Your Words Bring Victory or Defeat
I spent last Sunday afternoon watching the US Open Golf Tournament. What an outstanding tournament for all you golf enthusiasts. So many storylines for the top contenders. Jason Day is playing with major physical ailments. Dustin Johnson had come so close in several major tournaments before just to lose several times at the last minute. The Texas kid prodigy Jordan Spieth (21 years old) had already won this year’s Masters. It went back and forth and back and forth until the last minute when Johnson missed two puts on the last hole to give the win to the kid Jordan Spieth.Besides being a very entertaining and competitive tournament, it was a great teaching lesson if you were listening closely to the commentators. This was a brand new course for the US Open Championship and the greens were not in premier condition like some of the old manicured courses that the pros are accustomed to. One pro said putting on these greens was like putting on broccoli.There was a lot of criticism by some of the pros. When Jack Nicklaus was asked about his take on all this I want you to listen to his very wise response. He said when he played major tournaments he could tell immediately, by listening to the comments in the locker room, who was not going to win. If he heard a pro being critical or demeaning toward the course he would automatically write that pro off as one he did not have to worry about. They had already lost before they ever started! Just think about that. Do we do that in our business or personal life? Could it be that is the very thing that is holding us back?There was a critical place in my former secular management career where I caught myself griping about conditions and management. I can remember going back to my hometown one weekend and visiting an old hangout that I frequented in my wild days. It was like walking into the past. The same people were still there. Still complaining! Still getting drunk! Still stuck! I had my own Jack Nicklaus experience right there. I knew I had to quit griping and complaining and get myself in a position to make the necessary changes myself and that decision began a road to success. I never went back to that old hangout again. You may want to make some similar changes.
