Business and Golf Chapter Eleven ( no, not that one!)

I thought you might like to read an article one of our coaches put together. He writes it for an old fashioned - print only magazine in Nebraska. I think you'll enjoy it!

The Business Golfer….Chapter Eleven.



This Installment: Don’t Just Stand There….Swing Into “Action”!


A number of years ago, I decided to take a golf lesson from a new pro at a local course. I didn’t know much about his teaching style, but my game was in the dumps and I decided that I could use a dose of “hope”. During the course of the lesson, it became clear to me that the “new pro” was searching for a teaching concept that might really “stick” in my mind. We tried a number of things…a little bit of this, a little bit of that, including some hi-tech contraption to anchor your right arm to your body, while keeping your left arm straight. We even tried having me swing inside a tilted hoola-hoop in hopes that it would give me a “feeling” of what a proper swing plane felt like. The only real “feeling” I got was one of confused frustration.

The next day, I went to play with friends. On the first tee, I placed the ball on the tee, took my address position and just “froze”. After what seemed an eternity, I started to laugh and my golfing partners asked what was wrong. I said, “I don’t know what to do to get this swing started!!” I had so many thoughts going through my head I literally was paralyzed and could not take “action” to begin the swing.

I see this same thing happen in business all the time. A business person will do so much analysis, have so many thoughts, outcomes fears, and possibilities spinning in their heads, they become unable to take action. This has never been more true than now, given the current economic situation. So many business people are doing their best impression of a turtle….pulling into their shells and hoping this whole thing passes, desperately clinging to a belief that everything will be the same as it was. The problem is that this inability to take action will likely a) get you fired/downsized or b) put you out of business. The old plans simply don’t work in the current environment. The time to take action is NOW!

As with a golf swing, there is a time for analysis and a time to act. Before the swing (action), a good player will analyze the conditions, take into consideration their strengths and weaknesses and possible outcomes. They know it’s important to get this analysis done first because when it’s time to act, it must be decisive, confident, and committed.



Implementing a business action plan operates in exactly the same way. Brian Tracy, world renowned author, speaker and business coach, addresses how best to respond to a crisis in his book “Crunch Point. Tracy writes: “Since your natural tendency when you hit crunch time is to withdraw, cut back and play it safe, you must resist this urge and instead dare to go forward, to seize control of the situation and too attack your difficulties with firmness and decisiveness.

Recently, in a national teleconference, Brian identified several key factors to surviving and thriving in the current economic environment. Some key points:

-Cash Flow is the most important number on the balance sheet. “You cannot cost-cut your way out of a financial crisis. You have to generate revenues and the only way to do that is by selling something to someone.”

-Consider alternatives to current business activities. Where you are today won’t be enough to get you where you need to go.

-Think from an environment of calm. Our instinct, in time of crisis, is to resort to “fight or flight”. Only by consciously and immediately asserting mental and emotional control can you take positive and appropriate actions.

-Thinking comes from clarity and clarity comes from writing down your thoughts on paper. The brain is wired directly to the hand and when it sees the hand write things, it processes and analyzes the information much more efficiently. Do your analyzing on paper and put your actions in writing.

-The turnaround principle…Operate your business as if you’d been hired to be a turnaround artist. Look at everything freshly and objectively, letting go of past decisions. Along with this, cut losses quickly and admit mistakes. Ego just doesn’t’ fit into the equation.

-Focus on your core business…What is it that you do really well? What business are you really in? Why do your ideal customers buy from you? Who are our ideal customers? What are their characteristics? How do we keep them and how do we find more of them?

-Look for objective opinions. One of the greatest attributes of a swing coach or a business coach is to work with their clients to create an action plan which places them in the best position for achieving success. Too many business people tend to think they can fix it themselves or do more of what they’ve been doing. One of my favorite questions is this: “How is what we’re doing working out for us so far….and will doing more of it produce different results?”

-Focus on “high return” activities. Apply the 80/20 rule to everything, because I almost guarantee you that 80% or your current activities are of little or no value.

As you can see, there really is no excuse for inaction. Procrastination = Failure. When you take action, do it with single-minded determination. Allow for no distractions or anything to get in your way. You’ve already analyzed the situation, now is the time to simplify, lead, and act with confidence. Harvey Penick, legendary golf instructor summed it up this way in his “Little Red Book: Penick said, “Take Dead Aim”….”Take dead aim at a spot on the fairway or the green, refuse to allow any negative thought to enter your head and swing away.” A proper action plan also has built in assessment points and results should dictate changes to the actions as needed. In business or in golf, taking positive, well thought out action liberates you from your fears…so, don’t just stand there, swing into action!

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. Some of Jim's past articles are on this blog too. The author is Jim Masters, a FocalPoint Business Coach and Area Developer in Omaha Nebraska.

Thansk for reading!
Steve Thompson,President
FocalPoint Business Coaching