Failure Habits

The super-arrogant, conceited, knowalls generally have little problem in achieving some things. They are "wonderful" after all but since there are[thankfully] only a few of them around the rest of us often hinder our own progress by the way that we think or "see" things in our mind.

We bind and chain ourselves to our own FAILURE HABITS.  See if you recognise any of these:

FEAR

• of failing
• of not improving
• of missing easy shots
• of not measuring up [to our expectations or the expectations of others]

SELF-CONSCIOUSNESS

• Being worried about what others think of you and your swing and your golf shots when you play

TRYING HARD

• "The harder I try the worse I seem to get - but it doesn't stop me from trying even harder next time"

EXPECTATIONS

• "The more I expect the less I seem to get"

PERFECTIONISM

• "I am never happy unless I am perfect. I am seldom perfect so I am seldom happy".

PROCRASTINATION

• "I recognise these things about myself and I am definitely going to change - but, because I have another golf shot to play right now, I'll do this tomorrow"!

Did you recognise yourself in any of the above? If so do not despair - you are normal!

All that we need to do is to train the Brain to "see" things more clearly, to view the bigger picture and recognise that we, all of us, have a greater potential than we imagine.

That "potential" is personal to each individual.  The young have the potential to reach for the stars [given good guidance and training and the will to succeed].  The old, although losing the distance they had in earlier years, have the potential improve their Short Game and quality of contact in the Long Game.  They [the old] can still play "to their Par" even though it means playing from the forward tees - and there is nothing wrong in that!

So, let us look at that list again.

FEAR
What is the very worst thing that can happen if you play a bad shot, miss a short Putt or lose a match?  In reality there is little more than a temporary feeling of disappointment, annoyance, emabarrasment - whatever ... but this is temporary.

The point is that we "fear the worst" when we "see the worst" BEFORE WE BEGIN!

The Brain controls the Body. It is nothing more than a computer but it is our Imagination that programmes the Brain.  Every single action, every fleeting thought is the result of a "pre-image" that you have seen on your internal movie-screen before you begin.

If "I knew I was going to do that" is the most oft-used expression in golf it just confirms that your worst fears were realised! We saw it so we did it!

"WHAT DO I WANT THE BALL TO DO"? is what we must ask ourselves before playing any shot. Given that what we want it to do is realistic we "see" the good shot clearly [ball landing in the target area, rolling to the hole etc.] before we Set Up.  Of course we notice the trees on the right, water etc. but we focus only on our line and length in playing our shot. 

Fear?  Feel the Fear and do it anyway!  Even the very best admit to being nervous whether it is on that 1st Tee or on, what they hope, is the final Putt and sometimes they fail on either but those who keep focused "in the moment" are those who fear nothing.

SELF CONSCIOUSNESS
So what if your swing is "unusual"!  Probably your signature is too!  The only important thing is what happens to the ball - just ask John Daly, Eamonn D'Arcy, Laura Davies and others; great golfers all whose swings you would not wish to copy.

Keep focused on your Target and let others think what they like!!

TRYING HARD
Natural Co-ordination is a phenomenon that manifests itself only when we do not "think about what we are doing".  Our best golf shots "leak out" only when we make the outcome matter less. 

If we could give ourselves permission to make a mistake we would lose the urge to "try hard" not to make a mistake ... and succeed more often.

Simply be clear in your Mind about what you are going to do and what you want the ball to do then TRUST ... & LET GO of all your doubts, inhibitions and fears.  It is not a matter of being careless, just a matter of caring less.

"When your Mind can perceive it your Body can achieve it" [Archie Morrison]

EXPECTATIONS
The only rightful expectation we have is to enjoy ourselves.

Not even Tiger Woods knows for sure where his ball will end up and although he wins often he does not win always.

He, like we, must focus on our target [realistic] and act as though we expect to succeed and, when we don't, recognise that a poor shot was an accident not made on purpose.  All we do is go look for our ball, select a new target and LET GO all over again.

PERFECTIONISM
We all enjoy "that perfect shot" but we have no right to expect all of our shots to be so.

Far better is it that we achieve a high rate of ACCEPTABILITY [almost, nearly, not quite] where the ball is still visible and playable!

Sometimes even the best golfers have to "grind out a score" when striking the ball or swinging the club poorly on a day.  Their focus changes, not on how to make repairs during the round [they do this later], but merely on how to get the ball round with what they have brought with them that day.

I do not know the answer but would you get more satisfaction from hitting the ball well and scoring well or hitting/swinging poorly and scoring well?

The point is that nothing is achieved by "beating ourselves up" when things aren't going quite to plan.  We "keep in there" keeping ourselves in the present, focusing on our target and "Letting Go" on every shot.

The real champions are those who can accept their good shots and poor ones with equal grace.  These are the people who are a delight to play golf with.

It has been said that true "hackers" are thick-skinned ... and they always beat the "whiners".

PROCRASTINATION
Well, if we can now see that there is another way of looking at things and we want/ought to give it a go why not begin to make those changes NOW - right NOW!

Tomorrow never comes!