So, you’ve decided your daughter isn’t progressing anymore You’re thinking it’s a time to make a change so you try a new private instructor.

Your daughter goes through a lesson and you like what you hear. You think this may be the answer, or at least an answer, to help her break through a plateau and start advancing again.

Then at the end, you present your dilemma: your daughter has a tournament in three days. Then you ask the new instructor how your daughter should approach those games.

Should she incorporate the new mechanics or techniques she was just working on (and take a chance on her performance going down), or should she work on the new stuff during the week but stick with the old way on the weekend?

I guess my question back would be are you happy with the status quo or are you looking for actual improvement? Because, as they say, if you do what you always did you get what you always get.

Here’s the problem. Imagine there are two cars riding side-by-side down the street. You’re being a daredevil so you are standing up with a foot in each one of them.

As long as the road stays straight you’re ok. But once you reach a fork in the road you either have to jump fully into one car or you will find yourself torn in two.

Now the question is which car to jump into? Because the two sides of the fork lead to very different destinations.

And here’s the other problem. Let’s say you choose to continue with what you’ve been doing for the moment to minimize the risk of immediate failure. Even though you know full well it’s ultimately a road to nowhere.

Sure, at some point you can backtrack to the fork and then take the other road if you decide you want to make a change after all. But it’s going to take longer and be more painful than it would have because you’ve now spent more time ingraining the mechanics you ultimately want to replace.

And you’re still going to have to deal with the same struggles of the transition from the old way to the new way you’ve been trying to avoid. Only now your daughter is a little bit older, the opponents are a little bit better, and the coaches (your own and recruiters) are a whole lot less forgiving of walks and other accuracy problems.

The bottom line is, if you believe you’re making a change for the right reasons, don’t go into it halfway. Go all in and deal with the short-term consequences now rather than making them longer-term later.

Make the commitment knowing that the sooner you start, the sooner you’ll get through it. And the happier you will be in the end.