Don’t try to be Perfect, Just do your Best

• Posted on Grant
• in My Journey
• on September 3, 2012
• Comments Off on Don’t try to be Perfect, Just do your Best

My view one morning this week while practicing.

When I first started playing tournament golf in high school, my rounds would always go one of two ways. I would either have a good start and play a pretty good round of golf, or I would make some mistakes early in my round, lose focus and kind of give up. If I wasn’t feeling like I was doing everything as well as I could, I would give in and just start going through the motions.

The biggest difference in how I approach golf now, compared to way back then, is that I am more committed to my process of getting better every day. I am letting the results take care of themselves. For example, I take  great  satisfaction in going through my practice routines every day while mentally committing and focusing on every shot. In fact, my process is the most consistent source of  satisfaction in my golf career. Wins and good finishes are fun, but I have found that in the mental game of golf, if you are focused on results you are only as good as your last tournament.

What is amazing to me is how the same truth can be applied to any walk of life. Until about two months ago I was trying and trying to to find the perfect situation that would put me on tour as fast as possible. I was so focused on the big goal, that I was  neglecting a lot of the parts of the process that I needed to be doing along the way. Before I knew it, I had gotten to a place in my life that I did not have clear practice goals for every day, and I did not have a defined day to day plan for bringing in money for my family. I was just wanting the best to happen all at once by winning the next tournament.  I was placing way too much emphasis on results instead of a process.

Two months ago, I really felt the Lord convicting me about this. So I developed a process that did not seem perfect, but was the best I could do at the time. I mapped out a two hour practice routine. This routine included putting, chipping, pitching, lob shots, sand shots, iron shots, and tee shots.

During my practice, I move quickly from one area to the next to make sure I complete everything in the two hours. I am committed to doing this practice routine six days a week while focusing intensely for the whole two hours. Also, two months ago, I started working 20 hours a week at Chick-Fil-A and 20 hours a week delivering pizza in the evenings for Streets of New York Pizza. I have been trusting God to fill in the gaps and grow my teaching business and to allow me to have success in my tournaments. In other words, I have decided to focus on a process instead of the result.

From this seemingly imperfect plan amazing things are happening! I can tell my tournament golf  is consistently getting better and I have been finishing in the money in my recent tournaments. Also, my teaching business has really increased and  my students are making great headway with their golf games. I have learned valuable lessons at my part time jobs and am really valuing my time with family more than ever.

I know I don’t have everything figured out, and I am learning as I go, but I know this is true: Great things come from doing my best in the little everyday processes, instead of waiting around for the big, perfect circumstances to happen.

GB