Golf Psychology Tips: Golf – A Metaphor for Life (Part 2)
Sunday, 23 January 2011 19:55 |
The keys to finding success and fulfilment in golf are often exactly the same as the keys to finding success and fulfilment in life. Last week I wrote about the first 5 key parallels for golf and life. This week, here are the second five. I share them with you wishing you even greater success and fulfilment in both.
- Consider the possible
If you never try anything different, never expect to get anything different. It’s easy to say “I can’t do this” but it’s often simply because we’ve never done it before. Asking yourself “What if I could do this?” opens up your potential to stretch your boundaries and learn more. Click here for more. This leads to…
- Choose your habits
Why do top performers have their own rituals and routines that they always follow? Our minds are amazingly active and without focus, our energy tends to get dispersed. Imagine 100 watt light bulb (I say “imagine” because the EU have outlawed them!). With its energy dispersed throughout a whole room it can provide a reasonable brightness. But when you take the same 100 watts and line them up in the same direction, you get a 100 watt laser that’s powerful enough to cut through inch thick sheet steel. Great golf and great lives are not destinations – they are created in every moment of every day. Choose your habits before they choose you! Click here for more. This leads to…
- Own it
The more we take responsibility for our experience, the more power we give ourselves to change it. This is the power of resolve. If you think that your life or your golf is a certain way because of someone or something else, think again. I recently played with a touring pro who blamed his coach for “ruining” his swing. Funny how his swing looked great to me, but because he had given away all ownership of his game, his game fell apart. Same for people I coach who are stuck in a job they hate because “they have to, to pay the mortgage”. Why not resolve to find a job you love and never work another day in your life? This leads to…
- Commitment is everything
The day I got married, I committed to my wife to be with her for ever. To me, this commitment means that whatever happens, we are going to make our relationship work. Funny thing is, the commitment itself helps the relationship work as we talk things through more. Same for golf – commit to a shot 100% and your body will help make it work for you. Click here for more. And finally this leads to…
- Love every moment
Life and golf are truly fabulous games to played, how lucky we really are! There have been times when I have felt that “If only I had this BMW, then I’d be happy” or “If only the putt would drop, then I’d be happy!”. But what was I doing? Not living in now that’s for sure. So when I got the BMW and made the putt, was I any happier or better at life or golf? No. In fact I’d only put pressure on myself and made getting those things harder. The true secret behind golf and life is to love every single moment of it. The more you love your game, (yes, life and golf!), the better you will allow yourself to play and the more it will love you back! Click here for more.
Again, I hope you find these mental golf tips / life tips useful! I’d love to hear your experiences of where you apply them (or not!). Please write in with questions to develop your own golf psychology / life psychology – I’m more than happy to give you ideas. Also, I’m giving away audio mental golf tips through a series of six free tipcasts to help you through the toughest parts of the game. Sign up for my newsletter now if you would like to receive these.
Mental Golf Coach
Comments
Why?
There's really nothing left to add.
You've covered everything beautifully. I particularly appreciate the thoughts on ownwership (as you say, as applicable in life as in golf), commitment, and loving it. Because no matter how much they may suck at any given point, golf and life are better than the alternative.
Superb, thank you!
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