You should use your negative emotions as a compass.
Ok, that’s a little vague. Let me explain.
The Struggle
You’re on the course, and you’re playing really well, feeling good about your game… then you make another birdie. And what was just “playing really well” becomes “playing VERY well, could be a great score” type of thoughts. Which inevitably turn into “don’t blow it” type of thoughts.
Most of us by default will succumb to those thoughts. We’ll have the “don’t blow it” thought, and never challenge it. We will agree with it and do what we can to not blow it. Which quite often causes us to blow it.
The Solution
Enter the mental compass. A quietly powerful way to encounter those negative emotions or random distracting thoughts and handle them effectively is to use the negative and distracting thoughts to your advantage. To use them as a compass.
The negative, distracting, unhelpful thoughts are South. And where you want to go is optimistic, present, and freed up, which is North. Encountering the negative thoughts is actually a trigger that you’re pointing the wrong direction.
To mix metaphors, Those negative thoughts are like a sticky note reminding you what you’re supposed to be doing. The negative thoughts aren’t bad, per se. So you can encounter them, and you can say “Ahhhh thank you for the reminder. Let’s come back to the present.”
This is a simple and effective way to keep going in the right direction mentally.
One thing for you to work on this week:
Go into a round with the intentional strategy to use pressure, negative thoughts, obstacles and adversity as a reminder to “turn around” and head north towards the present.
This will give you an intentional strategy to work throughout the round, rather than being swept along by everything that pops in your head.
To-do: Intentionally notice unhelpful thoughts and use them as a compass to turn around.
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