Play the game all out

Bear with me on this story… it starts out like Just Another Golf Story by Just Another Middle-Aged Guy. But there's actually a non-golf point to be made.

Recently I've been taking lessons at GolfTec (if you love golf and love technology, you should go check them out). The instructor, Tim, has gradually been helping me fix one thing at a time in my swing and after several lessons it is starting to come together. This weekend, I came home from my lesson all enthused because my club-head speed had gone from 85 MPH to 100+ MPH. If you aren't a golfer, trust me when I say this a good thing. I won't bore you with the details of what he changed except to say that he got me to throw my heart into the swing and really follow through. Bruce Lee made a similar point when he said that you must strike with "emotional content".

As I was describing this change to my wife, she asked one deceptively simple question - "Why did you learn the original bad habit in the first place?" That is, why was I holding back and putting the brakes on my swing? I have been a Bad Golfer for such a long time, it took some effort to think back that far but I finally managed it.

The first few times I hit a golf ball, the ball didn't do quite what I wanted. That is to say, it went in random and unpredictable directions. Rather than taking lessons and fixing the underlying problem, I just made it worse. Because I didn't have any confidence in where the ball was going, I started to hold back a bit. To be tentative.

But as my instructor in kempo-karate says, "If you're going to play the game, play it all out."

Without doubt, there are times to be conservative and to hold a little bit back in reserve. But there are also times when that doesn't cut the mustard. There are times when you need to jump in with both feet. Whether you are opening a new business, falling in love or learning to sky-dive, you need to put your whole heart into it.

Is there anything you are doing in your life where you are holding yourself back? Is there anything where you could be more successful if you took the parking brake off? Think about it and let me know.