The Four Seasons of Business

Have you ever been frustrated with the growth of your business?

I certainly have.

Just a few weeks ago, I asked Scott, one of my mentors, “What am I doing wrong?”

Scott replied to me, “Damon, you’re doing the right things, you have to trust in the process and let the process do the work.”

This reminded me of the few times that I played golf.

I never devoted much time to playing golf.

Yet, somehow I had a false expectation that I would be good at golf.

As I think about that now, I laugh at my asinine thought that I would be good at golf.

Golf is a difficult game.

It’s difficult to hit that stupid white dimpled ball correctly with a golf club or driver.

The few times I played golf, I always played golf with people that were at least ten times better than me.

I have played less than 15 rounds of golf in my life.

Any of the people I have played with, usually play more than 20 rounds per year.

The one thing I remember from my golf club swinging days was a piece of advice a friend Steve told me.

“Damon, let the club do all the work.”

This was counterintuitive to my golf approach.

There I stood, club in both hands with my head bowed down, eyes glued in on the little white devil.

I take a practice swing.

Deep breath in and out.

Ok, now I’m relaxed.

Calm, both arms, club in hands swing up behind me to start my amazing swing.

Halfway on the upswing, a thought comes into my mind.

I’m going to throw everything I have into it and knock the skin off of that ball.

Suddenly all my muscles tense up and what should become a graceful downswing turns into a blast that makes me smile.

All this strength I’m throwing into this swing is going to be amazing.

The club makes contact with the ball and flies off like a boomerang to the right.

Steve applauds me and said I just hit the textbook version of a slice.

Steven then reminds me to let the club do all the work.

The next time I turn off my brain and hit the ball straight down the fairway.

I learned a lot about my thinking patterns from my golf days with Steve.

As I drove home from the golf course, I asked why I was forcing the club to do what I thought was right.