We have arrived at the final chunk of our Tap Into Your Flow series. If you are still with us, congrats on making it here. I applaud you for taking the leap on this series. You are that much closer to flow and its benefits.

We started with the premise that flow is a thing, pickleball has flow, and flow is innate to you.

We then went on a voyage of dance and music – using the “side door” to open our minds to rhythm and how it feels.

We are now ready to tie it all together and unlock the flow. Key word here: “unlock.” It’s not create, or learn, or develop. It’s “unlock” because flow is already there inside you. It just may be caged up.

Removing Obstacles to Flow

The cage holding your flow in is not by design. What I mean here is that you did not need to wake up one day and decide, “You know what? This flow just has to stop. Let me build a cage to keep it in.”

No. What happened was that a cage arose naturally. The cage is made up of obstacles: interference that you have unintentionally put in the way of your flow.

Let’s return to dance for a moment to flesh this out.

When was the last time you danced? How about dancing in public, at a wedding or other gathering where there was music? What’s kept you from dancing?

Perhaps it’s just being busy. You’re at home doing stuff, and well, who has time to dance?

Or perhaps it’s embarrassment. “I don’t have any rhythm.”

In each case, your perception that you have no time or rhythm holds you back from engaging in an activity that’s fun and great for your health. This is interference (or an obstacle) stopping you from your flow.

It’s the same with your pickleball. It’s difficult (perhaps impossible even) to enter a state of flow on the court as long as that flow is being interfered with.

The great news is that we can do something about this interference. Specifically, we can remove obstacles from our path to flow by simplifying our game.

We’ll organize our simplification along the Three Pillars of Pickleball: Mechanical, Strategic and Athletic. You do not have to do all of these to improve your access to flow. Each will remove a likely obstacle, making it easier to access the flow.

Shot Simplification – Your Mechanical Pillar

Let’s say you want to dance the Blue Danube. One way to go about it is to learn the first step: the box step. And then practice the box step until you can do it without thinking through Steps 1-6.

Another way to go about it would be to try learning several of the dance’s moves at the same time: the box step, change step, underarm turn, twinkle, and maybe even the chassé.

It would be fair to expect that this second, more complicated approach would have you trying to remember what to do with your left foot and right foot. You would also need to keep in mind whether you are supposed to turn this way or that.

Compare that to the first approach – where all you are focused on is the box step. Can you see how this simpler approach might make it easier to just plug into the music and go with the flow? Once you repeat the box step enough times for it to become second nature, you can just listen to the music and move (flow) with it.

To complete the idea: you will dance way better by mastering 1 dance move than you would by trying to implement 4-5 moves at the same time.

The reason is simple: interference. You have too many things going on at one time.

Does this sound familiar? I am guessing so. I am also guessing that I do not need to belabor the point by laying out the 14 things you are trying to remember to do every time you hit a shot.

Step 1 – Simpler Shots

The idea is to whittle the number of different types of shots we hit and how we hit them down to the “nub.” In other words, boil our shots down to only what is necessary to accomplish our objectives when we play. Then get very good at that manageable number of things.

Take your serve. You are certainly welcome to come to the game with 4 or 5 different serve variations. Just like you are welcome to come to the ball with 4 or 5 different waltz steps in mind.

But then the music starts. And you’re having difficulty remembering the middle of the third waltz step you wanted to do. Entering flow like this? Not likely.

It’s the same when you play pickleball. You have 4 serve possibilities. You try the first one. Miss. So you decide to try the second one. In but not what you wanted. Now the pressure starts to build, and the tempo in your mind gets rushed. Flow here? Also not likely.

Compare these two scenarios to having mastered the box step – or the ONE Serve. Would you be able to find the rhythm of the waltz and enter flow at the ball? What about finding the rhythm of the pickleball game and entering flow? More likely now.

In this case, the ONE Serve becomes your box step. It becomes the building block on which you will build your game. This approach removes mechanical doubt and replaces it with mechanical certainty – a key to flow.

You know how confident I am in this approach? So confident that it’s the exact approach I am using to build our new training course, Your Pickleball Coach. Because I know it works – all I have to do is speak to a student.

You only need one reliable groundstroke and 2 volleys (block and punch). And you do not need flourishes, like spin, to hit great shots. Master these three “box step” shots, and you are virtually unbeatable up to 4.0.

Step 2 – Practice

Next, practice your “box step” shots. While it is true that the more time you devote to practice, the faster you will improve, even a few minutes here and there can deliver big gains.

Spend 5-10 minutes on a box step shot before you play next time. Then see how it goes out there.

YPC Student Note: You can use the ghost drills that accompany the shot lessons to get good practice reps away from the court.

Mechanical Step: We will start leaning more on our “box step” shots. The resulting reduction in interference and a freer mind will allow us to tap into our flow more easily.

Decision-making Simplification – Your Strategic Pillar

How many decisions are you trying to make when you play?

Here’s a decision many players put on their plates unnecessarily: hyper-modifying their serve. To the backhand. Short. Etc.

This level of minutiae is not providing anywhere near the expected return. What it IS doing is robbing the player of mental bandwidth, not to mention increasing the chance of error due to the extra variability it demands.

Aim your serve 4 feet from the baseline in the middle of the serve box. That’s it.

This serve target gets the job done and frees your mind to, you guessed it, more readily tap into your flow.

Strategic Step: Reduce the decisions you are trying to make out there that yield marginal returns on your investment. You can start with the serve. Use the recommended serve target and free your mind.

YPC Student Note: Your course includes strategic guidelines you can apply. Use these for effective strategies while simplifying your strategic decision-making.

Set your Body and Mind Free - Athletic Pillar

The body is relatively easy to address. It will be much harder to get into the flow if you’re gassed on the court. The better your stamina, the less gassed you will be, and the easier it will be to tap into your flow.

The mind is, as you might expect, a bit more complex. And yet it is the mind that we ultimately need to access flow. The good news is that we can act here.

First, prepare to play – mentally. Set reasonable and healthy expectations for yourself before you get to the courts. This preparation will minimize needless mental drag out there.

Second, learn to let go when you play. Holding on to errors is a surefire way to make more errors AND limit your flowability.

If you have not yet checked it out, you can register for our Free Mini-Course, The Mental Game of Pickleball, by clicking here. If you’ve already registered for the course, you can review it here. It will help you achieve greater mental freedom.

YPC Student Note: Your Error Reduction course includes materials to help you navigate the mental aspects of gametime errors.

Conclusion 

I hope you have found this Series as helpful to your advancement as a player as I have found it to mine. As with everything that we do in pickleball and in life, these are lifelong projects if we choose to pursue them. One small step here. One small step there.

Tony

YPC Student Notes are designed for players who are enrolled in Your Pickleball Coach. If you would like to find out more about YPC, click here.