I know you have heard failure is important to your success. However if you are unable to learn from your failings, successes will be hard to come by. Golf is one of those sports that can humble you quickly. From hitting the ball really well one moment, shanking it the next. I am sure you have had the tale of two nines, front 35, back 47, oh my gosh I stink or what a failure! These are common reactions to this kind of failing. If you stop and think about what occurred during the blipping round, you may have learned why it seem to go so wrong. Better yet, the necessity of having such a round is the blessing in disguise. You may learn that the 35 on the front was more of the anomaly than the horrifying back nine of 47. Moreover, the lessons from a round like this, as you look back to learn, you realize that you didn’t hydrate well, you had no food for energy, the round was slow, due to this you lost focus, and eventually lost awareness of what was happening therefore losing your emotional control and eventually losing golf ball control. What a great learning experience, from that point on you can plan better next time. In this situation, your learning comes from what seems to be a complete fail but is it. No, learning moments like this is invaluable to help propel you to greater success.
Failing is a gift, but you first need to accept that it is a part of your learning. Psychologist Carol Dwek would say, learning from failure is the bridge to growth mindset, the earlier it happens and the more often it happens, it is more likely you develop a growth mindset. Understanding this has a huge upside, growth mindset is the foundation to resilience, which is the foundation to grit, which is a foundation for passion. So, when you are doing something that you are passionate about with a growth mindset, failing is an awesome gift! From the best athletes, authors, entertainers or just about any walk of life that has “made it”, you can find the failing trail, the climb to the top is anything but smooth. If you are wanting to succeed at golf, win tournaments, gain a college scholarship or beat your friends, the best way for this to happen, keep challenging yourself, push your skills, physical and mental the your limits, learn how to get back up and do it again and again!
