This saying has been repeated so much it may hurt, but read it again. "Tomorrow's a mystery. Yesterday is history. Today is a gift; that's why they call it the Present." As good as this sounds as a motivational quote (which borders on a long buzzword), just how true is it?
It's certainly true in playing a tennis match. We coach players not to worry whether they will win or lose a match, or what happened in the last point. Rather, they need to be in the present, or process oriented rather than result oriented. For the tennis teacher it is also an important reminder. Teachers should ideally be in the present with their students, attentive to their student's needs and not mentally wandering off onto the next court or thinking about their schedule later in the day. Even the pro shop manager needs to be in the present in dealing with customers, focusing on their relationship with the person in front of them.
As good as these arguments are, here comes the paradox. For most people, if they just focus on the present and don't consider their long-term growth, both professionally and personally, job boredom and burnout becomes a statistical reality. In the United States, the average person changes careers three times in their lifetime, and a large percentage much more than that. What advice do behavioral psychologists and career coaches give to guide us to be both successful and "in the present" as well as maintain job satisfaction over the long haul? Their advice is "Don't let your job interfere with your career."
The point is that routine daily and weekly job routines can turn into dead ends - both intellectually and emotionally. Careers, on the other hand, should be linked to one's vision, one's mission, and one's passion. Our careers need to ignite our energy and enthusiasm.
Apply it to tennis: Is a Tennis Teacher just clocking hours on the court, one lesson after another? Or, is their energy derived from identifying themselves as highly effective educators? Or, are they someone whose mission is to give children a gift of the lifetime sport of the century - tennis? Or, do they aspire to be great listeners who freely give all the gifts that a good listener can give? These are just a few of the choices.
A Facility Manager can likewise just be a manager who, after a decade of experience tires and suffers from "rust-out" or worse yet, burnout. On the other hand, some managers get life and enthusiasm from being mentors, guides, and leaders for the staff who make up their team. They are most happy when the staff members succeed, when one of them jumps to the next level in their own careers. Other managers may be most energized and happy when they see themselves as innovators; yet others as successful as creative event organizers.
For the Racquet Stringer, you might think applying this principle is much more difficult. However, according to Tennis Industry Magazine contributing editor Drew Sutherland, special care needs to be taken to correctly position a racquet technician in a prominent position inside a tennis shop, and out of the back closet. According to Drew, that person should be on a pedestal in the middle of the shop. He or she should be an extraordinary people person who creates interest in people getting educated (and obviously having their racquets restrung regularly), to increase their enjoyment of the sport by enhancing their performance. Remember to pay these racquet technicians well for their expertise.
Likewise, the Tennis Director should ideally be a consummate professional, enjoying serving the needs of the players and members around them. But, like every other profession, there are optional self-perceptions. They can see their daily jobs as merely task-oriented, like making sure the courts are clean, the rol-dri on court nine gets fixed, and that the teaching pros start and finish their lessons on time. On the other hand, how about the Tennis Director who sees himself as a creative event planner, an innovator who trains teaching staff to outstanding levels of instruction, a contributor to the industry through participation in trade organizations, and the writer for the local newspaper's tennis column? Which sounds more energy-giving and energy-sustaining to you?
The Pro Shop Manager also has options. Typical responsibilities include daily bookkeeping, inventory control, following up on the inevitable customer service issues that include, but are certainly not limited to, customer complaints, mistakes by front desk personnel, staff turnover challenges, and even making sure the bathrooms are clean. Does this sound like a job you would want to have for ten or twenty years? Probably not. However, for the right person with a creative flair for displays and design, it may be perfect. The ideal pro shop manager is probably also a person who enjoys the challenge of creating events and promotions throughout the year and truly servicing their customers, by phone, newsletters, postcards, and emails. For this person, the small- to medium-sized pro shop may provide just the right combination of intimate customer-oriented retailing in an environment charged with the sport they love - tennis.
All that said, can just a change in attitude increase job satisfaction and happiness? Yes and no. Attitude is certainly a key. However, it goes well beyond that. What we envision ourselves as, to a large extent, is what we can actually become. View yourself as an innovator and without doubt, you will become more creative and innovative. Recognize that you actually like making displays look wonderfully attractive, and you will undoubtedly think about and succeed in creating attention-grabbers. See yourself as an educator, and you will put more effort into learning more yourself and will share more with others. Search thoroughly for your passions and create a career around them, and chances are the daily and weekly tasks will take care of themselves. Do it early in life and at some point you may change jobs, but you will never change careers.