How to swap Power for Technique
Patience is a virtue. Tennis truly demonstrates this. To work the point to one's advantage, takes {among other things} skill, creativity, and most importantly patience. This is why we like to play tennis. Leave out any one of those at the profressional level, and tennis would go the way of myspace.
The whole reason for this post is more related to the title, but I felt that was a good prolougue. Recently, I've been trying to use less effort (and even reduce the power) with all of my strokes. The reason for this: It is very difficult to self-study technique and to adjust to the proper technique while playing full pelt. I've found it somewhat 'easy' to take a little off groundstrokes and volleys, but the serve is another story. I'm so trained to explode up into the ball while serving that any adjustment to my current techinque wreaks havoc entirely.
Now I have been able to slow it down a little. Some things I made sure to do was to bring the racquet up with the toss, so I'm not forced to catch up with the toss. This is the "down together, up together" rule. Another practice is to not serve until you have completely prepared. In other words, don't just toss the ball and swing without a purpose. If you do, that is an easy way to lose all the progress you have made. Any other tips, ideas, or thoughts related to this topic would be helpful.
In closing, ultimately, nobody wants to permanently trade power for technique. What we really are looking for is more consistency, purpose, and power from technique.