Impermanence of the Moment

Each time you go into a game, you are faced with a unique set of challenges. In a perfect situation, you have an opponent who will work against you and that is all you are faced with.

In reality, you've got the weather, injuries, teammates, spectators, fields, timing, travel, fatigue, and other to deal with. If you focus on them (as Dr. Goldberg mentioned at UCPC) you are focusing on the wrong thing. You're focusing on things that are out of your control. You need to stay focused on things that you can control.

The way that I've always done this is by using the notion of impermanence in a somewhat competition-specific manner. This is the only chance that I'll get to overcome these challenges in this combination. This instant will never occur again, so I had better take full advantage of it. This is also the only time that I'll have the opportunity to fail to overcome these challenges. They do not get to revisit me again in the future as no two situations are identical.

In this way, one exalts the moment as special while deemphasizing the outcome. There is no other moment just like this one and as a result, I will value it as such. Infinitely unique in that nothing before it determines what happens during it and nothing after it will repeat it. It has no precedent and sets no precedent. You must value it while it occurs but not place any importance on it either before or after.