You Don't Have to Chase Every Ball

A discernment practice for when everything feels equally important.

You don’t need to be everywhere to be effective.

But most people try anyway.

A friend of mine who helped organize the Senior Games at Stanford shared this observation:

90-year-old tennis players don’t chase every ball.

They know where to stand in a way that gives them the best odds of receiving, returning, and staying in the game.

They don’t scatter their energy. They don’t sprint for shots they can’t reach. Not just to conserve energy. But to play the point well.

I know what it feels like to chase every ball.

To respond to everything. To stay in motion so nothing gets dropped. To call it leadership when it’s actually coverage.

It isn’t the same as discernment.

Underneath, there’s pressure.

An urgency to get moving. To DO something.

And over time, that becomes the baseline.

The Pattern Beneath It

How you respond in those moments tells you a lot.

The Pleaser feels the pull to stay connected. To take in more input.

The Prover steps in early. Covers more ground than necessary. Makes sure nothing can be questioned.

The Perfectionist scans constantly. Tracks every variable. Doesn’t want to miss anything.

It’s fast. It’s automatic.

You might be moving, but you’re not always choosing.

When pressure is driving, everything starts to feel equally important.

And when everything feels important, you end up chasing everything.

And this is where it gets harder to see because urgency doesn’t feel like pressure. It feels like responsibility.

Inside this week’s Ritual, I walk you through how to catch this in your body before you react, and interrupt the pull to chase what isn’t yours.

I also share the exact prompts I use when everything starts to feel like it matters.