The Bucket Shot: How We Break Old Beliefs One Choice at a Time
"Beliefs are stories...not reality."
The Bucket Shot: How We Break Old Beliefs One Choice at a Time
Bwop.
That’s the sound the tennis ball made as it dropped into the metal bucket at the opposite baseline.
I froze.
The teacher had told me if I ever got the ball in that bucket, the lesson would be free.
And against all odds — I did it.
I was gleeful.
Until he said,
“No. That doesn’t count. You didn’t mean to do it. It has to be on purpose.”
There it was:
the after-the-fact rule change.
The quiet message that my win didn’t really count.
A message I would spend years untangling.
The Long Road to a Single Bucket Shot
I was a junior in high school, and I had been trying to learn tennis since age 12.
My earlier teachers had called me:
spastic
uncoordinated
hopeless
But for some reason, I kept coming back.
Maybe because I believed — underneath everything — that I could get better.
I paid for lessons with babysitting money.
$1.50 an hour.
Lessons were $15.
Do the math — that’s a lot of diaper changes to afford one hour of being called spastic.
And I didn’t even live near the courts.
I took a bus for an hour each way on a school night.
I was committed in the way teenagers can be — heart-first, logic later.
The Moment Everything Connected
One afternoon in math class, while Mr. Pace was helping another student, I quietly rehearsed my swing in the air.
I could see the ball.
I could see the court.
I could see my tennis teacher watching.
And something finally clicked.
My brain and my body synced.
The movement made sense.
That afternoon, I hit the ball into the bucket two more times.
Not by luck.
On purpose.
No, I didn’t suddenly qualify for Wimbledon.
But something far more important happened:
I built proof.
Proof that I could do hard things.
Proof that practice rewires ability.
Proof that old beliefs are not fixed facts.
The Real Lesson Wasn’t Tennis
My whole childhood, the story was:
“You’re uncoordinated.”
“You’re not athletic.”
“You’re not good at this.”
And like most kids, I internalized it.
I believed it because the adults said it.
I believed it because it felt true.
I believed it because my brain didn’t yet know it could challenge a belief.
But those bucket shots cracked the story.
Not shattered — cracked.
Enough to let in some new light.
I still hear the old voice every time I play tennis.
Every. Single. Time.
But now I know the truth:
The voice is old.
The belief is outdated.
And I get to choose a new one.
Beliefs Are Stories — Not Reality
In my coaching work, this is the moment I see most often — the instant someone realizes:
“Wait… this belief I’ve been living inside isn’t actually true.
It’s just something I accepted.”
We live as if our beliefs are facts written in stone.
But the truth is:
They’re stories.
Inherited. Absorbed. Repeated.
And we are allowed to rewrite them.
My old story was binary:
Either you’re coordinated or you’re not.
Either you’re smart or you’re not.
Either you “have it” or you don’t.
But then I learned how top athletes train —
hours and hours of repetition, refinement, and practice.
They weren’t born great.
They built greatness.
And that’s when I understood:
Beliefs can be rebuilt too.
How to Rewrite Your Story (The RecodeNOW Way)
Here’s the process — simple, not easy:
1. Awareness
Notice the old belief.
Name it.
Separate you from the story.
2. Clarity
Define what you want instead.
Be specific.
Picture it vividly.
3. Alignment
Rehearse the new pattern in your mind.
Let your body feel what it’s like to succeed.
(Yes, math class daydreams count.)
4. Action
Take the smallest possible step.
Hit one ball.
Make one decision.
Say one honest yes or no.
5. Integration
Repeat it until it becomes your new normal.
And then?
6. Freedom.
The moment you choose from desire, not from old programming.
This Is How You Change Your Life
Not by bulldozing your past.
Not by condemning your old self.
Not by pretending the negative voice isn’t there.
But by gently, consistently telling it:
“I’ve got this. I’m choosing differently now.”
Beliefs shift slowly, like tectonic plates.
But when they move — everything else does too.
You become the person who takes the shot.
On purpose.
Again and again.
Even when the bucket feels far away.
Because here’s the truth:
You are meant for more than the old story.
And you are capable of rewriting it.
One swing at a time.
— Alicia
If you enjoyed reading this article, check out this post about how we run on outdated codes.
Tarot Pull
Ten of Cups
I love that I pulled this card today. The Ten of Cups is about inner and outer life alignment, emotional wholeness, living life on purpose. Hitting that ball into the bucket didn't change my life, but it changed my belief about what was possible for me. What is the Ten of Cups telling you? What do you need for emotional fulfillment? A single aligned action can heal years of misalignment.