Love him or hate him – what you can’t deny about Tiger Woods is the respect he deserves for his PMA!
He went on to make one of the greatest comebacks in the world of sports by winning his 5th green blazer at the US Golf Masters on Sunday, 14 April 2019. The second person in the world to achieve that feat!
Facts not to be ignored:
Tiger Woods’ last major victory took place over 11 years ago. Did he perhaps think: “Maybe I should throw in the towel and settle for less?”
People tried to lure him with business opportunities for their own self-gain by making the grass look greener on the other side. They strike at Tiger knowing when he is most vulnerable.
To date Tiger has had 4 surgical back operations.
Not only does Tiger have to contend with his injuries, but he also deals with an incredible amount of negative comments and critique from people on Social Media stating that he will never be able to play golf again.
But as we all know his PMA rose above that and he refused to allow those thoughts to become his actions.
I recall a memorable quote from my Pastor (Jason Render from View Church): “You can get easily distracted when you are really doing well, but very discouraged when we are not doing well.”
Very true, don’t you agree?
The true professionals will dig deep and persevere, whereas the amateurs will most likely allow their mind to be poisoned and they will start making the wrong choices.
For example, they may think the solution is to change their current work opportunities and move to another company, business offer, or move country only to find that they are facing the exact same challenges a year later!
So, if they are at a high or low what should they be controlling? THEIR THOUGHTS! After all, your thoughts end up becoming your actions. Don’t they?
Champions, may I challenge us all today: when negative thoughts enter our minds, which can lead us to negative points of views and bad decisions – filter those thoughts and question their true motives as well as the self-interest of others before you accept them.
WHAT THE MIND CAN BELIEVE AND CONCEIVE WILL ACHIEVE!
To the leaders in our family who wish to make the right decisions, and who appreciate guidance, I will share what I do that helps me consistently strive in always giving the best of the best in choices I have made:
There are 2 key areas to consider: Attitude and Technique
ATTITUDE
Let me share with you two challenges where your attitude will be tested.
The first is a wolf in sheep’s clothing.
The second is where the facts are true.
Like servicing your car for maximum power and speed, here are my choices for servicing our minds to achieve the goals we have set.
First choice
PMA (Positive Mental Attitude) – which means the absolute belief, without a shadow of a doubt, that I will be successful in whatever it is I want to do.
- Are you reading success stories or motivational books?
- What are you doing physically that is releasing your “happy endorphins”? Running, gym, swimming etc.
The reinforcement of seeing a positive quote, for example PMA — has the power to trigger a positive attitude. So, what are one of my examples that I use to reinforce PMA?
As you can see, here is picture of one of my cars that I look at everyday to remind me…
There is a saying which goes: “Show me the friends or family whom you spend your personal time with, and I will show you your future.”
Simply put – do they encourage you when you feel discouraged and truly respect what you have achieved? Or, have they been waiting like a wolf in sheep’s clothing to pounce when you are most vulnerable? Do they perhaps try and put negative thoughts into your head and try to make you think there are greener pastures? Remember – Time Tells All.
As mentioned earlier, the second challenge being where the facts are real.
Let me share two personal examples to help illustrate my point.
Whilst training for the Cape Epic, I shattered my collar bone in 7 places in a crash.
(^ Day of accident)
(Just after the operation)
I was told I had to heal for 6 weeks before continuing my training. However, losing 6 weeks of training time was not an option, so I continued training on my indoor bike. And, while doing so my bike collapsed! Very embarrassing as this has hardly ever happened to any cyclist, but I continued and persevered: PMA!
Finally, the day arrived where I took on the challenge of the 8-day Cape Epic Cycle Race which is over 600km and 16,000 meters of climbing.
On the first day of my riding—where the temperature was over 45 degrees— my partner bombed— now leaving me without the support of a partner for the next 7 days— and on day 2 I crashed badly tearing the meniscus and other major ligaments in my knee.
I finished the second day of 121km with 2200 m of climbing in serious discomfort and went straight to the doctor who proceeded to tell me that my race is over due to my injuries being too severe. He told me that he needed to take off my racing board from my bicycle.
Here is where the PMA helped me – as QUITTING IS NEVER AN OPTION!
But I had to persuade the doctor to change his medical opinion. I asked him, “What are the chances an MRI scan will show different to your opinion?” He said it was a mere 10%! I replied, “So you agree, I still have a 10% chance? And he said yes. So, I said, “Okay, let me keep my cycle board, I will get an MRI scan and we can meet in the morning before the start of day 3. If the damage is what you say it is, you take my board and my race is over, or your medical opinion falls into the 10% chance of being incorrect and I carry on riding.”
He replied by saying that I am wasting money on an MRI as he is a knee specialist and could clearly see the damage my knee has incurred.
The odds were 90% in his favour, but my PMA said that if I don’t go back to the doctor then I have 100% chance of riding. Of course, I never went for an MRI as I know his assessment was correct.
Guess when I next saw him? Six days later at the finishing line. I asked him if he had remembered me and he said that he couldn’t believe it! But, because of my PMA I never stopped believing in myself and my ability to finish the race.
Technique
It amazes me when so many of us have the same opportunity, yet one leader is doing double what you are doing – do you ever STOP and THINK, why?
For example, with the recruitment process, there is a certain amount of people that should be hired and retained. However, sometimes this is not achieved. Yet, we just carry on and place ads again. And make no effort to figure out: Why?
Do you think that this is the approach after every rugby game in the Super 15? Or do they review their previous performance?
The solution here is to record yourself! That’s what I did. A question to you: When did you last record yourself?
Remember that exit interviews are important too. People leave for a reason. Trust me, that reason is not always because they don’t have the “vasbyt” characteristic, often it can be due to small mistakes you are making.
Find out why they left – there is a technical way I use that cuts away the layers and gets to the true facts. And, even though you might not want to hear it, you ought to.
My last example in technique is stick to the basics.
Our challenge is our intelligence. Do you agree that when you repeat your actions over and over, one can get bored and try something different?
This is where you must dig deep and continue the repetition to stay sharp.
Tiger Woods practices every day by hitting around 500 balls. Do you think after hitting his 10,000th golf ball, he would think to do it differently due to boredom?
No… Tiger knows fully well that change due to boredom will not allow him to be the best that he possibly can!!
Champions we are also human, we will fall down but as you all know it’s not how many times you fall down in life that counts, but it’s how many times you get back up.
Do you agree?
In my conclusion, what we have witnessed last Sunday seeing Tiger Woods come back from his last Major win in golf 11 years ago, to winning the US masters is an inspiration to us all.
Not to mention, especially after such physical suffering, with 4 back operations and mentally enduring all the press negativity – he still came out on top.
Does this give you courage and inspire you even more now in achieving the goals you have set for yourself?
Is that a yes?
Is that a yes!
