When you have a tennis racket restrung you will have need to answer two questions: what type of string and what tension? The answer to part one is usually to replace it with the same string. Kind of like OE tires being replaced on a vehicle with the same tire. The second question—also akin to pressure on the tire sidewall—is at what tension to string the racket? That answer is the player’s choice influenced by guidelines and tailored to one’s playing style.
How rare it is that we get to choose the amount of tension in our life. Everywhere else, in work and life, the serves and volleys come at us with volume and intensity. That determines the tension we feel.
What if we could calibrate like a skilled racket stringer? What if we said, “Today I’m going looser and going to power through the challenges. Tomorrow I’m dialing up the string tightness to use a little more finesse and guile in my approach to problems.”
Good drama has tension. Great comedy is built on tension. A compelling advertising idea relies on some tension. And you know that contact point at the center of those fresh strings is the SWEET SPOT. And it never gets old hitting that spot.
Sorry Pickleballers, I don’t play. And flat paddles don’t quite fit the metaphor.
