Hello Readers,
Whether you are a golf fan or not this past weekends tournament was instructive on a business and personal level. There was good drama. The 72nd and last hole decided whether there would be anywhere from a 5 man playoff to 1 of 2 possible outright winners.
We know by now that Phil Mickelson won the event and Fred Couples was tied for third. They are two of my favorite players so it was really high drama for me.
Phil started with a 4 shot lead, gave it up and was down by 2 shots going into his 16th hole. He could have folded. The press would have skewered him and written about another “choke job”. Instead he birdied 16 and 17 with some great shots and made a difficult 6 foot par putt on 18 to win.
The lesson is that he lived in the moment. He did not beat himself up for his earlier mediocre play. If you have had a bad hour, day, week, month, year – get over it! Forgive yourself. Use your skill, experience, and courage to win in your life and business.
Fred Couples is 7 months shy of his 50th birthday. Even though he is hall of fame material, a guy almost 50 is not supposed to contend in a PGA tour event. On the 18th tee, he was in position to tie with a birdie or win with a birdie if Mickelson makes bogey.
After ripping a drive he makes a poor shot and catches a tree on his second shot. He could have given up, mailed it in, and have everyone say, “Good try Freddie”. Instead he almost knocked it in from 115 yards.
The lesson is the same as above. He put his mistake in the past.
I hear too many people talking in the “if only” language. Well, if “it” happened a second ago you can not change “it”. Learn from it and move on.
Until next time,
Chuck Trautman
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