Wednesday, December 14, 2011

30 Things...To Do (Riff)

Years ago, I read Golf Is Not A Game Of Perfect by Bob Rotella, a noted sports psychologist. In this wonderful book, which has numerous applications to life far beyond the golf course, I found a teaching that greatly impacted my golf game...and life.

Most golfers, as they stand in front of a tricky shot over a water hazard, have the following running through their head: "Don't hit it in the water...don't hit it in the water."

What Dr. Rotella explains, is that there is a funny mechanism in our brains that does the following...it removes the word "don't". Therefore, between your brain and the muscles, the message changes to "Hit it in the water." (Well, that explains some things.)

Owing to that anomaly, he says simply take the message from a prohibitive, to a directive one: "Hit it over the water." That mental trick works well for my personality (see my previous post on Relentless Positivity).

Whether the 17th at Sawgrass is in your mind when you read this or you've never touched a club, the implications are clear.

This approach (pun unintended, but not bad), sprang immediately to mind when I read the following fantastic post on avoiding negative habits from the cooly-named Marc and Angel Hack Life: 30 Things To Stop Doing To Yourself

When I read this excellent article, I was mentally reframing each of the 30 statements that start with the word "stop", into a more directive statement a la Dr. Rotella's approach above. About a third of the way through, I decided to write it out...and here I'll share it with you.

I'd encourage you to go look at the original post, compare my riff on it, consider your own...but most of all...do some of it in your life!

Thank you Marc and Angel for providing the rich source material for this interpretation.

30 Things...To Do...

1. Spend time with the right people.

2. Face your problems.

3. Be honest with yourself.

4. Reprioritize your own needs.

5. Be authentic.

6. Move on.

7. Take a chance.

8. Forgive yourself.

9. Earn deep satisfaction.

10. Look within for stability.

11. Do something.

12. Do something you're not ready for.

13. Pick the right reasons for relationships.

14. Leave old relationships out of new ones.

15. Compete against your own standards.

16. Be appreciative.

17. Learn from failure and move on.

18. Forgive for real for your own sanity.

19. See #15

20. Be authentic start to finish.

21. Disengage.

22. Smell the roses while doing #21

23. Be content with good enough.

24. Take the stairs.

25. Let it out.

26. Woman/Man up.

27. Do what you can and let it go.

28. Sweat the right stuff.

29. Keep your eye on the ball...not everything else.

30. Appreciate.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Great article Jeff especially when many people use this time of year to reflect on personal and business goals. I know I will.

Greg

Jeff Baumgarten, Founder, Tricendent said...

Thanks Greg, appreciate the thoughts...

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