"Fear is an illusion."

Never look at the consequences of making a mistake during a match.. Why? Because when you think about the consequences, you tend to only think of a negative result.

Some people become "frozen" because of their fear of failure. They get this fear from worrying about what their peers will think or from just thinking about the possibility of a negative result. They might be afraid of looking bad or being embarrassed. These are not valid reasons for not being successful.

Fear can also come from a lack of focus or concentration. Before you begin any new task, you should mentally remember all the positive experiences you have had. Forget about the outcome. You already know how to do the right things. Relax and perform. You can't control the circumstances that occur around you. You can only control yourself and how you react to any situation.

If you are to achieve any goal, you will have to be aggressive. You have to get up, get onto the court and go for your goal. You can not accomplish anything by being passive. Once you are working towards your goal, stay focused on the outcome. You may think there is an obstacle in your way, but in truth, nothing is really there. What is there, is an opportunity to do your best and gain some success. To some people, fear is an obstacle. To you, fear is only an illusion.

If it turns out your best isn't good enough, then at least you will never be able to look back and say "I was too afraid to try." Maybe you don't have the necessary skills or talent to achieve a particular goal. There is nothing wrong with realizing that. Failure doesn't matter if you gave everything you have and worked at your goal 100 percent. That is not something to be afraid of. Make a new goal and work harder to achieve that goal.

Think positive and learn from failures. Sometimes failure actually gets you closer to what you want to accomplish. The greatest inventions in the world had hundreds of failures before the answers were discovered.