By Roger Knick, The Golf Performance Center
“Don’t seek for everything to happen as you wish it would, but rather wish that everything happens as it actually will, then your life will flow well.” Seneca
How often do we wish for a certain outcome and due to whatever reason, you didn’t get the result you were looking for? What happens? You are disappointed, discouraged and potentially upset. What if instead of wishing for an outcome, you go into your practice, game, test, or tournament fully prepared to do your best, not wishing for an outcome but rather knowing the “event” is yet only another way to gain feedback on your growth. For example, you prepare for a tournament with hours on hours of practice, physically, mentally and course preparation all checked off for readiness. The moment you tee it up in the event, you are now growing towards your success. Wishing for an outcome at this point becomes a distraction, you can only accept what happens as it happens. Once you are able to adopt this approach to your development journey, the results will be the feedback necessary to continue your growth to become the golfer you dream of. Steven Kotler, researcher on flow state and author (Rise of Superman, The Art of the Impossible, Abundance), talks often about how the enemy to flow or excellence is often not the common skills needed for success but rather us getting in the way of ourselves. If you are thinking or wishing for the result, it is hard to be present for the task at hand, thus leading to a disappointing result.
Think of a competitive round of golf as a journey of discovery. It is a 4 hour growing exercise. You are learning more about your knowledge of the game, your skill development as it relates to competition, your mental skills of staying present, learning how to play each shot as it is presented, how you feel each day from a physical perspective and how it could influence your performance. Learning from Seneca, then wishing for everything that happens in a round of golf as it happens is allowing yourself to grow from the experience versus resisting or wishing for a better outcome could hinder you in developing a growth mindset that is essential and present in nearly every successful performance of the greatest golfers, performers, and entrepreneurs. The results of a round will take care of itself if you take care of learning to grow into your success versus wishing for a different outcome if you have a bad shot or round. Accept, learn, grow forward!
Enjoy Your Journey!
