is a great book for three main reasons: It teaches you great lessons about leadership, performance, and life in general. It isn't just full of cliches. It actually gives you thoughtful insights and practical advice. It is very well-written and does a great job balancing helpful advice with entertaining stories. If you're a fan of Pete Carroll, USC football, or the Seattle Seahawks, you'll especially enjoy this book. Here are the top lessons I learned from this great book: The importance of having a philosophy:  This is perhaps the main thesi ..read more