Focus – What Tiger Woods taught me

Greg — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 19:00:56 +0000

Photo courtesy of my brother Pete

Last week, I had a ”once in a life time experience” of witnessing the world’s greatest golfer and athlete, perform at his best and win the Australian Masters held at Kingston Heath Golf Course in Melbourne. If you haven’t heard of Tiger Woods, you must be from another planet, even those who do not follow golf, are in awe of his mental toughness and intense focus on winning.

Tiger Woods has the amazing ability to focus, and do it well. We all require focus, whether it’s at work, home, driving the car, or playing sports. In Golf, focus is essential to winning, and this is where Tiger Woods is superior. There is a complete commitment to his mental game every time he steps on a course and with every shot he plays as Tiger enters a zone where others find it difficult to follow.

Tiger’s focus is very obvious, in the two days that I tagged along with the pack of thousands you could actually see this in his eyes. Tiger is fully immersed in the next shot, and what makes this totally amazing is that he does it surrounded by thousands of spectators calling out his name and trying to grab his attention amongst the noise of the constant clicking of camera shutters. It was such an awesome experience being that close and observing such a talented and dedicated athlete.

What did I learn from Tiger Woods?,

Concentrate on the NOW! Don’t let outside distractions clutter your thoughts, focus on what your doing, and do it well
Limit your goals or your to do lists, do only what is most important to you and focus on this. If you try give yourself to everyone and anything, you will be less successfult at achieving what matters most.
Practice, Practice, Practice – I’m not talking just about sports, I am referring to anything that you are giving your full attention to. One of my major goals is to get back into shape. It’s only early days yet, but I am struggling with changing my diet from what I have grown use to for the last 20 years. Therefore, I need to practice eating healthy, and with more practice the better I will get. Tiger Woods wasn’t born with his mental toughness, with the help of his father, he trained his brain just as much as he practiced his golf.
Do not doubt yourself- eliminate self doubt, clear the mind, be positive, think about how you are going to succeed. If your not feeling good about yourself, you will lose your focus.
It’s not about the money – Tiger Woods was given an obscene amount of money just to turn up, it was almost 10 times the amount for 1st prize! But for Tiger its not about the money, he wants to win, he is passionate about what he does . Follow your passion and focus on it, it’s not about how much money your going to make out of it.

I had such fantastic weekend, not only did I witness great golf , but I learnt the importance of mental strength and ways in which to eliminate doubt.

A big thankyou to my family for letting Daddy chase a dream

Enjoy

Live it with less » Mental Strength

Focus – What Tiger Woods taught me