FocalPoint Business Coaching and Golf - Any Challenges?

Have you read some of Jim's posts on the G.O.L.F.E.R. Series?
Here's another one!
Chapter Nine.

Today’s Installment: Finding a Way…Respond to Adversity Like a Winner!

I began writing this installment on Halloween, and if one reads the news, studies their investment portfolio, listens to the politicos, or watches the economy….it’s a scary and frightful time indeed! Yet, if we look at all this objectively, it is merely another opportunity for us to face the situation and deal with the adversity it presents.

You notice I use the term “us”….each of “us” must deal with adversity as it currently exists and find their own solution. I did not, as so many seem to, use the term, “wait for someone else”, like the government, etc. to deliver a nice, tidy, gift-wrapped, solution for all our problems! Individual action and accountability are keys to responding to any adverse situation we face.

Brian Tracy, world renowned author, speaker and business coach looks at adversity this way. “You learn what you’re really made of only when things go wrong and you are tumbled, end over end, by some adversity or setback that hits you like a Mack truck coming out of an alley.” “Let’s make one thing clear at the beginning. Life is a continuous succession of both small and large problems. They never end. No sooner do you get control of one situation when you are hit by another.”

As a business coach, I believe, like every successful person, that overcoming adversity is within our individual control and capabilities. Brian Tracy illustrates this point when he states, “Remember, too, that you are never sent a difficulty that is too big for you to handle. Whatever problems or adversities you face, you have within you the resources to deal with them. You have the creative ability to find a solution to your problem. You have within you, right now, everything you need to deal with whatever the world can throw at you.”

As you know, I am always able to find a correlation between successful business people and successful golfers. Perhaps because of its individual nature, adversity impacts the golfer in a manner unique to all sporting competitions. Not only does the golfer compete against the field, he competes against the course, the playing conditions and even himself. Successful golfers must face adversity head on, find ways to respond to it, and overcome it…by taking self-initiated action!

When I look for examples of a golfer responding to adversity, I am drawn to this year’s US Open won by Tiger Woods. Going into the tournament, Tiger had suffered torn ligaments in his knee and a double stress fracture in his leg. Everyone can recall visions of a limping Tiger, perspiring, (even in the cool conditions) wincing in pain and grimacing after every swing, He even needed help getting in and out of bunkers.

Yet he willed himself to win….surviving a grueling 18 hole playoff with Rocco Mediate. Recently, he was asked by a sports reporter if there was a point in the week when he (Tiger) said to himself, “That’s it. I can’t go on. I have to withdraw.” Tiger shot a serious and measured look at the reporter and said “Uh, uh.” Then he flashed that famous smile and added, “I’ll find a way!”

“Finding a way” is how any successful person deals with adversity. The process of finding a way is what separates success from failure. Dale Carnegie detailed a four step process more than 50 years ago, and it’s still just as applicable in 2008 as it was then.
Step 1: Define the problem clearly.
Step 2: Determine the worst possible thing that could happen as a result of the problem.

Step 3: Resolve to accept the worst, should it occur.
Step 4: Focus all of your energy on making sure that the very worst doesn’t happen.

At this point, you probably are thinking, “Gee, there’s not much to this….just these four steps???” While the four steps seem simple enough, it is surprisingly difficult to think clearly when one is right in the middle of the emotion, the confusion, and the “fear” of the moment. Analyzing the situation with clarity and objectivity allows you to then work through each of the components contained within the four steps. Only then can positive action be initiated.

Maintaining objectivity, however, can be difficult. If you doubt your abilities to be objective, do not hesitate to seek the counsel of someone who can look at the situation in a way you cannot. Often, the most valuable skill a business coach brings to the table is the ability to be brutally honest and objective.

Action Steps: Resolve immediately, to accept the fact that you will constantly face adversity. Because you are a winner, you are responsible for your own success. You won’t wait for a solution; you will respond to the challenge with positive action. You are the kind of person who “finds a way!”

This is another in a continuing series of articles relating the similarities of being a good golfer to those of a being a good businessman. The author is Jim Masters, a FocalPoint Business Coach and Area Developer in Omaha Nebraska.

About FocalPoint
FocalPoint International, Inc., the world’s premiere business coaching and development franchise company, has formed a ground-breaking strategic alliance with Brian Tracy International, Inc., that will provide organizations and individuals with proven concepts, methodologies and skills developed in the most effective manner, long-term one-on-one coaching.

Coaching Information
Are you on track to double or even triple your business in the next 3 to 5 years? Masters Business Performance Coaching combines Jim Masters 30 years of business and leadership experience with the powerful results based content and expertise of one of the world's best known business coaches, Brian Tracy. We will work with you to create an actionable personal strategic plan, quickly taking you and your business as far as you want to go!

ABOUT THE COACH AND AREA DEVELOPER
Jim brings a wealth of sales, service, operations, associate development, team-building and leadership experience to his role as business coach and area developer. In his career, he has worked for and with all types of businesses, from large international corporations, to locally owned entrepreneurship's. He has been a consultant, served as an executive for a company with revenues in excess of $1 billion and was elected President of a non-profit enterprise with a budget of more than $3 million. Throughout he has learned the key factors to success in any sized businesses and is dedicated to creating time and money for his clients. Contact information:
Jim Masters
FocalPoint Business Coaching
402-331-7000
jmasters@focalpointcoaching.com