Jean Galea

Getting Your Priorities Straight

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One question I’ve spent a lot of time on (as in, years of internal thought, research, etc) is how should I spend my time.

I’ve always had this feeling that we don’t give too much importance to this question, and fall into well-defined societal templates without much care.

I think I’ve finally cracked the code and found my own personal answer.

I realized that the question does not involve endless productivity exercises and extremes of lifestyle design and optimization.

It really boils down to what my priorities are.

That might seem like an easy answer, but it was quite a struggle to get to the bottom of it and be honest enough with myself to come up with three main priorities.

Anyway, here they are:

  1. Health and Fitness
  2. Relationships
  3. Wealth Generation

With those in place, it’s very easy to know what I need to do every day in order to feel fulfilled and satisfied.

I need to train with specific objectives in mind, using the deliberate practice theory. Within the health and fitness domain, my main objectives are strength, flexibility and injury prevention. With those covered, I also cover the cardio and play needs through playing padel and tennis. Being in good health and physical shape keeps me lucid and positive, and thus able to reach out beyond myself and move on to my second priority: relationships.

Hopefully, we all know how relationships are essential to leading a good life. The saying no man is an island really is true. I’m not talking about constantly being surrounded by people, but about cultivating deep relationships with at least 5 people in our lives. I know who those 5 people are and make sure that my bond with them stays strong.

And my third priority is wealth generation. Generating wealth in various ways keeps my mind alive and excited. I’ve always been interested in business and ways I could provide value to the rest of society and in so doing generate wealth for my family. It’s not that much fun being very healthy and having great relationships when you can’t provide for your family and enjoy fine things in life like a comfortable and relaxing home, good food and drink, travel, etc.

If you’re not sure about your life priorities, a useful exercise would be to talk to an older person in your family like your grandma or grandpa and ask them what they regret most about not doing more of in their lives. If they’re no longer alive, just read the top regrets of the dying here and here.

Be sure to be completely honest with yourself about whatever your priorities might be, and don’t let others’ expectations define your priorities and the way you live.

Padel Etiquette and Rules For Non-Umpired Matches

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During friendly matches and most amateur tournaments padel matches are played without an umpire. The qualifying rounds of World Padel Tour don’t have a referee either. This means that the players will have to judge certain things themselves in an amicable manner. Let’s talk about some of these things to keep an eye out for and how to behave.

If one of the players hits a shot whereby the ball hits another player, it is usual to apologize, while the person who got hit will acknowledge, knowing it’s part of the game.

At the start of the match it is usual to wish the other players a good match, and at the end all players are expected to approach the net and shake hands amicably, with both sides congratulating the others and thanking them for the match.

  1. Each player is responsible for all decisions in her half of the Court. She should be completely honest on all “calls” but, if in doubt, she should give her opponent the benefit of the doubt and play the ball as good. You should not play a let.
  2. It is your obligation to call all balls on your side, to help your opponent make calls when the opponent requests it, and to call against yourself (with the exception of a first service) any ball that you clearly see out on your opponent’s side of the net.
  3. Any “out”, “let” or “fault” call must be made immediately (ie. made before either an opponent has hit the return or the return has gone out of play); otherwise the ball continues in play. “Calls” must be verbal and clearly audible to the opponent, followed by a signal if necessary. “Lets” may be called by any of the participating players.
  4. On all court surfaces except clay (see (g) below) if a player incorrectly calls a ball “out” and then realises that the ball was good, the point should be replayed on the first occasion (involuntary hindrance) and the point lost on each subsequent occasion (deliberate hindrance). In the case of a point winning shot, a let would not be played.
  5. When returning service, the partner of the receiver should generally call the service line for her. The receiver should generally call the centre and side service lines.
  6. If players cannot agree on the score, they should calmly discuss the points/ games that are the areas of disagreement. If they cannot reach agreement they should replay only the points or games in question. All points or games which the players agree on stand eg. Two players cannot agree on whether the score is 40-15 or 30-30, but agree on the winner of the first, second and fourth points. Therefore only the third point needs to be replayed.
  7. Players are prohibited from checking the mark of the ball on their opponent’s side of the Court, unless invited by their opponent to do so. Ball mark inspections are only permitted on clay courts. On clay courts if a player incorrectly calls a ball “out” and then realises that the ball was good, the player who called “out” loses the point.
  8. Where a ball interrupts play, either by rolling/bouncing onto the court, and/or creating a visible interruption behind the court, a let should be played.
  9. If a player hinders her opponent it can be ruled involuntary or deliberate.
  10. When a player has created an involuntary hindrance (ball failing out of pocket, hat failing off, etc.) the first time a let should be called and the player should be told that any such hindrance thereafter will be ruled deliberate.
  11. Any hindrance caused by a player that is ruled deliberate will result in the loss of a point.

If there are any situations that you’re unsure about, let me know and I’ll do my best to clear any doubts.

How to Find the Best Luxury and Boutique Hotels

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If you’re a discerning travel and you’re very particular about where you choose to lodge yourself during a trip, you will want to make sure you do your research before booking a hotel.

Even 5 star hotels can sometimes provide very negative experiences, so it’s not simply a case of paying your way to a better stay.

I like to search for boutique hotels where possible, as I’m not the type of person who enjoys mass tourism or bland experiences. Boutique hotels tend to have a very strong character which may or may not suit your tastes, so it’s important to pick the right one. In general they tend to take care of their clients better as they give more importance to the overall experience rather than just the basics of clean room and a decent breakfast that most hotels aim for.

You can join a few hotel clubs that can guide you towards a better choice, as they tend to be vetted by a team and also come with some extra small gifts if you book through them.

Here are the websites I use:

It’s also a good idea to check Voyage Prive for any good deals. I don’t usually find good stuff on that site as they don’t really feature the top hotels, but it’s worth checking for the occasional good deal anyway.

How to Copy Garage Door Remote Keys

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Here are my notes on copying remote keys for your garage.

Some garage door companies lock the reception box so you cannot add any more remotes unless you go through them. This is what most people do anyway. It’s a perfectly valid way of going about things, but you give these companies the opportunity to charge you 50-100 euros when you can do it yourself for half price or less.

If you want to do it yourself, read on.

You will need to buy the HR Matic remote which is the best remote I found. You can buy it on Amazon or directly from the manufacturer and distributors.

Some remotes have fixed codes and others have rolling codes, which makes them harder to copy. You might need to open the receiver box in your garage and press a button on the board to add your new remote control to the list of allowed remotes.

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My Tennis Notes

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I started training tennis in May 2019 as part of my quest to become a better padel player. This may seem counterintuitive but from my experience I can say that it was a good decision and I have been able to learn certain techniques that were really tough learning through padel. A tennis racquet gives a much more responsive feel on the ball and therefore it is easier to feel how your movements are affecting the ball.

In any case, I’m enjoying learning a new sport and challenging myself both physically and mentally. In this post, I’ll note down my lessons through this new journey.

Difference between the walking step and open stance

The walking step is a penetrating step in nature while the open stance is a side step in nature. With an open stance, there is no forward movement, which makes it great for baselines and counter punchers. Great when you’re not planning to move forward.

However, it does not give you the penetrating advantage of the walking step. It allows you to get to the ball and take it on the rise while moving forward. Both have a role in the game of tennis, but you need to master the walking step if you want to learn how to move forward in a menacing way.

Playing Chess as a complement to tennis

I discovered that many tennis pros like to play chess as a way to relax as well as improve their focus and tactical acumen. As an amateur player, I can also get these benefits by learning and playing this game.

Learning how to juggle three balls

A good aid in improving visual perception in tennis is learning how to juggle. I’ve always thought it was very difficult, but following one of Essential Tennis’s tutorials I was able to learn it with a few hours of practice.

Missing shots is part of the game

As a beginner tennis player, it is very typical to get very frustrated with myself when I miss shots that I thought were simple. However, the truth is that most tennis rallies end with unforced errors, so it’s normal for players to make mistakes at any level. If you don’t believe me, here is a video of two of the best tennis players making unforced errors in a match:

5 Signs of a Bad Tennis Lesson

These are some signs of a bad tennis lesson, at least bad for my type of personality and tennis goals. This list comes from an episode on the Essential Tennis podcast, which I just loved because it described point by point the things that I had come to loathe during my padel training experience.

  1. Working on your entire game in 60 minutes.
    This is super typical and something I really hate as a tennis student. Many coaches will have you hitting all the repertoire of shots during one lesson. It’s hardly possible for me to make significant changes on one single shot in one lesson, let alone the whole repertoire, so this is just a big waste of time and provides deceiving illusion that you’ve actually achieved improvement during your lesson.
  2. Instruction whack-a-mole.
    Again this is very common. Coaches will have you perform a shot and then keep adding adjustments to your footwork, shot style, wrist position etc etc. Sometimes I’m guilty of doing this to myself in overzealousness to get the perfect technique. The key is to understand that you need to break each shot down to its constituent parts and work on those parts patiently one by one.
  3. A focus on quantity over quality.
    Coaches might make you perform a battery of drills that might involve say hitting a volley then running back to the baseline for a forehand and a backhand and repeat. This consumes a lot of energy for the average amateur as we don’t yet have the necessary technique to be able to move efficiently, plus you end up hitting most balls late and out of control. You’ll end up panting but having learnt absolutely nothing.
  4. No homework for the rest of the week.
    You might be training with a coach for one or two days a week, but you need to be repeating things more regularly than that if you want to advance rapidly and become a better player. Not having enough time or money could be a limitation, but you should always talk to your coach about these limitations and have him suggest what exercises you can do on your own during the rest of the week. You could fit these in before or after matches, for example, or use a wall for some drills, saving time and money. But you should definitely always have homework.
  5. No video analysis is being used.
    I’ve written about how important it was and still is for me to record my matches, as it enables me to keep in touch with how I really play and move on the court versus relying on my very different sensations when I’m on the court. I also record my training sessions and specifically different strokes, so that I can track my improvement over time. Although almost no coaches currently use video analysis, they should do so as it’s the best way for a student to understand the mistakes they are making and how to fix them. Essential Tennis has some great YouTube videos on the topic of making the best out of your video recordings, and I recomment the app Coach’s Eye for this purpose.

What are your best tennis tips? Let me know in the comments section below.

Jean Galea

Online Entrepreneur. Global Citizen. Padel Player.
Founder of WP Mayor & WP RSS Aggregator.

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