I hope you are enjoying your summer thus far and playing some good to great golf! As many of you are preparing for important tournaments to end your summer schedule, make sure to acknowledge all the work you did back in the winter and spring. Take a few minutes to reflect on your rounds and ask yourself, did I pay my dues? Can I learn from this experience?
Did you “pay” your dues in terms of putting in the work necessary to perform your best this golfing season during your “off” season? Did you spend enough time learning with complete awareness and mindfulness, or did you go through the motions? When you can recognize and become fully engaged in what you are attempting, you hold yourself accountable throughout the process. If you attempt to play a shot and end up failing, did you recognize what went wrong? If you are not able to understand why you didn’t execute, then you did not pay your dues! To make corrections or understand the benefits of experiences, you must be aware and engaged. This may take time to learn how to reflect on your performances!
The greatest athletes, musicians, artists and business leaders are constantly paying dues. They fail over and over because they push themselves past their natural abilities and learn along the way. Recognizing their mistakes in their failures, making the necessary adjustments, and understanding success takes many hours and years of paying dues. These high achievers didn’t go through the motions and hope they did enough to succeed. They engage deeply in the work necessary to put them in a position to fail to succeed. When practicing or playing, be aware, engaged with the experience, this will ensure you are learning, you will be “paying” your dues.
No one succeeds without failure, without paying dues, without being mindful, without being aware, without frustration, without blood, sweat and tears. Go into the last stretch of summer events fully prepared, pay your dues, and have the guts to fail to your successes!
Enjoy your Journey!
