Take a Free Lesson on Success From Tiger Woods

Tiger & Mentors

It is no secret that Tiger’s focus, drive and work ethic are superior by anyone’s standards. He continues to break records and be at the top of his game despite his injuries. Every young athlete aspires to be just like him. As you know, I am a huge believer of having quality mentor at any stage of life. I remember when I was a child, my sports mentor was Cal Ripken, Jr. The two shares many common characteristics. After breaking many records himself, he currently runs the Cal Ripken Sr. Foundation. An organization that brings the joys of baseball to children with no access to the game, and educates them about the dangers of tobacco use.

The Free Lesson

Now don’t get me wrong, Tiger is not perfect either. He gets upset when he makes a mistake and you may even see him throw a club or two. The free lesson I am referring to always occur after the game is over. In the post-game interview the newscaster will always ask about a shot that wasn’t perfect or a putt that was just missed. If you pay attention to his response you will always find his focus to be on the things he did correctly. He will intentionally downplay any mistakes he made.

This is a quality common to all successful people. Ruminating on mistake is simply unproductive and a poor use of your time. Mistakes are a necessary part of the learning process in life. Psychological studies have been done which show the only difference between people who think they are lucky and those who feel unlucky, is that lucky people seem to remember the wins more often.

Application

Focus your memory on the positive achievements and successes in your life. Do not forget mistakes, rather learn from them and move on. The next time you find yourself dwelling on what you consider to be a weakness, take a step back and look at the big picture. Take a lesson from Tiger and focus on the 70 good swings instead of the 1 bad shot.