Read on even if you have no interest in golf, because the priceless tip I give below works for anything in life.
I have just returned from Sweden working with Anjelika Hammar on the Ladies European Tour. She asked me to caddy for her, and very enjoyable it was too. It also gives me some kind of record, having caddied now on all the major European Tours.
She did not score well, but scores do not greatly concern me. What she has learned is far more important, and I am certain success is not far away. As an example of learning to lose before you can win Miles is enjoying his well-earned success now, and posting consistently great scores.
I always like to walk the course before a competition, and was delighted when Anjelika asked to join me, and even more delighted when she suggested we walk backwards, i.e starting at the 18th green and ending at the 1st tee.
There are many reasons why I like this approach. One of them is that the devilish course designers like to terrify the poor golfer from the tee. Often all you can see from the tee are trees, bunkers, and water, with precious little fairway to aim at.
Walk from the green to the fairway and look back towards the tee, and it is a very different story. The landing zone is much larger than it first appeared, and the hazards are a lot easier to avoid than they looked too. I could go on and on, but if you are a golfer I think you get my message.
So what is the point of this little story for non-golfers too?
When you have set yourself a challenge what do you see in your mind as you prepare to start your journey? If you are like me and most other people you probably see all the problems, most of which will never happen. You think of all the things that could go wrong, even though most of them won’t.
You might even give up before you start, or be like the writer I know who gave up his book after 30,000 words. You can work out how many hours this wasted. He thought his book was not good enough. He was probably wrong about this too. In any case it is the readers who judge a book, not the author.
So how do we avoid these traps?
By looking back. For the author it is to picture his/her book signing, and the buzz it will give them. To look back at all the LITTLE things they did right, and the only BIG decision they made was to get started.
Finally World Number 1 poker player Chris Moorman has written a great blog about positive thinking. He also makes some generous comments about our work together too.
I wish you every success!
