Ask anyone, and they will agree: A tennis lesson is where you go to learn tennis. Most students will argue without a doubt that this is the reason they come to their lessons week after week. And yet, when you look closer, you will see that "doing well" in the lesson takes priority over actual learning. They obsess over executing strokes correctly, they long to perform better, they need to make every shot. Subconsciously, the true reason they have come to the lesson is because they want to do well.
 
This, however, is not what learning is. Learning involves failure. Most students do not benefit from their tennis lessons for two reasons. First, they are threatened by mistakes and cannot cope with themselves when failing. They may logically understand that failing is inevitable, but after experiencing a failure they want an immediate success to remove the emotional sting. Failure is taken personally and therefore a threat to their being.
 
Second, they completely misunderstand the learning process. If I were to write down words to describe how a student thinks about learning, here is what it would look like: Learning, subtle improvement, learning, big improvement, learning, subtle improvement, learning, big improvement, learning, subtle improvement, learning, big improvement. Conceptually, this is what is in most students' minds when coming for a tennis lesson.
 
What is closer to the truth about the learning process? Here goes! Learning, learning, learning, learning, learning, learning, learning, subtle improvement, learning, learning, learning, learning, learning, learning, subtle improvement, learning, learning, learning, learning, learning, learning, subtle improvement, learning, learning, learning, learning, learning, learning, big improvement.
 
I think the legendary basketball coach of UCLA John Wooden clearly captures this concept in his quote below.

"When you improve a little each day, eventually big things occur. When you improve conditioning a little each day, eventually you have a big improvement in conditioning. Not tomorrow, not the next day, but eventually a big gain is made. Don't look for the big, quick improvement. Seek the small improvement one day at a time. That's the only way it happens - and when it happens, it lasts." -- Coach John Wooden