Jordan Spieth was arguably the best golfer in the world in 2015. He won two major championships – the Masters and United States Open – and culminated the year with the FedEx Championship. All the golf pundits were not taking a giant leap of faith when proclaiming he was going to have another terrific year in 2016.
Spite has gotten off to a very slow, and in some cases, a rocky start. He’s been uncharacteristically poor in his shots and noticeably more agitated on the golf course. Now let’s be fair; Spieth is only 22 years old and has had a ton of early success. People have been amazed at his poise and savvy at such a young age. Regardless, it’s been a surprising start to the new year.
Last week, Spieth finally admitted in a press conference that he was being too hard on himself on the course. His self-talk was bad; he was intolerant of his own mistakes; and he found himself trying too hard to make up for poor shots. Basically, Spieth has fallen victim to what many of us do more regularly. That is not being good to yourself.
Many entrepreneurs and business owners left one boss to start their own business, and ended up working for a tyrant. Themselves. Is that you? Just like Jordan Spieth is susceptible to being too hard on himself on the golf course, business owners can do the same thing. For that matter, business professionals and all people can do the same thing. We are willing to cut somebody else some slack, but incapable of doing to ourselves. Sound familiar?
I’m pretty sure Spieth will adjust. His track record already indicates that. What about you? Are you willing to improve your self-talk and cut yourself slack when you aren’t perfect, make mistakes, and fail? In order to maximize your talent and unleash your potential, you must. In order to take your business or company to greater heights, you need to have positive self-talk and be able to forgive yourself for failures and try again.
Are you willing to be good to yourself?
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