Rhythm & Flow Tennis

5^th in a series on the psychology of winning

Winners expect to win. Self-expectancy is pure and simple optimism. They expect to win for 3 reasons:

• Desire: They want to win.
• Control: They know it is themselves who make it happen.
• Preparation: They are prepared to win.

Winners in sports and life expect the best possible outcomes. They sincerely believe they are among the best and all of their energy is focused on proving it. Doubters don’t win and winners don’t doubt. Mark Spitz expected to win seven gold medals at the Olympics, and he did. Michael Phelps expected to break that record, and he did. Every individual tends to receive what he or she expects in the long run. You may or may not get what you deserve, but you almost always get what you expect.

Dr. Herbert Benson’s book The Mind / Body Effect talks about the close interrelation between your mind and body in which thought processes lead both to disease and to good health. The concept of “voodoo death” is an extreme example of the potential negative effects of the mind on the body. Voodoo is a set of religious practices in the Caribbean and Southern US that is said to have originated in Africa as a form of ancestor worship. It includes sorcery and spirit possession wherein spells and other rituals are used, including death spells. The term voodoo death was coined based on this religious practice but relates to any psychogenic death.

Amongst some Australian Aboriginal tribes, witch doctors practiced the custom of “pointing the bone” whereby a magic spell was cast into the spirit of the victim. The purpose was to disturb the spirit of the victim so disease and death would ensue. The many instances of actual death were dependent upon both the victim’s awareness of the spell cast and the victim’s strong adherence to his society’s belief systems. One documented example in The Mind / Body Effect tells of a young Aborigine, who, during a journey, slept at an older friend’s home. For breakfast, the friend had prepared a meal consisting of wild hen, a food which the young man was strictly prohibited from eating based on his culture’s belief that it would lead to his death. The young man demanded to know whether the meal had wild hen and the host responded, “No”. The young man ate the meal and departed. Several years later, when the two met again, the older man asked his friend whether he would now eat wild hen. The young man said he would not since he was solemnly ordered not to do so by his elder tribesman. The older man laughed and told him how he had previously tricked him into eating this forbidden food. The young man became extremely frightened and started to tremble. Within twenty-four hours he was dead.

In the western world many equivalents to voodoo death have been discovered in case histories. The most famous was probably Elvis Presley. He died of the same cause and at the same age (42) as his mother. He had told friends prior to his death that he was expecting it to happen. Dr. Benson says: “The cause of many diseases is closely linked to the way individuals react to life”. The line between stressful life changes and health changes seems to be associated with the body’s immune system which makes antibodies to fight foreign material and germs. Situations which arouse fear and anxiety also suppress many body functions and they may suppress antibody production as well.  Ulcers are not a result of what we eat, but what’s eating us. Asthma is much more pronounced and lingering in a child that has been dwelled upon and overly protected; one who is a victim of “smother love”.

What does all this have to do with self-expectancy and winning attitudes? Simply this – mental obsessions have physical manifestations.  You become that which you fear. You get what you suspect. You are which you expect to be. The power of self-fulfilling prophecy is one of the most amazing phenomena of human nature. The winner in life and sports, believing in self-fulfilling prophecy keeps his or her momentum moving upward by expecting a better job, good health, financial gain and success.

Since all individuals are responsible for their own actions and cause their own effects, optimism is a choice. Winners are “self-made”, since their positive self-expectations make them what they are.