I was reminded during a conversation today about playing tennis and my personal goal (at the time) of being the first unranked 18-yr.-old to win the U.S. Open…  🙂  In my pursuit of personal tennis greatness, my lessons consisted of repeating coach’s words of wisdom to me:

• Keep the racket low.
• Move your feet.
• Bend your knees; both knees!
• Rotate your hips…low to high.
• Follow through.
• Don’t pass out.

One day I thought I was doing everything right and still wasn’t hitting the ball well.  While contemplating my issue, I laughed as I realized the most important overlooked the obvious part:  keeping my eye on the ball.  I was so caught up in trying to do everything else that I forgot the most important part of the game.

Distractions in life cause us all to lose our focus.  We allow the trivial to get in the way of the meaningful.  BUSYness and stress keep us from developing the relationships crucial to being our personal best.  We fret about the past, worry about the future, and take our focus off the present.  Bombarded by information and daily distractions, we forget what is truly important, thus focusing on outcomes instead of process and wonder why we miss the target.

You are encouraged today to keep your eye on the ball; get back to basics and focus on the fundamentals.  Treasure what really matters…simplify, focus, execute.  Teach your little one to do this too; the future generation depends on us today to show them the way for tomorrow…keeping your eye on the ball each step of the way can take your game to the next level!  🙂

Note:  We are so grateful to our learners and their classroom leaders for completing another round of state assessment this week…just some makeups to go now.  Way to go, Team Miller!  🙂