July 25, 2025 • 15 mins
Are you stuck at your current level or feeling frustrated with your progress? In this episode, CJ Johnson dives deep into why chasing wins might be holding you back. She shares insights from elite athletes and practical steps that you can take right now and shift to process-based improvement. Tune in and learn to focus on what you can control—because that’s where real growth begins.
Show Notes: https://betterpickleball.com/254-chasing-wins-is-the-reason-you-are-stuck-or-frustrated
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:05):
What if I told you that chasing wins isthe reason that you're
stuck or frustrated?
Today, we're flipping the scripton how you think about improvement.
And this episode is something that youknow is going to be near and dear to
our hearts here at Pickleball Therapy.
(00:26):
It's about process over results.
Hey, everybody.My name is C.
J.
Johnson, and I'm not your regularhost of Pickleball Therapy.
Tony Roig is taking some well-deservedtime with the family this week.
And rather than dive into the archive,it's the perfect opportunity for me
to jump on and to record this episode.
(00:50):
Before I get into this, just acouple of housekeeping items.
We have, for those of you who arePickleball System members,
be on the lookout.
We have Pickleball System system, someinformation about Pickleball System 2.
0 coming your way, so please makesure that you check your inbox.
And if you are not Pickleball Systemmembers yet, it is our step-by-step
(01:13):
solution to help you become the pickleballplayer that you know that you can be, we
are going to be openinga new class in September.
So get on to our email list.
That is how you're going to find outeverything that's going on
Have a butter pickleball.
And I got to tell you, we got a lot comingyour way to help you with
(01:34):
improvement for the rest of '20.
I can't believe we're inthe second half of 2025.
All right, let's get backto process versus results.
Now, if you're a regular podcast listener.
This is not a new concept.
Tony talks about this all the time, andit's one of the things that we share.
(01:55):
It's one of the things that we shareas athletes is how we think think about
the improvement journey.
And recently, we're just a few weeks past.
I'm recording this in July.
So we're just aweek or so away from the Wimbleton Finals.
(02:17):
And one of the things that I have alwaysloved to do, I think this is a great
insight for you as an athlete, is tolisten to the press conferences
that are held after...
They're held pretty muchfor every sporting event.
But boy, I'll tell you, when it's a majorsporting event where the pressure is
(02:38):
really on, where it's different fromthe regular going on in that sport,
meaning that if you listen totennis when they're playing at a major or
golf when they're playing at a major,basketball when they're playing in the
finals, the pressure is on justa little bit differently there.
(03:01):
And some of the insights that you can getfrom these press conferences, these little
nuggets about how the athlete thinks andwhat the athlete was feeling,
they're gold.
They are just gold to your mentalimprovement journey because they often
open up and tell you about the tools thatthey used to get over some of those humps.
(03:27):
In fact, I will link to a blogpost that I did several years ago.
It was the year that...
Oh, gosh, his name is now forgetting me.
Jordan Speef won the Open Championship,and it was back and forth.
He was falling apart, and itlooked like he wasn't going to win.
(03:51):
And his press conference was just amazing.
So I will put that link in the show notes.
But I want to talk about Wimbledon lastweek and what specifically
happened in the women's finals.
And there really weretwo stories in the final.
So let me just set the scenario for you,for those of you who are not tennis fans.
(04:13):
Wimbledon comes six weeks afterthe French Open, and the
French Open is played on clay.
So there's a very limited amount ofprep time for them to play on grass.
Essentially, the only time that theyreally play on grass is between
the French and Wimbleton.
(04:34):
So players have, as I said, avery limited amount of time.
And I've never played on grass, but myunderstanding is that it
just plays differently.
And you have to have a different skillset.
And this six-week periodthat players have to navigate is
(04:57):
really difficult if you're not a naturalplaying on the grass court.
So get to the finals.
And you have to remember, in a grand slam,these are the top players in the world.
And in order just to get to thefinals, you have to win six matches.
(05:17):
So both ladies won sixreally challenging matches.
Now, there's a fascinating storyto the woman who who lost.
But I really want to focus because wewant to talk about process versus results.
I really want to focuson the woman who won.
(05:38):
So the woman who won, Iga Shwaitek, at onepoint in time was the number
one player in the world.
Her ranking has slipped some for a varietyof reasons, but she's
never played well on grass.
In fact, I think the last severalWimbletons, she has been out, I think the
furthest she ever got wasabout the third round.
(05:59):
So She has been out very early.
And from all accounts, she's out earlybecause her game just doesn't
traditionally set up wellfor the grass court.
So she has struggled to play on grass.So here she is.
She gets to the finals.
(06:21):
She wins six matches in the finals.
She wins 6-0, 6-0.
So her opponent does not win a game.
Now, her opponent had some strugglesof her own, as I mentioned.
But frankly, let's not take anythingaway from the way Igo Shwaitek played.
She played incredible.
She played incredible tennis.
(06:42):
It was like she could do no wrong.
So when she gets off court,even before the press conference, Pam
Shriver is there to interview her.
And I forget exactly how she asked thequestion, but it was something about,
what happened?
What Why did you do differently?
You never made it through the third round.
(07:02):
And here you've now won seven matches, andthe last one, very convincingly, on grass.
What changed?
And what she talked about was the process.
In fact, she said she never thoughtthat she could win Wimbleton.
Isn't that interesting?
(07:23):
She was the number oneplayer in the world.
She said she never thoughtshe could win Wimbleton.
And what she talked about was what she didafter the French Open
before Wimbleton started.
She said her and her coach took some timeoff, and they went to work on the
skill sets that she was goingto need to play well on grass.
(07:46):
She worked on movement,and I don't remember a couple of
the other details that she gave.
I do remember movement because movementis such an underrated skill in our sport.
But she She took time off,I think two or three weeks.
She didn't playthe tournaments that happen.
(08:07):
They're like prep tournaments that happenbetween the French and the Wimbleton.
She skipped the first few.
She played the last few, but she didn'tplay the first few to
work on these skillsets.
And that's what she talked about, is shetalked about the process, not the results.
(08:28):
I'm going So I went throughwith our TPS Plus members.
I'm going through and we're doing a bookclub study, and we're talking
about the confidence cycle.
We're working from a book called SportPsychology for Dummies, and we're
talking about the Confidence cycle.
And one of the things that's inside of theconfidence cycle and ways to build your
(08:50):
confidence are focusing on thethings that you can control.
You can control the process process.
You can never control the results.
Results are reallycompletely out of your hands.
And it was interesting to me that recentlyI was analyzing one of our surveys.
(09:14):
We've just recently done a surveyanalyzing going through this survey.
And one of the sentiments that came outloud and clear was the feeling that
players, especially as they get aroundthat three, five-ish level,
that they're feeling stuck andthey're feeling frustrated.
Also, what came out in this survey
(09:39):
was that only 32 % of the players in
that survey were actively practicing.
Now, I know that pickle ball isan amazingly fun game to play.
Who doesn't want to play?
But if you're really looking at yourimprovement and you
(10:00):
really want to improve?
You have to look at the process, and theprocess needs to include some practice.
You don't have to go to the nthdegree that Iga Shwaitek did.
But as She said shefocused on the process.
She started working on her movement.
I'm sure her and her coachwere working on her strokes.
(10:21):
She was working on all of the things thatshe needed to do to prepare her game,
to to play on a grass surface.
And so that's one of the things that Ithink sometimes as
pickleball players, we omit.
And I don't think we do that on purpose.
(10:41):
Most pickleball players come to the sportwithout a sporting background,
without any tools to understand how do youimprove, what are the things
that you need to do.
And because we're a game that keeps score,it's super easy to get
(11:02):
caught up in the wins.
At the end of the day, there's alwaysgoing to be a score announced, and I see
players go through theirgames in their mind, how many did
I win and how many did I lose?
Again, you can't control the wins.
But what you can control is the process.
(11:22):
So let's start by taking a look at whatare the processes that you've put in place
to help you on your improvement journey.
As an example, you've already done one.
If you are a regular podcast listener,you have taken steps, you've added the
(11:44):
podcast to your weekly processesto help you on
your mental journey, to bring a differentskill set to the courts with you.
And For a lot of players,listening to the podcast once a week, and
I know that many of you do it on your wayto the courts, it puts you in the
(12:10):
right frame of mind to play.
For many of you,It doesn't need to go beyond that.
Now, for some of you,there's probably another layer to that.
As an example, the next step in theprocess would be instead of just listening
to the podcast, is to pick a podcastthat really resonates with you,
(12:35):
do some writing about it.
I think that writing shows us some of thechallenges that we go through.
It illuminates those for us.
And then put into place some things tohelp you to get through those challenges.
Another thing would be if you'regoing to take it to a deeper level.
(12:58):
You know, Coach Pete We're huge fans ofCoach Pete and Compete, Learn, Honor.
In fact, if you look back here, if you'reon YouTube, I've got Coach
Pete right back here.
And even if you're a Coach Pete fan,you may not be familiar with this.
This is the Compete,Learn, Honor playbook.
Again, if you're watching on YouTube, youcan see I have lots of
(13:21):
little sticky notes in here.
The playbook helps to give you exercisesto help you to focus your mental game.
Again, that's a step in the process.
And here's the thing, itdoesn't have to be complex.
These can be easy processes.
They can be easy things to do.
(13:43):
But you've probably heard the gold adage,and I'm going to say it wrong, but you'll
get my gist, iswhatever we leave to chance,
generally doesn't get completed the waythat we would like to see it completed.
So I don't like to leavea lot of things to chance.
(14:04):
I think that some planning, just a littlebit of planning, will help me
to get closer to the pickleballplayer that I want to be.
That's going to keep my focuson the things that I can control,
which is the process, not the result.
(14:28):
And the result is ultimately the win.
So focus on the process.
And I think you'll be surprised,just like Iga Switek was, I think you'll
be surprised at what you might getas a result of focusing on the process.
(14:48):
That's what I've got for you this week.
Tony will be back from vacation.
He'll be back with you next week.
In the meantime, if you like thispodcast, please hit the like button.
Share it with your pickle ball playingfriends, because like Tony always likes to
say, if you liked it,they probably will, too.
Have a great week and have fun out onthe courts the next time you get out.
What if I told you that chasing wins isthe reason that you're
stuck or frustrated?
Today, we're flipping the scripton how you think about improvement.
And this episode is something that youknow is going to be near and dear to
our hearts here at Pickleball Therapy.
(00:26):
It's about process over results.
Hey, everybody.My name is C.
J.
Johnson, and I'm not your regularhost of Pickleball Therapy.
Tony Roig is taking some well-deservedtime with the family this week.
And rather than dive into the archive,it's the perfect opportunity for me
to jump on and to record this episode.
(00:50):
Before I get into this, just acouple of housekeeping items.
We have, for those of you who arePickleball System members,
be on the lookout.
We have Pickleball System system, someinformation about Pickleball System 2.
0 coming your way, so please makesure that you check your inbox.
And if you are not Pickleball Systemmembers yet, it is our step-by-step
(01:13):
solution to help you become the pickleballplayer that you know that you can be, we
are going to be openinga new class in September.
So get on to our email list.
That is how you're going to find outeverything that's going on
Have a butter pickleball.
And I got to tell you, we got a lot comingyour way to help you with
(01:34):
improvement for the rest of '20.
I can't believe we're inthe second half of 2025.
All right, let's get backto process versus results.
Now, if you're a regular podcast listener.
This is not a new concept.
Tony talks about this all the time, andit's one of the things that we share.
(01:55):
It's one of the things that we shareas athletes is how we think think about
the improvement journey.
And recently, we're just a few weeks past.
I'm recording this in July.
So we're just aweek or so away from the Wimbleton Finals.
(02:17):
And one of the things that I have alwaysloved to do, I think this is a great
insight for you as an athlete, is tolisten to the press conferences
that are held after...
They're held pretty muchfor every sporting event.
But boy, I'll tell you, when it's a majorsporting event where the pressure is
(02:38):
really on, where it's different fromthe regular going on in that sport,
meaning that if you listen totennis when they're playing at a major or
golf when they're playing at a major,basketball when they're playing in the
finals, the pressure is on justa little bit differently there.
(03:01):
And some of the insights that you can getfrom these press conferences, these little
nuggets about how the athlete thinks andwhat the athlete was feeling,
they're gold.
They are just gold to your mentalimprovement journey because they often
open up and tell you about the tools thatthey used to get over some of those humps.
(03:27):
In fact, I will link to a blogpost that I did several years ago.
It was the year that...
Oh, gosh, his name is now forgetting me.
Jordan Speef won the Open Championship,and it was back and forth.
He was falling apart, and itlooked like he wasn't going to win.
(03:51):
And his press conference was just amazing.
So I will put that link in the show notes.
But I want to talk about Wimbledon lastweek and what specifically
happened in the women's finals.
And there really weretwo stories in the final.
So let me just set the scenario for you,for those of you who are not tennis fans.
(04:13):
Wimbledon comes six weeks afterthe French Open, and the
French Open is played on clay.
So there's a very limited amount ofprep time for them to play on grass.
Essentially, the only time that theyreally play on grass is between
the French and Wimbleton.
(04:34):
So players have, as I said, avery limited amount of time.
And I've never played on grass, but myunderstanding is that it
just plays differently.
And you have to have a different skillset.
And this six-week periodthat players have to navigate is
(04:57):
really difficult if you're not a naturalplaying on the grass court.
So get to the finals.
And you have to remember, in a grand slam,these are the top players in the world.
And in order just to get to thefinals, you have to win six matches.
(05:17):
So both ladies won sixreally challenging matches.
Now, there's a fascinating storyto the woman who who lost.
But I really want to focus because wewant to talk about process versus results.
I really want to focuson the woman who won.
(05:38):
So the woman who won, Iga Shwaitek, at onepoint in time was the number
one player in the world.
Her ranking has slipped some for a varietyof reasons, but she's
never played well on grass.
In fact, I think the last severalWimbletons, she has been out, I think the
furthest she ever got wasabout the third round.
(05:59):
So She has been out very early.
And from all accounts, she's out earlybecause her game just doesn't
traditionally set up wellfor the grass court.
So she has struggled to play on grass.So here she is.
She gets to the finals.
(06:21):
She wins six matches in the finals.
She wins 6-0, 6-0.
So her opponent does not win a game.
Now, her opponent had some strugglesof her own, as I mentioned.
But frankly, let's not take anythingaway from the way Igo Shwaitek played.
She played incredible.
She played incredible tennis.
(06:42):
It was like she could do no wrong.
So when she gets off court,even before the press conference, Pam
Shriver is there to interview her.
And I forget exactly how she asked thequestion, but it was something about,
what happened?
What Why did you do differently?
You never made it through the third round.
(07:02):
And here you've now won seven matches, andthe last one, very convincingly, on grass.
What changed?
And what she talked about was the process.
In fact, she said she never thoughtthat she could win Wimbleton.
Isn't that interesting?
(07:23):
She was the number oneplayer in the world.
She said she never thoughtshe could win Wimbleton.
And what she talked about was what she didafter the French Open
before Wimbleton started.
She said her and her coach took some timeoff, and they went to work on the
skill sets that she was goingto need to play well on grass.
(07:46):
She worked on movement,and I don't remember a couple of
the other details that she gave.
I do remember movement because movementis such an underrated skill in our sport.
But she She took time off,I think two or three weeks.
She didn't playthe tournaments that happen.
(08:07):
They're like prep tournaments that happenbetween the French and the Wimbleton.
She skipped the first few.
She played the last few, but she didn'tplay the first few to
work on these skillsets.
And that's what she talked about, is shetalked about the process, not the results.
(08:28):
I'm going So I went throughwith our TPS Plus members.
I'm going through and we're doing a bookclub study, and we're talking
about the confidence cycle.
We're working from a book called SportPsychology for Dummies, and we're
talking about the Confidence cycle.
And one of the things that's inside of theconfidence cycle and ways to build your
(08:50):
confidence are focusing on thethings that you can control.
You can control the process process.
You can never control the results.
Results are reallycompletely out of your hands.
And it was interesting to me that recentlyI was analyzing one of our surveys.
(09:14):
We've just recently done a surveyanalyzing going through this survey.
And one of the sentiments that came outloud and clear was the feeling that
players, especially as they get aroundthat three, five-ish level,
that they're feeling stuck andthey're feeling frustrated.
Also, what came out in this survey
(09:39):
was that only 32 % of the players in
that survey were actively practicing.
Now, I know that pickle ball isan amazingly fun game to play.
Who doesn't want to play?
But if you're really looking at yourimprovement and you
(10:00):
really want to improve?
You have to look at the process, and theprocess needs to include some practice.
You don't have to go to the nthdegree that Iga Shwaitek did.
But as She said shefocused on the process.
She started working on her movement.
I'm sure her and her coachwere working on her strokes.
(10:21):
She was working on all of the things thatshe needed to do to prepare her game,
to to play on a grass surface.
And so that's one of the things that Ithink sometimes as
pickleball players, we omit.
And I don't think we do that on purpose.
(10:41):
Most pickleball players come to the sportwithout a sporting background,
without any tools to understand how do youimprove, what are the things
that you need to do.
And because we're a game that keeps score,it's super easy to get
(11:02):
caught up in the wins.
At the end of the day, there's alwaysgoing to be a score announced, and I see
players go through theirgames in their mind, how many did
I win and how many did I lose?
Again, you can't control the wins.
But what you can control is the process.
(11:22):
So let's start by taking a look at whatare the processes that you've put in place
to help you on your improvement journey.
As an example, you've already done one.
If you are a regular podcast listener,you have taken steps, you've added the
(11:44):
podcast to your weekly processesto help you on
your mental journey, to bring a differentskill set to the courts with you.
And For a lot of players,listening to the podcast once a week, and
I know that many of you do it on your wayto the courts, it puts you in the
(12:10):
right frame of mind to play.
For many of you,It doesn't need to go beyond that.
Now, for some of you,there's probably another layer to that.
As an example, the next step in theprocess would be instead of just listening
to the podcast, is to pick a podcastthat really resonates with you,
(12:35):
do some writing about it.
I think that writing shows us some of thechallenges that we go through.
It illuminates those for us.
And then put into place some things tohelp you to get through those challenges.
Another thing would be if you'regoing to take it to a deeper level.
(12:58):
You know, Coach Pete We're huge fans ofCoach Pete and Compete, Learn, Honor.
In fact, if you look back here, if you'reon YouTube, I've got Coach
Pete right back here.
And even if you're a Coach Pete fan,you may not be familiar with this.
This is the Compete,Learn, Honor playbook.
Again, if you're watching on YouTube, youcan see I have lots of
(13:21):
little sticky notes in here.
The playbook helps to give you exercisesto help you to focus your mental game.
Again, that's a step in the process.
And here's the thing, itdoesn't have to be complex.
These can be easy processes.
They can be easy things to do.
(13:43):
But you've probably heard the gold adage,and I'm going to say it wrong, but you'll
get my gist, iswhatever we leave to chance,
generally doesn't get completed the waythat we would like to see it completed.
So I don't like to leavea lot of things to chance.
(14:04):
I think that some planning, just a littlebit of planning, will help me
to get closer to the pickleballplayer that I want to be.
That's going to keep my focuson the things that I can control,
which is the process, not the result.
(14:28):
And the result is ultimately the win.
So focus on the process.
And I think you'll be surprised,just like Iga Switek was, I think you'll
be surprised at what you might getas a result of focusing on the process.
(14:48):
That's what I've got for you this week.
Tony will be back from vacation.
He'll be back with you next week.
In the meantime, if you like thispodcast, please hit the like button.
Share it with your pickle ball playingfriends, because like Tony always likes to
say, if you liked it,they probably will, too.
Have a great week and have fun out onthe courts the next time you get out.
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