Did you see
the movie The Martian? I did last week, and the reasons for my frustration with
professional golfers became clear. “Space does not cooperate!” Translation:
what you think, believe, trust and hope doesn’t matter. Your “process” doesn’t
matter because life, reality, success and failure are not based on you. Life
does not cooperate. If our hero astronaut had stuck to his process, he would
have died. If you stick to what’s not working in the current environment, your
career is going to die!
“Do the math:” make a calculation or come to a
conclusion based on the relevant facts and figures, typically with the
implication that the result is or should be obvious.
From the
movie: “This is it! This is how I am!
Now, you can either accept that or you can get to work. That’s all it is. You
just begin. You do the math. You solve one problem. Then you solve the next
one. Then the next. If you solve enough problems you get to come home.”
Here is what
I’m talking about. “I am frustrated with my poor results lately. There is no
doubt about that. I work really hard on my game, and it feels bad to play
poorly for an extended period. In the last 11 weeks, I have played nine
PGA Tour events and made just one cut. That is not good.” (He has now missed the
cut in 13 of 14 events, and failed to qualify for the US Open.)
Then he
says: “when I take a step back and see a broader perspective, I know that I am
doing great. My "big-picture" trend of improvement and accomplishment
is incredible; and I have the work-ethic and attitude to ensure that it
continues. My process is all about steady
improvement over time, and my plan works. I'm not changing. I'll keep getting
better, and I will get out of this rut.”
“I have felt that my
game is better than the scores.” Wrong! Your game is the scores you
post! Your job is to post scores. Your job is to survive. You do that by
solving problems, not by working on them. Do the math!
I wrote a
book called “Hogan’s Ghost” which is available thru Amazon.com that will help
identify the problems and suggest solutions.
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