A Recipe for Success
The end of the year brings with it the conclusion of another year of my radio show, called Fairways of Life, which airs each week on the PGA Tour Network (heard on Sirius and XM Satellite Radio in North America and around the globe on PGATOUR.com).
This year has been a great one. Among the more prominent guests this year have been Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus, Tiger Woods, Gary Player, Ray Floyd, Hale Irwin, Ben Crenshaw, Curtis Strange, Stewart Cink, Davis Love III, Sam Torrance and many, many more. It was more than a pleasure to speak to all of these legends, it was indeed an honor.
It is always fascinating to pick the brain of immensely successful people. The funny thing is that there is great conformity in their essential approach to winning. A kind of recipe for success, if you will.
It is also simply amazing the wisdom inherent in the words of great champions. If there are compelling themes that seems to run through the currents of the lives of champions, I believe they are:
1. Outwork your competition. There will always be someone bigger, stronger, faster, smarter and better connected, but nothing can beat the merits of hard work.
2. Know who you are. Recognize your strengths, but also know your weaknesses so that you can work to overcome them. Contrary to most amateur golfers, champions spend the most time practicing the parts of their games in which they are the weakest.
3. Never Give Up, even when the world has given up on you, as victory is often just past the line where everyone else has dropped out of the race.
4. Have a plan. Champions use road maps. They have a specified approach for each element of their game, from their season, career, practice routine, each round of golf and each individual shot.
5. Believe you are the best in the world. ALL champion golfers believe they are the best. ALL of them. If you believe for one second that you cannot beat another golfer, then you won’t. Champions have a belief in themselves they use as their armor in the battle.
6. Practice positive. Champions do not dwell on negativity. Think about how many amateur golfers you know that constantly denigrate their game (“I’m the worst putter in the world,” “I stink at this game,” etc.)? Can you imagine sitting down with a surgeon and asking him about his experience and he or she said, “Actually, I’m the worst surgeon in the world!” Reference Rule # 5, above. If you want to be the best, you have to believe yourself capable of it (then seek out help to get there and work like crazy).
In conclusion, it is no coincidence that I believe that golf is a metaphor for life. Wouldn't’t our chances for success off the golf course also benefit from the wisdom of champions?