A strong mental outlook isn’t a one time fix, it’s a daily practice which you can reinforce with daily habits to keep improving.
Prepare for big events by visualising what you want and stop creating negative visualisations without even realising it.
Here’s what can happen. Dave Stockton was playing in a championship tournament on the senior tour. He was playing well, making smart decisions, sticking to his routines, visualising his shots. In the third round, he hit a bad drive - the ball sliced hard and vanished in the deep rough. It was no big deal till he came back to the same tee the next day. He was in the final group and had a one shot lead. After what happened the day before, he didn’t want to miss it right.
By telling himself, "don't miss right” he visualised exactly that - missing right! That's how visualisations begin - with words! We tell ourselves what to see.
Dave watched another player hook his ball so badly it almost went out of bounds. Dave had been thinking, “don’t miss right!” Now he was thinking, “don’t miss left either!” Using those words he visualised slices and hooks and threw a mental monkey wrench into his swing. He stood up to the ball, completely topped his tee shot and hit it only 70 yards!
That's what can happen when you start thinking about the shots you don’t want to hit. Dave was a professional golfer but there he stood on the final tee thinking “don’t hit it right, don’t hit it left, programming negative visualisations into his mind.
The good news is, the next shot is a chance to become a champion again. And that’s what Dave did. He told himself exactly what he wanted to do, visualised that exact shot and then stepped up to the ball with that exact image locked in. He made a perfect shot followed by a chip and a putt, saved his par and won the tournament by one shot!
The image we see is created by the words we use; when we think, don’t go in the water, that’s what we see; when we think don’t chunk it, that’s what we see.
It doesn't take that kind of mindset long to produce exactly what every player’s trying to avoid.
In other words, the negative self-talk isn’t a result of hitting bad shots, the negative self-talk is producing the bad shots. It's like a self-fulfilling prophecy.
So take Dave's advice. Describe the shot you want; describe it in your mind or out loud, whatever works for you. Be specific in your pre-shot routine - describe what you want; see what you want; more often than not, you’ll get what you want!
Now imagine you’re going in to see a client to pitch for a major piece of business. You can visualise a total disaster where you stumble over your words; your Powerpoint presentation fails; you forget your client’s name. Sure enough you don’t get the business because of your self-fulfilling prophecy.
Or, visualise shaking hands with the client as you’re awarded the contract after you saw yourself delivering a flawless presentation with clarity, confidence and connection, winning the hearts and minds of your audience with your knowledge and understanding of their business issues and your perfect solution and how it will benefit them.
Prepare for big events by visualising what you want and stop creating negative visualisations without even realising it.
Here’s what can happen. Dave Stockton was playing in a championship tournament on the senior tour. He was playing well, making smart decisions, sticking to his routines, visualising his shots. In the third round, he hit a bad drive - the ball sliced hard and vanished in the deep rough. It was no big deal till he came back to the same tee the next day. He was in the final group and had a one shot lead. After what happened the day before, he didn’t want to miss it right.
By telling himself, "don't miss right” he visualised exactly that - missing right! That's how visualisations begin - with words! We tell ourselves what to see.
Dave watched another player hook his ball so badly it almost went out of bounds. Dave had been thinking, “don’t miss right!” Now he was thinking, “don’t miss left either!” Using those words he visualised slices and hooks and threw a mental monkey wrench into his swing. He stood up to the ball, completely topped his tee shot and hit it only 70 yards!
That's what can happen when you start thinking about the shots you don’t want to hit. Dave was a professional golfer but there he stood on the final tee thinking “don’t hit it right, don’t hit it left, programming negative visualisations into his mind.
The good news is, the next shot is a chance to become a champion again. And that’s what Dave did. He told himself exactly what he wanted to do, visualised that exact shot and then stepped up to the ball with that exact image locked in. He made a perfect shot followed by a chip and a putt, saved his par and won the tournament by one shot!
The image we see is created by the words we use; when we think, don’t go in the water, that’s what we see; when we think don’t chunk it, that’s what we see.
It doesn't take that kind of mindset long to produce exactly what every player’s trying to avoid.
In other words, the negative self-talk isn’t a result of hitting bad shots, the negative self-talk is producing the bad shots. It's like a self-fulfilling prophecy.
So take Dave's advice. Describe the shot you want; describe it in your mind or out loud, whatever works for you. Be specific in your pre-shot routine - describe what you want; see what you want; more often than not, you’ll get what you want!
Now imagine you’re going in to see a client to pitch for a major piece of business. You can visualise a total disaster where you stumble over your words; your Powerpoint presentation fails; you forget your client’s name. Sure enough you don’t get the business because of your self-fulfilling prophecy.
Or, visualise shaking hands with the client as you’re awarded the contract after you saw yourself delivering a flawless presentation with clarity, confidence and connection, winning the hearts and minds of your audience with your knowledge and understanding of their business issues and your perfect solution and how it will benefit them.
