TAP INTO YOUR SPHERES… 🌏

Wow, was I wrong.

For years I’d told myself my table tennis training had no relevance at my workplaces. Whether I worked solo or with a group, how was hitting a little white ball tied to industry research, launching a brand, leading a work team…

So I kept those two worlds separate for decades. Or so I thought.

Here’s the thing: In learning table tennis (thanks to amazing coaches, competitors, and playing partners), I’d learned philosophy, humility, overcoming inner fears, pushing mental limits, learning from loss, and many other principles for success — at any table in life.

It turns out that the workplaces where I’d achieved the most, and had enjoyed the most, were the very workplaces where unwittingly I’d been applying my table tennis training. I don’t mean hitting a mean side-topspin deep backhand; I mean putting to use those 10,000 hours of sweat, perseverance, listening, and intense study into equally satisfying results with work teams and work goals.

It took me a lot of years to realize: None of those lessons I would ever want to separate from my workplace.

Over the pandemic, I found some quiet time. I distilled these work/play/compete/achieve lessons into what I call my “Pong Principles”. I discovered I had a lot of them, swirling around in my head, often used over decades but never catalogued.

Pong Principle #17, Tap Into Your Spheres of Influence, sums up much of my story above. It’s about never turning your back on ANY of your life experiences and lessons. They can serve you, and others, in unexpected ways.

Do you have any inspiring, funny, or even alarming stories about ping pong at your workplace? Let me know!

Meantime,

Hit hard, have fun, play fair.

🏓✌🏼

#PongPrinciples #lifeexperience