Golf, halfway between a game and high-precision sport, to improve performance at work

I take a deep breath at the start of hole #1, Par 4, while saying to myself « Come on ! Enjoy and authorise yourself to make mistakes when hitting a good Drive, solid, long and straight ahead.

Both mentally concentrated and physically relaxed, I realize an authentic swing and an excellent start. Then, continuing a series of good strokes I achieve a Par. I’m definitely in the Zone and in the Flow : proud, confident, flexible, committed, focused, precise and serene.

A doe crosses the fairway at Hole #3. I wait, she looks at me curiously and continues her path.

I restart my mental skills and resources and I hit the ball with always the same wish to enjoy the game while being focused and achieving a good performance.

I play a double bogey at hole #7. I feel a certain nervousness and anxiety to face this challenging golf course. I reevaluate my abilities and visualize all my successes and good performances previously accomplished.

This forceful and positive mental image makes me feel serene and peaceful again. I reset my perception to forget hole #7 at once. I smile again and at the same time find the desire to fully go ahead. Here we go again !

My finally scorecard is slightly unfavorable (+4) on this magnificent course of 18 holes.

I take 5 minutes to visualize my play in the course. My approaches and my little game sometimes lacked precision near the flags. I was also disturbed by the bunkers that were solidly protecting the greens. My level of tension was sometimes higher than the situation' demands. This auto-feedback will allow me to improve several things and to step up my game :

• Increase my level of mental endurance (Stamina): maintain an adapted level of concentration over time in order to evolve in precision and in the relevance of the choices to be made ;
• Have a better assessment of the situations' demands in order to adapt my level of tension and stress ;
• Continue to enjoy what I’m doing, to be curious and tolerant and to improve myself.

I share this experience because each one of us can face it at work :

• Our individual approach in management ;
• Our unique way of managing projects and achieving objectives ;
• Our way to prepare and to drive our business meetings ;
• internal and external interference that disturbs our concentration ;
• intolerance, etc.

Listening and being tolerant with oneself and with others, having a good evaluation of situations, continuing to learn and to unlearn, to evolve, to progress and to achieve extraordinary things.

My intervention in Executive and business coaching combines systemics, cognition and sports to circumvent and overcome an existing barrier or established resistance and enjoy the rediscovering and the initialization of interpersonal relationships.

Golf is an extremely powerful activity that combines permissions, the right to make mistakes and mental flexibility to accomplish goals. The result is surprising enough, the faster we want to achieve a goal, in our subconscious, the more the result will be less accurate and below our expectations.

How to initiate tolerance and flexibility to work better together and to achieve commonly agreed objectives and goals.

My intervention fits perfectly into your Seminars, Kickoff and Team Building actions.

Looking forward to read your comments and to share with you about your needs in coaching and support.

Anis, Executive Coach / Mental and Cognitive Trainer