Amp It Up,

Train Your Brain for Success

by Bill Weber

Introduction

Question…How do our attitudes, mental state, passions, and commitments affect our performances?

Ever since I was a young tennis player in the 1970's, I have pondered this question and have been drawn toward the mental aspect of performance. I have observed high performing individuals in many walks of life. I have seen great musicians, athletes, clergymen, business people, teams, and others do what they do best. Some of these people are great leaders of hundreds or thousands of people. Others may be singular in their craft. I have seen teams perform as if they all had the same brain. I have always been fascinated and fully appreciate each of these individuals' talents and their outwardly effortless execution of their chosen walk in life.

After reflecting on these observations for the past 30 plus years, I was compelled to write this book. Over this period of my life, I have done many different things, including working for corporations, becoming self employed, raising my children, following my passion for music and photography, loving my wife, and, most recently, bringing the game of tennis to our youth.

The catalyst for getting started writing this book was a chance meeting with Tom "TT" Taylor at a hotel continental breakfast in Pacific Grove, California in the fall of 2007. I was attending the Northern California United States Professional Tennis Association (USPTA) fall conference and Tom was staying at the same hotel with his family while attending a horse show with his daughter. Our conversation lasted barely 15 minutes. In this brief encounter, the question arose, "How do we prepare our students to perform at their highest potential and on a consistent basis?" In short, "How do we get them in the zone?" After our short conversation about some of our life experiences, we exchanged business cards and parted ways. I was intrigued by the similarities between our chosen professions, a pilot and an athlete who plays tennis. Each has to be highly focused, motivated, able to see several solutions to a problem, and be able to self correct in a very short period of time. A poor choice for the pilot could have a very bad outcome.

This meeting was a life changing event for me and gave me the insight on how and what it takes to get into the "ZONE." During the remainder of my conference, I continued to think about the commonalities between tennis players and fighter pilots. Tom Taylor demonstrated in that short conversation a single-mindedness and passionate attitude in his chosen career as a U.S. Naval pilot and an F/A-18 flight instructor. We continued to exchange ideas over the next several weeks. The AMP-IT-UP acronym was born as a tool to help communicate in a simple manner the basic principles of higher performance.

By Christmas of 2007, I was off and writing.

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Train Your Brain for Success