Yesterday

After playing golf for a couple of days it’s hard for me not to have it on the brain.  I mean even more than I usually do.  Which is a lot.  However, I recognize that many of you find golf a mysterious, boring waste of 4 hours so I try to find takeaways from the game that are applicable to non-golf situations as well. Today, I want to talk about one of the most important things one learns on the course – how to forget.
This quote pretty much explains what I mean:

We must not confuse the present with the past. With regard to the past, no further action is possible.—Simone de Beauvoir

My game got a bit better (although it’s really degrees of suckitude, I think) when I learned how to forget.  What I mean is to be able to put a bad shot, a bad bounce, or my general incompetence out of my mind and move on.  As my Brooklyn friends say, “fegeddaboudit.” I’ve learned to focus on the situation I’m facing at the moment while taking away lessons from what I did in the past. “Last time I had a side-hill lie with the ball above my feet, I pulled it 30 yards left of target. Maybe we’ll aim a little right this time.”   I can assure you I wasn’t that calm when the ball went 30 yards left but now, it’s done.   Move on.

It’s the same thing in business. Too many people dwell on mistakes – their own and those of others – rather than on the learning and the current situation.  Mistakes are part of the game no matter what game you’re playing.  If you ask a Tour pro how many shots he hit the way he wanted during his round, most will say 5 or 6.  That means they messed up roughly 85% – 90% of their shots.  Granted, their misses are better than my best, but to them, it’s an error.  A successful business development person may only close a third of the accounts they approach.  Like baseball, that will make them hall of fame worthy bu it also means they erred – bad target, bad pitch, bad price, bad something – two-thirds of the time.

Do you learn from the past, or do you dwell in it?