Why Gratitude?

According to positive psychology, gratitude is a positive emotion felt after being the beneficiary of some sort of gift. It is also a social emotion often directed towards a person (the giver of a gift) or felt towards a higher power.

Dr. Robert Emmons, who studies gratitude, affirms that the feeling of gratitude involves two stages:

1. First, we acknowledge the goodness in our life; we recognize it has elements that make worth living and rich in texture. The acknowledgment that we have received something gratifies us, both by its presence and by the effort the giver put into choosing it.

2. Second, gratitude is recognizing that some of the sources of this goodness lie outside ourselves and that we must thank those who made sacrifices so that we could be happy.

When I look at my life, I recognize I’ve received many gifts. I feel privileged, fortunate and empowered. I also feel that I owe much to many kind people who invested in my potential, and to some unkind ones who became unwelcome yet useful teachers. I’m grateful for the opportunity to see the glass as full and a half - and to encourage others to Imagine, Improve, Inspire and Ignite through their gratitude as well.

The Power of Gratitude

Practicing gratitude provides important benefits:

1. Positive psychology studies suggest that people with an “attitude of gratitude” experience lower levels of stress. Expressing gratitude helps people appreciate the gifts received through life and it gives them the sense that they have given back to their benefactors.

2. Gratitude can create social networks and help individuals work towards goals and challenges, and overall, simply have stronger coping skills for life’s hardships.

3. Gratitude increases well-being. It’s linked to a desire to build people and societies that are healthy and thriving. The practice can involve thinking, feeling and acting, from journaling to calling a friend or a service provider to say “thank you,” and to intentionally being kind to others through the day.

Practicing gratitude is not easy - it requires intentional practice. Giving credit and thanks to others instead of claiming that all the success goes against our selfishness (“Well, in the end, I was the one who made it happen...”). Sometimes we don’t get the ideal outcome and we must accept it and define how it will help us move forward. Even if we suffer a reversal of fortune or a negative event, a gratitude attitude allows us to consider the positive, negative and interesting aspects of the experience. Perhaps the interpretation of our pain or the lesson delivered by the incident represent more than we deserve and allows us to see the glass as full and half.

To Whom I’m Grateful…

Karen Elsea Salum, my wife

I met Karen Elsea on the phone while I lived in Dusseldorf for eight months in 1988. Her beautiful and reassuring voice was enchanting. When I finally met her and we became colleagues, she was immediately welcoming and we worked well together with sport psychologist Dr. Jim Loehr as a team of three. Our mission was to do what was best for the long-term wellbeing of our young and talented tennis clients. We started dating in May 1990.

Karen had moved from Findlay, Ohio, where she had lived all her life. She went to a country school and studied business at Findlay College. Her father was a communications engineer with Ohio Power and her mother chose to stay at home and raise three children. Karen had an older brother, Kent and a younger sister, Anne Marie. After she graduated, Karen worked at her College and afterwards held corporate jobs at Marathon Oil, Whirlpool and OH Materials, but in the late ‘80s, she felt she wanted an adventure and moved to Sarasota, Florida to find new opportunities to use her business degree.

Karen is a superstar in client relations and dealing with people in general. When Monica Seles had just arrived to the U.S., Karen assisted her in mastering the English language. When world-ranked players like Jimmy Arias, Jim Courier, Pete Sampras, Andre Agassi, hockey goalie Mike Richter and speedskater Dan Jansen would book a session with Jim, they often had to wait in Karen’s office and she would put them at ease with her humor and easygoing conversation.

Many of the athletes came with a brown paper bag over their heads because they had choked on a tournament final and lost two million dollars on a single shot. Others had tremendous pressure from their parents, agents and sponsors. A few wanted to quit or were in a serious slump because of injuries. Even if Karen sometimes did not know how famous they were, she would welcome all with the same sunny disposition and would make them feel safe - which inevitably facilitated Jim’s work with them. I witnessed the phenomenon and marveled at her talent to generate high positive emotion in those guarded and toughened competitors.

We endured high levels of stress during the 1989-1990 years at the IMG/NBTA facility and during the LGE Sport Science start-up years of 1991-92 at Saddlebrook Resort, for different reasons. Karen always remained the rock, the peacemaker, the one facilitating understanding, the common-sense whisperer. Her ambition is always to create community, to build bridges and to generate harmony, and she stretched herself to the maximum to keep us going.

Despite my move to England in 1993, we continued our relationship. She came over to London for Christmas, it was her first trip overseas and by herself. London was covered in snow and ice, with few people around. We toured galleries, museums and restaurants before going back to Southampton. On my free time, we went to Bath, Salisbury and Oxford. She came back in summer and we spent more time in London, going to the theatre and exploring varieties of ethnic cuisine (especially at Maroush in Knightsbridge).

In January 1995, after I returned to the U.S., we went together to Europe and visited friends in London, Dusseldorf, Paris, Geneva and Madrid. I wanted Karen to enjoy some of the experiences I had during my travels. The culinary palette became the best way for Karen to understand and remember each culture. As it was cold, we stopped to to eat something in every neighborhood.

LGE Sport Science had moved to Lake Nona in Orlando, where they would build their own facility. Karen stayed at Saddlebrook Resort working for the Owner and the Legal Counsel. She was promoted to Corporate Sales, where her relationship-building skills could shine. She enjoyed the respect of seasoned sales professionals and, as always, her warmth helped her create a tight community of friends, especially with “our second parents,” Trish and Dwaine Gullett.

We got married at a Manor House in November 1998 in Ohio with her family, my brother’s family and close friends. We then flew to Buenos Aires for a blessing of the rings ceremony with my parents at St. Patrick’s church, where I invited my closest friends and the entire cast of the stage play. We stayed two weeks, so I could show Karen my city and meet many of the people that were part of my world and my upbringing, quite an eclectic group.

When we moved to Charlotte in 2000, Karen was enticed to take the position of Lifestyles Director at the rental community where we lived. A few months later, she met an Acupuncturist who was starting his practice from scratch and helped him create a thriving business as his Office Manage and Reiki Master. We bought our house in Huntersville, NC in 2002 at a golf and tennis community surrounded by horse farms and with fast access to the airport. Karen met a real estate professional who was starting his business in Davidson, a few miles away, and decided to dive into a new industry. Once again, the business grew rapidly and almost entirely by word of mouth until the 2008 crisis.

Driven by her passion for baking and love of sweets, Karen assisted a start-up bakery in Mooresville with their marketing for a short time. Her networking led to a proposal to join Shockwave Specialists, a medical firm focused on providing treatments requiring vibration therapy, such as lithotripsy and plantar fasciitis, where she managed the delicate relationship between doctors, patients and insurance companies to get approvals.

Karen then got an invitation from another Acupuncturist to join her as Office Manager and Reiki Master. She enjoyed learning new aspects of alternative medicine. She worked there several years, increasing the productivity and the client relations. After she lost her brother Kent in 2000 and her father in 2008, Karen learned more about dealing with grief and how to help others through the grieving process. In the meantime, her mother required monitoring and support for her ongoing cancer treatment, so Karen and her sister started traveling regularly to Ohio until her passing in 2017.

She feels strongly connected to her hometown in Findlay and the people of Ohio. Her ancestors were farmers and her grandfather worked for Marathon Oil, with headquarters in town. There’s a frankness and a welcoming attitude, free from pretense that permeates every interaction with them and Karen carries that everywhere. When you meet her, you meet the authentic person, not the mask or the performance.

Karen is an advocate; she cares deeply about justice, diversity and equality. She’s also an excellent teacher, making complex concepts understandable with ease. As a community-maker, she reads people intuitively and tests their responses through humor.

Her passion is healing and comforting those who are grieving, she does it naturally. Her current project is “The Library of Linda” in honor of her mother, through which she helps those grieving and anyone needing to shift perspectives. The project donated iPads to a local Hospice in Findlay for patients and relatives to communicate during their stay.

Her inseparable companion was our demigod cat Phteeng. When he passed at 14, we adopted Bellini and Sprungli Bonbon, named in honor of two of her favorite sweet things in the world.

We enjoy international films and TV shows (especially Scandinavian and British mysteries), healthy international cuisine (Mediterranean, for the most part) and creative desserts. Karen knows top pastry chefs personally in a 50-mile radius and promotes them heavily if they are superstars.

We enjoy meeting new people and having profound conversations (TheSircle dinners have been a wonderful source of both). Humor is an essential part of our lives, which we inject everywhere through the day, with invented languages, dramatized situations and a constant streaming of absurdities that sustain our mood (cat ownership helps).

Tennis has a special place in our lives and we make time to play together regularly. We take weekly breaks at the Lake Norman parks, sitting under the trees and contemplating the calm waters, mixed with rides through swerving farmland roads in my roadster convertible. Our longer trips are visits to the Biltmore Estate in Asheville, where the landscape and the Blue Ridge Mountains soothe us.

We decided there are certain factors that have helped us get this far together:

• We supported each other under pressure and constantly reminded each other of our best self. We know we can count on each other’s support and explore new possibilities.

• We overcame those who discounted us and took us for granted in the past. We know how we want to feel and make our decisions accordingly; we are guided by our capacity to design solutions.

• We are fortunate to enjoy experiences with a wide diversity of people and we nurture close friendships.

I’m grateful to Karen for loving me since we met and reminding me that my most important task is to finish the screenplay based on my stage play. She was there from the beginning and shared dreams, trials, separations and new starts; as if she could see the arc of our life together evolve from the start.

The glass is full and a half because Karen is with me to make it so.

Sonia and Yamil Salum, my parents

I’m grateful for my parents’ inspiration to learn, introducing me to universal themes, as well as sports, arts and science.

• They gave my brother and me tennis, a language that shaped and transformed our lives for the better, helping us emigrate to the U.S., where we could flourish as entrepreneurs.

• They gave us a progressive Catholic education at a school that pointed towards the open road, to the adventure of creating opportunities for others to thrive, rather than feeling as the sole owners of the truth and power.

• They tolerated my vocational randomness and huge mistakes, counseling me and allowing me to choose. They endured the pain of my decision to emigrate and did not stop me.

• They supported me financially when my company most needed it, many times without asking them.

• They gave my brother and me the legacy of a man and a woman of substance, highly accomplished, kind, respected, admired and endearing. A joyous way of being in the world.

• They took care of every aging and sick relative on both sides of the family for two decades - the main reason why they were never able to visit me at my house in Charlotte.

• My father showed us True North with his example, advice and unbreakable and hopeful support. He’s our eternal presence.

• My mother is a beacon of curiousity; she never stops learning and embraces our absurdity with glee. She’s 94 years old, sharp, thoughtful, inquisitive and insightful as ever.

  • When I ask her about her activities, she might answer: “Today, I decided to read the Bible because I never read it before, starting by Exodus - from a banned edition (it feels more interesting, somehow). Then, I read a complicated history book about the Visigoths. At lunch, I watched two cultural programs on TV, both about architecture. After, I picked up my old German lessons. Later, I reviewed the Bridge playing patterns I used to know. Then I played solitaire on the computer - I enjoy feeling focused." That's how I want to be.

  • My brother and I have video calls with her every day on her iPad. We have created a world of absurd humor that we recycle, expand and improve. There’s no drama, just sharing situations and perspectives. Sometimes, we have profound moments. When I asked her: “What’s your message to the world?” she said, “Keep a broad perspective, forecast and prevent, focus on the day-to-day, on what gives you satisfaction and on how you can make others’ lives better, be mindful of your words for they can build or destroy, rely on routines that give you consistency and lead to growth.”

  • One day she told me she had watched a cultural program on Beethoven's Fifth Symphony and its possible meaning. She told me that Beethoven's fundamental idea was "We have the moral imperative to face adversity and conquer it," which strongly resonated with me, as my mother lives by that premise. I listened again to the entire Symphony and, besides rediscovering its beauty, I could feel the sensory and spiritual elements of Heroism in it. As to how we can do it, Albert Camus famously suggested, “We must imagine Sisyphus happy.”

My favorite word is "symbol." My mother painted this intriguing symbol. This is how it speaks to me: "Let the burning core of who you are affirm what you want and where you are going beyond opposition, limitations and external control. Let what you envision and desire open up possibilities and design alternatives to honor what fascinates you and live artistically. Be the author of your success, be an incandescent symbol of evolving breakthrough."

Robbie, Estela and Chloe Salum

I’m grateful for my brother Robert’s companionship since we were children to this day. We enjoy reminiscing and replaying the jokes and critical observations that made us laugh, and we do it daily online with my mother. It’s a joyful, energizing therapy that gives meaning to our lives. We are convinced that our sense of the absurd makes more creative and responsive to changes in our environment.

I’m also grateful for his decision to join me in the emigration to the U.S. adventure. It was a great satisfaction to work together with Dr. Jim Loehr and apply our knowledge to improve the approach to mental toughness training for tennis on-court. Robbie brought his tennis and video-analysis knowledge from our productive years of coaching in Argentina, where we innovated in many directions that proved helpful in transforming the U.S. curriculum.

He married Maria Estela Madrazo in Bradenton, a civil ceremony attended by her parents who flew from Buenos Aires. Estela managed to adapt to the U.S. professional constraints by investing her refined artistic sense and architectural knowledge working for some of the best interior decoration outlets in Sarasota. Chloe was born in Sarasota and had a wonderful upbringing surrounded by international peers, the white sand beaches of the Gulf of Mexico and tennis. Like my mother, Chloe is both a scientist and an accomplished artist. She graduated from the University of Florida Gainsville and will join the medical profession. When Chloe was in elementary school, Estela changed careers to become a Spanish teacher. Later, the Florida education system shifted Spanish lessons to an online format, which she has been following ever since.

I’m grateful to them for never giving up on the entrepreneurial quest, for never surrendering to mediocrity and keeping the high standards of our upbringing, for living the lifestyle they prefer and for making decisions as a family, regardless of the distance separating us. I’m certain that Chloe will make her mark in the world and that she will contribute in a significant and fulfilling way. She will have a proud family behind and will continue her story in the U.S. writing chapters in whichever way she desires.

The Elsea and Woods Families

I’m grateful for having joined Karen’s family and having been embraced by Don and Linda (her parents, deceased), Kent (her brother, deceased) and Ann Marie, her sister. She’s married to Greg Woods, a retired U.S. Army Colonel and JAG who served in Iraq and was an advisor at President Obama’s White House, now working in the private sector in Environmental Law. Ann Marie is the mother of Austin and Ashley, both university graduates and working their way through their professional paths. She worked as a teacher and stopped when the children were born.

Through many trips to Findlay, Ohio, I learned about U.S. heartland values, the pride of Ohio citizens, the impact of higher education in farming communities and the influence of large corporations in small towns. I also learned about the necessary and challenging role of artists and activists, what makes a burger joint like Wilson’s and a tea house like The Swan House nationwide famous - and what it takes to preserve a sense of community regardless of political and religious differences.

My Cousins - The Mandirola-Brieux Family

Mayhem was our brand, barely contained by the watchful eye of our high achieving parents. My maternal cousins always lived near us and we saw each other regularly. While my brother Robbie and I had a Catholic education, they went to a French school and later to public schools. As a result, they were a lot more street smart than we were. We all have a fantastic sense of the absurd, a most enjoyable trait, since life in Argentina provided many absurdities to both laugh and cry about.

I’m grateful for Fernan and Marta’s support of my mother in Buenos Aires. Together with their spouses (Rachel and Horacio, respectively), they keep a watchful eye on her needs and assist in the management of her support system. Fernan is courageously fighting the COVID-19 pandemic as an M.D. in the Argentine hospitals. Fernan and Rachel travel extensively to international medical conferences, where he shares his extensive knowledge on information technology applied to medical facilities’ management.

We’ve shared wonderful times in Barcelona with Pablo and his family, and he’s shared his insider’s perspective of Catalonian culture and everyday life. As a lawyer, a writer and a bohemian, he has extraordinary insights on the immigrants’ experiences in Spain, which include humorous stories as well. I’m also grateful for my cousin Carolina Brieux for staying close to my mother and update her on the growth of her children and career as a psychologist.

The Raitzin Family

We’ve covered together a lot of dreams, events, transitions and a lot of miles. Since Gustavo Raitzin married Anna, we met in Zurich, Geneva and California in the span of more than three decades. Karen and I spent a few days in Geneva. I watched Eugenia, Sarah, Michael and Ben grow up and we shared many family trips, meals and a wedding. Eugenia married Dr. Loren Kimble and has two girls, Maddi and Sasha, and live in Petaluma, CA.

I’m grateful for your friendship and continued support since our youth till today. Your vision became my Breakthrough. We are always connected. We pick up where we left off and we know we have someone to rely on when we need to think aloud or unburden ourselves. The glass is full and a half because of you. I look forward to writing the best chapters of our friendship in the years to come, engaged in joyful projects that can make a difference to the world at large..

Thank You to My Friends and Colleagues around the World

These expressions of gratitude are an example of my long-term and most intense experiences and collaborations. They are not exclusive: if I ever met you and we connected, I thank you for sharing your spark and kindness with me.

Buenos Aires

Eduardo Abbate, Carlos Guaia, Adrian Garzon and Alejandro Rossi for staying connected through the years and collaborating with me in several projects. We met in school as kids and we marvel at how strong our ties remain. With Omar Ramos we share a similar upbringing and the stories from working at the Law Courts, as well as being writers.

Gerry Wortelboer, Guillermo Chiesa, Robbie Kirton and Martin Montecof, for so many great times on the tennis court, filled with laughter and quality shots, beyond winning and losing. Patricia Kittl, for keeping the memories alive from Germany and Australia over the years, making tennis a universal language we share with everyone we meet.

Alejandro Aron, Carlos Pena and Felix Ereniu, for believing in me as an athlete and facilitating the path forward towards Breakthrough. Your confidence, vision and support led me to where I am today in the tennis world.

Father Kevin O’Neill (deceased), Eduardo Kimel (deceased), Gabriel Seisdedos, Rolando Savino and Father Thomas O’Donnell for courageously launching the storytelling projects to honor the lives and sacrifice of the five martyrs at St. Patrick’s church. My stage play would not have been possible without your encouragement and active participation to clear the way, share information and protect the production from any interference.

Europe

Adrian Rattenbury, Mike Barrell, Klaus Regnault, Luis Mediero, Massimo Bucciero and Michael Ebert for believing in the Loehr European Tours and setting up our creative meetings over decades, listening attentively to my ideas about the future. You are the pillars of tennis development and progress in your countries and beacons of entrepreneurial passion around the tennis world. Our friendship means a lot to me; it’s like we are brothers.

To the Bucciero Family in Torino, led by the great Carlo, many thanks for welcoming me so warmly over the decades we’ve collaborated on tennis projects. Massimo, fratellone, you know how much I enjoy creating tennis stories with you, making me feel alive while dying of laughter and always looking forward to the next one.

Chris Smith for his generosity, confidence in me, support with resources and for sharing great times around Europe while we attempted to raise the level of tennis competition in Hampshire County, UK. “Only the best” is the way to go when you seek to break down barriers to achieve Breakthrough.

Ghaleb Farha, his wife Herta and his sons George and Dany, for their kindness and hospitality while I was visiting London and living in Southampton, as well as their continued interest in my projects over the years.

Philipp Johner and his family for generously hosting me through shared consulting projects and at their homes in Zurich for so many years. Contributing to your books on Friendship and Leadership Transformation, as well as collaborating with your teams at Manres AG have been joyful and profound experiences (cooking paella from scratch in Obersaxen with a Colombian expert was just one of them). Your deep friendship is a continuous reminder about how to be a better friend to all. Many thanks to Thomas Gartenmann, Daniela Pero, Julia Schuh, Anja Willy-Schirmer, Iris Hauri, Margit Schurmann, Shirine Imoberdorf, Renate von Gruningen and Claudia Spiegel for their support at Manres.

Paul Jessup, Lian Tan, Hans Peter Borgh, Walter Kiceleff, Edith Steinmann, Donald Waterreus, Walter Fonseca, Nicholas Huttman, Didier Duret, Robert Kalinic, Derya Kara, Georgette Boele, Edith Aldewereld, Nuria Lleixa, Beat Blaesi, Joe Torrez, Carlos Sansano, Maria Ines Castro, Faheem Rauf, Armand Kersten, Marlies Hazelaar, Franziska Ingold, Ingrid Marsolo, Alexandre Sauterel, Alex Luehr, Rob Broedelet, Carl Mikic, Marleen Roussel, Sharifa Intan, Reinout van Lennep, Huub van Hout, Tineke Ritzema, Natalia Monteiro, Roman Suter, Remy Bersier, Anne Hebeisen, Carlos Bril, Roi Tavor, Tobias Zumsteg, Katerina Gogos Agoras, Jane Schoch, Andreas Liedtke, Gilles Farrugia, Michael Welti, Moritz Rohde, Franziska Fuhrer, Anton Commisaris, Ekki Kuppel and Alexander Brochier for many years of shared experiences, strategies, sacrifices, confidences and successful outcomes in service of delivering our best performance for our teams.

Prof. Dr. Andres Pfister and Prof. Dr. Stefan Seiler for hosting me at Zurich Universities and the Swiss Military Academy to share my Performance Architecture approach with so many eager and brilliant students. Your friendship and support have meant a lot to me and have contributed to my deeper understanding of Swiss culture.

Ann Richardson, thank you for your friendship through life’s stages and transformations, in Buenos Aires and London.

To my family in France, the sons of Madeleine and Camille Joly - Jacques, Christian and their families - as well as Lucie and Julien Joly and their kids. Thank you for your wonderful hospitality and for staying connected through the years. I learned French specifically to talk with you after our first visit to La Rochelle in 1975. My French roots run deep and inform how I see and feel the world.

United States

Trish and Dwaine Gullett for adopting Karen and I as your “children” and for guiding us through emotional minefields and critical decisions. Your invaluable wisdom has always transformed our pessimism into optimism. We have enjoyed every moment we shared with you, with plenty of stories, humor and great food. You have encouraged us to follow our passions and leave behind the titles, status and minutiae. Your joy showed us how to live. We love you both.

Mindy Rodney, my immigration lawyer, for her mastery in handling the long process and the delicate meetings with tough-minded officers when it mattered most.

Gary Meyer, my accountant since 1993, for his focus and dedication to keep me on the right track and avoid boulders coming down the financial slopes. Your advice keeps the anxiety away.

Mark Leib and Anna Brennen for their guidance and understanding of what my stage play meant to me, persistently coaxing me to finish it and get it produced. Your inspiration and confidence in me made it happen.

Dr. Oscar Ballester, Bernardo Palombo, Dorothy Potter Snyder and Dr. Omar Inaty for their support of my stage play and TV documentary in Tampa and New York. You felt that the story deserved exposure and you organized resources, connections and space for it to resonate with more people.

Kenny Kahn, Louis Foreman and Mac Lackey for inviting me to create entrepreneurial opportunities that can exceed the boundaries of Charlotte and can make an impact around the world.

Astrid Chirinos, Joaquin Soria, Susana Cisneros, Erika Edwards, Claudia Soria, Manuel Betancur, Brenda Anderson, Rocio Gonzalez and members of the Latin American Chamber Charlotte for their fervent support to the advancement of the Latino community in the Southeastern United States and your leadership. Thank you for inviting me to collaborate with your initiatives in Charlotte and supporting my presentations.

Bob Farrell and his family for their trust in what I could contribute to their company managers’ understanding of performance improvement factors, as well as allowing me to guide the younger generation of TeamCraft leaders on a European tour to meet distinguished heads of family-run companies to explore your own legacy.

Angela Gala, Mark Peres, Manoj Kesavan, Bruce Fritch, Deborah Bosley, Fabi Preslar, Tim Miron and Candice Langston along with the TEDxCharlotte and Pecha Kucha Nights communities for your support of my ambitious events in Charlotte. Your participation, encouragement and promotional support made them special and memorable for all involved.

John W. Love, Jr., Leandro Manzo, Nick Bloomberg, Oliver Lewis, Jon Wald and Adeola Fearon - thank you for your support to the SIR Conferences and Events, where we explored collaborations and you showed your transforming brilliance to Charlotte.

Marc and Carolina Blouin, William Poore, Dr. Hemanth Rao, Juan Sandoval, Mike and Susan Walker, and especially Bob, Diane, Michelle and Robert Alexander for kindly introducing me to the Charlotte tennis network and inviting me to play at Olde Providence Racquet Club, where I had the opportunity to offer several Mental Toughness Training Clinics for members. The contacts I made through tennis led to business meetings, workshops and new networks I could not have accessed without your guidance. You are our tennis family in Charlotte and beyond.

Bruce Hawtin and George Husk for their openness to include Mental Toughness Training for Tennis in their junior and adult programs at River Run Country Club in Davidson, NC during our long-time collaboration.

Sam and Melissa Santander’s family for their friendship, which started through tennis and an introduction by Bob Alexander, and continued through corporate presentations, Daniel’s tennis coaching and career suggestions for Gabriella and Nicolas, in addition to watching Jackson perform.

Robert Mazzucchelli, whom I met in Hilton Head Island as a tennis player, for opening up doors, providing contacts for projects, sharing adventures and giving me excellent tips on sartorial elegance. A master communicator, promoter and fearless entrepreneur, always connected to tennis and seeking to make a positive impact.

Dan Santorum, my first roommate in the U.S. at Van der Meer’s, for the many opportunities to contribute to the PTR family and tennis at large, as well as Pat van der Meer, Ken DeHart, Brian O’Donnell, Peg Connor, Julie Jilly, Jorge Andrew, Greg Presuto, Walker and Ray Sahag and members of the PTR family worldwide. The exploration to grow the game continues, guided by our certainty that Dennis’ teachings always apply, as they are rooted in how people can joyfully embrace tennis for a lifetime.

Jolyn de Boer for our long-lasting friendship with you, Job and your family, your trust and for your commitment to transform the Tennis Industry into what it deserves to become, working together with visionaries and entrepreneurs who can get things done.

Karin Buchholz and Richard Buchholz for your warmth, hospitality, work collaborations and understanding through our shared perspectives through tennis and sport - and for Richard’s daily exchanges on social media, a most welcome relationship over the years.

Horst Bente, founder of leAD Sports with his brothers Klaus and Stefan, for inviting me to join the growth and expansion of the legacy of Adi Dassler with the meaningful purpose of doing good through sports. Nathalie Sonne at the leAD Academy in Berlin and Lake Nona for your invitation to mentor the start-ups on their path to success.

Horacio Levin and Daniel Gutman, principals at 360 PowWow Productions, for inviting my brother Robbie and I to participate in the production of inspirational films for young audiences worldwide. We are proud to join your legacy project and promote the universal values of sport to transform lives.

The Fittipaldi Family: Gugu, Juliana, Pietro, Valentina and Enzo, for trusting the mental training process that can give Pietro and Enzo a competitive edge and for welcoming us to celebrate together with Max, Tatiana, Marco and Matteo.

Emerson Fittipaldi and Emmo, thanks for the racing wisdom, the great stories and the passion for breakthrough.

Sergio Campos, thanks for your continued support and insightful work on behalf of young drivers. To William Cox III and his family, thank you for your confidence and trust through your ever-growing capacity for Breakthrough.

Thank You to my Clients around the World

My deep appreciation to all my Corporate, Entrepreneurial and Professional Sports clients for your trust, confidences and for seeing the glass as full and a half to achieve extraordinary results. In this book, I’ve tried to convey how I’ve been transformed by your commitment, persistence and passion to lead powerful transformations. I trust that the ripples and waves we launched outward continue to resonate and influence others. Your success stories must be told for generations to come as the legacy of those who understood Breakthrough as a inspiring way of being.

How You Can Practice Gratitude

If you aren’t already practicing Gratitude, you can start by trying these suggestions:

1. COUNT: The 3 things you are grateful for today: name them, write them down or use an app. Just 3, it works.

2. OBJECTS: Use objects to remind you to be grateful: any object that can act as a talisman for gratitude will do. Every time that I go get the mail, I look at my house and I’m grateful for it, and I thank the people who made it possible for me to own it.

3. LANDSCAPE: Use the landscape: on the road to my house, there are wonderful trees with intensely colored leaves; at the park where I work out, there are beautiful roses overlooking the lake; when I look at the cherry trees in my garden… all and any of them remind me to be grateful.

4. MOVEMENT: Be grateful every time you take a walk or when you are exercising. I do it when I lift weights, when I play tennis and when I go for a run. At some point, I say Thank You for being able to move and to enjoy it fully.

5. QUIET TIME: You can meditate for a few seconds and be grateful, or do it when you are stuck in traffic or riding public transport. You can pray and be grateful. You can journal in short or long format.

6. ART: You can create art in any form that represents your Thank You for the abundance you receive. You can use a metaphor, an image or a mantra that reminds you to be grateful. Vision Boards are particularly useful.

7. SAY IT: You can write Thank You letters, notes, send gifts - or a write an entire Chapter of a book, as I’ve done. The recipient will appreciate it and it will be both meaningful and memorable.

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