Trust and Flow in Golf and Business
Hello Friends,
I've spent a lot of time reading golf books that focus on performance and the mental side of the game of golf that also apply to business. A common theme from Sports Psychologists in golf are the theories behind the words "Trust and Flow". These concepts have been applied to golf but can also be applied to Sales, Leadership, Entrepreneurship and everyday life.
Golf
Trust and flow in golf can be applied to the mental game of golf, the golf swing, pre-shot routine, and even walking the course. The mental game of golf has always been focused on finding the best tactics to improve golf games under pressure and different tactics work with different people. Applying your learning style will help understand which tactics to apply. Here is a test to determine your learning style, and most people know from experience if they are an Auditory, Kinesthetic, or Visual learner. Learning Style Assessment I am a Kinesthetic learner and always struggled with reacting to the target. I would lose my rhythm and guide the ball, but visualizing the target and ball flight works well for visual learnings, they can see the flight of the ball and target and simply react and hit great shots. Auditory learners can hear the sound of impact. At a college tournament Casey Martin (University of Oregon's golf coach) practiced one-foot putts with his eyes closed so he could hear the sound of the ball rattling and coming to rest at the bottom of the hole. What a creative drill from an auditory learner. As a Kinesthetic learner I can be prone to always searching for that perfect feeling swing and can get bogged down by that search in swing mechanics. It is easy to hit a great shot that didn't feel great and follow it with a brand-new thought in the middle of a round that sends a ball 30 yards left or right. An untested search for a new feeling does not produce a great flow.
I first learned about flow from Dr. Joseph Parent when I took a lesson from him back in the 90's. I even made it into his book Zen Golf. I reached out to him when I read his book and he said "that was you". Like many golf instructors he was able to come with a creative concept on the spot and apply it to numerous students. Basically, I was quick at the top of my swing, and he asked me how fast I thought I was walking into the ball. I had no idea. He had me apply "The Slow-Motion Walk Up" and it instantly slowed me down. Then he asked me how fast I walk on the course and I told him I couldn't wait to hit the next shot. I also had to slow down my walk to improve my flow in my pre-shot routine and walk around the course.
Dr. Parent stated in Zen Golf "What we can trust is that it will be like our signature, following a regular and recognizable path, as long as it isn't interfered with." Ever since my Golf Instructor Conan Elliot brought in Dr. Joseph Parent to teach the mental game, he preached that I start my swing by saying the word trust.
Another word for "Flow" is "Synchrony" Dr. Debbie Crews Ketterling explains it as a state of synchrony, a state of coherence, harmony, it's where everything works together and works well in the brain. She participated in my "Words With" segment from my past golf social network "GolfSwingFreak" and discusses the Synchrony, routine, left brain - right brain, and the creative style of routines, the waggle, and even horses.
Dr. Crews Ketterling states "I trust my ability to perform." This trust she speaks of is having confidence and belief in yourself. Having confidence is a choice. Confidence comes slower when it is based on recent success. Especially when even professional golfers can shoot consecutive rounds 10 shots apart.
The word "Flow" and its application really jumped out to me in Dr. Gio Valiante's book "Golf Flow". "Playing in perfect rhythm has a signature: With relatively low-tension levels, you move in rhythm. You don't find yourself rushing to catch up with your thoughts, or conversely trying to slow your thinking down. You think in rhythm. And because your body and mind are synchronized accordingly, your golf swing flows in rhythm.
Wow, this cleared up a lot of the mental game for me. It takes practice but rhythm is the entry point to being in flow where your mind and body are working together.
The word "Trust" also jumped out at me in Dr. Gio Valiante's book "Golf Flow".
Dr. Gio stated "Although you may not be able to control the feelings in the heat of the moment, you can control how you choose to handle them. You can decide to select a target, to soften your grip pressure to counter the increased tension levels, to go through your routine, and to trust the golf swing that you've spent hours routining into habit."
Part of trusting is controlling the controllables and welcoming anything that comes your way, and trusting your setup and swing that you have developed. If you struggle with trusingt it you may need to develop a swing and setup that allow you to trust it to get better. It is important to still trust what you have that day.
Trust and Flow were two words, philosophies and actions that help golfers. I've always struggled with trusting my swing so I have gone back to saying the word "trust" as I take the club back, saying the word "and" at the top and saying "flow" as I start down. This has helped my rhythm and confidence and is improving my game. I'm also working at applying it to my consulting work. It is called a workflow not a workfriction. Trust leads to confidence which is needed to write and post on social media as it can be scary to share.
As businesses are working hard at retaining employees and they are learning about mental health, culture is becoming increasingly important to retain employees. An organization's culture can truly be defined by how much trust there is in Leadership and in co-workers. An executive in an organization struggling with culture asked me how he should get people to trust him. I told him that he needed to be trustworthy and he would earn trust over time. He said he wanted step-by-step tactics to make people trust him. Trust isn't earned overnight but gradually. It takes time to earn it and it can be destroyed in the blink of an eye. Earning trust by having values like "doing what you say you are going to do", "Using teamwork to make others better around you" and "putting your character over your reputation" Are all values that will earn trust. Do the right thing consistently and you will earn trust.
Sales Reps experience the greatest challenges with "Flow" in organizations because each sale exists within a process that includes natural friction. Great leaders strive to remove friction and frustration from sales reps so they can stay in the flow of growing pipeline, presenting, and closing deals. Sales Leadership can learn a lot from golf on staying in the process and not focusing on results during the "Selling time" of the day. Sales reps are bombarded with meetings, data entry, sales updates, quota updates, creating new plans all within the process of selling. It can be very difficult to stay focused. It would be like a golf pro explaining on the 4th tee why they are 2 over par what they are going to do to turn it around and never be 2 over again. Sales is an amazing profession with many benefits. applying "Trust" and "Flow" with an intelligent strategy and process will differentiate a salesperson, then lead to their success. There are times to be analytical and data-focused and times to follow the plan, trust the process, and stay in the flow.
If you are interested in "Trust and Flow" and applying it to creativity and performance in golf or business then let's talk!
Creatively,
Brian