(Breather) This breather show is all about examining work ethic and work-play balance through the lens of legendary golfer, Tiger Woods.
An athlete since he was a very young child (check out his first TV appearance in 1978!) Tiger loves to train every day for golf, to compete, and is on a constant quest to get better. A far cry from the golfer of the past who played hard, got rich, and got soft. And sure, we see still see him fist pumping and his unmistakable competitive intensity, but behind the wizard’s curtain, Tiger is viewing his competitive endeavors from a more complex perspective.
Yes, the object of the game is to win, but the value and the meaning is found in the process, not in the mere holding of the trophy. Thinking about the trophy during the journey is a lethal distraction – as many of Tiger’s less-evolved opponents have discovered painfully. Extending your focus outward – worrying about opponents or what the world thinks of you – is also a distraction. Tiger steps on plenty of throats, but it’s inadvertently while trying to get a good stance to hit his shots. His enlightened competitive fire focuses on the process of peak performance, and it is directed entirely inward. In contrast, the prevailing psycho-emotional disposition of the modern competitor that we have been socialized to adopt in pursuit of success is to obsess on external variables and determine our self-worth according to results.
He also showed this by being the tour’s greatest ‘grinder,’ still trying hard even when way back. Furyk said, “Most guys in that position aren’t still trying to win the tournament, but Tiger was still thinking he had a chance. He believes he can win even when he’s 10 down. He never makes a frustrated, hasty play. He always plays the correct shot. He never says, ‘Shit, I’m two back!’ and pulls the driver and hits it anywhere. He plays the course the way it should be played.”
When I talk about work-play ethic, what I mean is that this really is a game to him; he’s playing Monopoly in real life with vicious competitive intensity, instead of fear of losing his buildings or being conservating with his 9 shot lead. His father Earl once gave him a very valuable piece of advice: “You know what? Just go to sleep. You know it’s going to be the most important round of your life, but you can handle it. Just go out there and do what you do. Just get in your own little world and go out there and thrash ‘em.”
Note the contrast between another popular coping mechanism used by athletes facing pressure, the old, “Just pretend it’s an ordinary competition!” admonition. This probably messes up the subconscious more than anything! But then what does he do after? He retools his swing, and while studying videos, realizes he relied on timing more than optimal swing mechanics. This is a guy who says he’s obsessed with winning, but unlike many of his competitors, he’s answering to a higher calling REPRESENTED by winning – get the difference?
At a press conference two days before the 2007 Masters (where he was runner-up to Zach Johnson) Tiger – holding trophies from the previous two major championships (’06 British Open and PGA) – was asked if he was thinking about another Tiger Slam (holding all four major titles at once, but not in the same calendar year ala the so-called Grand Slam). He replied: “No. I’m thinking about trying to place my golf ball around this course, that’s about it. My whole preparation is getting the ball in play and putting the ball on the correct parts of the green and getting the speed of these things…and that’s it.”
Tiger gives the gift of this perspective to all of us, over and over, and we, with the help of the superficial media, keep ignoring it in favor of pressing the issue of our results-obsessed mentality. No wonder Tiger has little patience for the media!
Here are some tips on how to cultivate a strong work/play ethic:
- Make Work Fun: It’s not enough anymore to put your head down, work hard and produce results. Reject the “just make it through the day” mentality rooted in narrow values like puritanical social climbing. The most powerful competitive stance is to get the biggest rush from the battle itself. By releasing your attachment to the outcome, you can experience the pure joy of competition and push your limits without distraction in pursuit of peak performance. Cultivate a pure motivation that extends beyond winning and losing, as Tiger demonstrated when he overhauled his swing despite competitive success. Pursue endeavors that you love and represent the highest expression of your talents. Have fun at all costs, understanding that this is the true secret of champions.
- Expand Your Horizons: Discard society’s harmful programming that values shortcuts, decadence, and conformity. Forget moderation in this context – take risks and push limits to realize true peak performance Transcend the energy struggle to beat opponents and the repetition of control dramas that you developed as coping mechanisms throughout your life. Realize that pursuing something bigger than your selfish needs will lead to performance breakthroughs thanks to the “love is power” concept. A selfless, evolved approach will create a collective escalation of passion among those around you and provide a more powerful, pure and long-lasting source of motivation than focusing narrowly on personal gain.
- Be Comfortable With Competition: The negative emotional baggage connected with results-oriented competitiveness has led many to loathe putting it all on the line due to fear of failure. Winners contribute to the peak performance and personal growth of all competitors, so don’t be afraid to enjoy victory and the yachts and mansions that you might accumulate as a consequence; “you don’t have to apologize for anything.” Become comfortable “going for the throat in competition, then sportsmanship after.” If you’re seven shots back with seven holes to play, don’t give up; relish the opportunity to chase. If you are ahead or running neck and neck with a competitor, savor the opportunity to push each other to greater heights.
- Work Smart: Having fun and working hard will not lead to success unless your work is focused, guided by expert coaching and directly applicable to your peak performance goals. Be brutally honest with yourself and make a clear decision to align your behavior with your stated goal of peak performance. Understand that this entails sacrificing things that bring you and your ego a certain measure of satisfaction, but will lead to more fulfillment, productivity and less stress. Pay particular attention to the importance of focusing on one endeavor at a time and achieving a smooth transition to the next. Seek out coaches, experts and friends who will tell it like it is. Do the same when you look into the mirror and then take specific and decisive action to address your weaknesses. Witness the example of scrawny Tiger and Annika venturing into the weight room and emerging with another distinct advantage over their rivals.
TIMESTAMPS:
Tiger Woods has just won his 82nd tournament on the PGA tour. It’s quite a record! [3:30]
After so many setbacks and injuries, Tiger is undisputedly the greatest comeback athlete. [05:19]
Tiger has set an example as a competitor. [08:00]
The value and the meaning is found in the process, not in the mere holding of the trophy. [11:34]
Focus on the process, not the result. [13:33]
You play each shot independent on whatever happened before. [16:59]
Tiger looked at the competition at the Masters as the most important thing in his life, rather than heeding some coaching advice that would say, “Just pretend it is an ordinary day.” [19:26]
Four tips to cultivate your own strong work/play ethic are: make work fun, expand your horizons, be comfortable with competition, and work smart. [23:50]
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Get Over Yourself Podcast
Brad: 00:08 Welcome to the get over yourself podcast. This is author and athlete, Brad Kearns, discovering ways to be healthy, fit and happy in hectic, high-stress modern life. So let’s slow down and take a deep breath. Take a cold plunge and expertly balanced that competitive intensity with an appreciation of the journey. That’s the theme of the show. Here we go.
Brad: 03:30 Well, let’s talk about Tiger Woods. Oh my gosh. He’s made history again on October 27, 2019 he won a PGA tour tournament in Japan. The first one ever held in Japan called the Zoso. That guy fricking won and another PGA tour event at the age of what? He’s 43 years old, 2019 turning 44 on December 30th same day as my brother Wally and LeBron James, trivia. But this victory was historic because it was his 82nd on the PGA tour. And that ties the record for the most victories of all time tied with the great old timer, Sam Snead. This achievement is right up there, possibly superior to the, uh, much more often discussed a number of major titles won,
Brad: 04:29 uh, Jack Nicholas holding that record with 18 major titles. Tiger was stuck on 14, four, Oh, uh, close to 10 years. Everyone thought he was going to destroy it. He and Roger Federer were going back and forth back in the day. And, uh, the story got out famously that, uh, they would just text each other every time they won a major title with a number. So Roger would win Wimbledon and he’d send a text from Tiger Woods that said 14 Tiger would win the U S open and texts back to Federer, uh, 14 and, uh, funny stuff, but Roger, uh, went on and he’s still playing at the highest level and an absolutely extraordinary athlete into his late thirties, battling in the, uh, grand slam finals. Uh, but Tiger had all those setbacks and injuries, so he was stuck. Now he’s at 15, obviously cause he won the 2019 Masters.
Brad: 05:20 Uh, arguably I don’t want to argue with anyone cause I’d say undisputedly, uh, the greatest comeback in the history of athletics from how far he fell and how many years it took him to come back and the severe, uh, physical injuries and surgeries that he had to endure to get back to the high level. And then when a major 10 years, 11 years after his, uh, previous major championship that Masters come back was historic. And now here he is added again bagging a win in grand style, uh, over there in Japan. And it was interesting how his round started, uh, the first round of the tournament, he started out bogey, bogey, bogey, and they just went crazy and actually shot a 64 that day. So he made, what, nine birdies in the ensuing 14 holes or something. So he’s showing his in his very best form and now tying the great Sam Snead with 82 wins on the PGA tour.
Brad: 06:15 And the reason I put this right up there with the number of major titles is all these athletes over the entire golf career, which lasts for so long. Uh, they’re really far out there and the competition drops off precipitously with the greatest names of all time, uh, falling pretty far behind. So I just want to read it to you that Sam Snead and Tiger are tied with 82. We can all expect Tiger to hit 83 at some point before he’s done. But you never know, do you? He’s also got that 15 major’s going after Jack Nicholas, a standard of 18. Uh, so it’s Tiger and Sam at 82. Jack Nicholas has 73 overall wins in his career. Then it goes Ben Hogan, 64, Arnold Palmer 62. Byron Nelson, 52, Billy Casper, 51. Walter Hagan, 45. Phil Mickelson, 44 and on down. So in the top 10, the 10th guy Cary Middlecoff has 40 wins.
Brad: 07:09 That’s half as many as Tiger and Sam Snead. So it drops off so much. And all the other grades, Tom Watson, VJ Singh, Lee Trevino, Johnny Miller with, you know, in the 20s, the 30s, 82 is just stunning and all his peers are marveling at it. There’s a great article about how they were all glued to their television sets or actually came out to the course to watch the historic finish of his tournament knowing that this was a big win when you get to that number 82. So what I wanted to share with you was some content from my book that I wrote, uh, many, many years ago, uh, called how Tiger Does It. I was published in 2007 when he was at the top of his game. Of course. Uh, I put a curse on him, I guess just like I did with Lance Armstrong after I published, excuse me, wrote and was published by McGraw Hill, How Lance Does It.
Brad: 08:00 And then soon after he was, uh, involved in the doping scandal. And then I wrote how Tiger does it as a sequel to the great lands book. And soon after that he was involved in his, uh, unraveling of his personal life. So no offense guys, but I did put some great content in there and studied, uh, Tiger, uh, intently for a long time, both as a enthusiast, as a fan and then, uh, doing the book project. I read basically every book and article that had ever been written about him to date. So it gotten a lot of great content and I think it’s really valuable just to reflect on the example that he sent as a competitor and we can, uh, always, uh, tip over to a salaciousness and gossip and point out his flaws or his, um, train wrecks that has occurred in his personal life.
Brad: 08:51 But I prefer to focus on the athletic example that he set. And I will put as an aside though, I do see some character evolution from him and it seems like he’s much more relaxed as a person. He’s friendly and engaging with the media where before he was pretty much of a robot, probably by design and by necessity because of the extreme amount of attention that was heaped upon him. Uh, so I don’t fault him at all, but he does seem like a more balanced and well-adjusted individual. If a watching a television interviews and listening to him, uh, is counts for anything, which I think it does. It’s hard to fake this kind of stuff. So I did a previous show about Tiger’s come back when he won the Masters. And now I want to just get into some further insights that, um, you can read in this book how Tiger Does It, but I’ll pull them out for you because I think they’ll help you, uh, in daily life.
Brad: 09:44 And what I did in the book was identify four success factors and then detail those, uh, with different insights, quotes, things like that, and then putting together some tips at the end of each section to help you take practical steps in pursuit of your own peak performance goals. Oh, so there were three success factors, sorry, was a long time ago. Focus, Work/play ethic and a balanced approach. Balanced approach doesn’t come off so good. Now because I lauded his character off the course. He was very involved in charities. Uh, he talked a good game about, uh, keeping life in balance and keeping healthy perspective. And of course, his dad, Earl Woods, was presented to the planet from day one as the ideal supporter, supporting nurturing father who, uh, would toughen him up for competition, but with, with love and kindness and emphasizing schoolwork before golf.
Brad: 10:40 And the great biography called Tiger Woods, uh, unauthorized biography by two prominent journalists that interviewed over 200 people and wrote the most comprehensive, fantastically well researched and presented book on the life of Tiger Woods. Pretty much shattered that Earl Woods myth. Uh, may he rest in peace, but, Oh boy. Yeah. The whole thing was, um, pretty much of a, a fabricated presentation. And of course, that’s what corporate America loves. So he was the endorsement king of the planet and the, a smile on his bright white teeth everywhere while living a different life than was presented to the public. So, Hey, what can I say? But back to the story, um, some great insights to pull out when you’re talking about, uh, I call it the work/play ethic. So it’s the work ethic, but also that he enjoyed it and had a uh, lighthearted, uh, playful approach to putting in this hard work.
Brad: 11:34 Uh, instead of that, uh, possibly unhealthy approach where the excess or the misplaced competitive intensity can bring you down. So I have some excerpts here and then, uh, summing it up with uh, four nice tips to cultivate a work/play ethic in your own life. Tiger loved to train every day for golfing and to compete. He was on a constant quest to get better. Still is today. A far cry from the golfer of the past who played hard, got rich and got soft. So behind the wizard’s curtain, Tiger’s viewing his competitive endeavors from a more complex perspective. Yes, the object of the game is to win. Like he always says, but the value and the meaning is found in the process, not in the mere holding of the trophy. Thinking about the trophy during the journey is in lethal distraction as many of Tiger’s less evolved opponents have discovered painfully extending that focus outward worrying about opponents or what the world thinks of you is also a distraction.
Brad: 12:34 Tiger steps on plenty of throats. That’s the classic quote from his mom, Tita, where she instructed him as a young junior player, uh, to step on their throats and tear their heart out. That was her competitive advice anyway, He steps on plenty of throats, but it’s inadvertently while trying to get a good stance to hit his shots. That’s the funny author adding a little color, but I think you get what I’m saying. His enlightened competitive fire focuses on the process of peak performance and is directed entirely inward. In contrast, the prevailing psycho-emotional disposition of the modern competitor that we’ve been socialized to adopt in pursuit of success is to obsess on external variables and determine ourself worth according to results. You think I’m wrong or off based? Witness how he broke down his swing three separate times. Well, at the very height of his powers on top of the world first and more.
Brad: 13:33 Most famously after he won the Masters and destroyed the field with one of the greatest athletic performances of all time in his rookie year on tour, his first full year on tour went to the Masters, one of the first tournaments and won by 12 shots and just destroyed the field, destroyed the golf course to the extent that they quote unquote “Tiger proofed” the hallowed Augusta National Golf Course because he was bombing the ball so far that he was making a mockery of their famous par fives and the challenges of hitting a long shot into a small green. So after he went on that tear, he went on a a journey of self discovery and exploration of an even better swing. Few athletes have ever done that and he did it again in the early two thousands where he thought he could get better. So he broke down a swing that had literally put him as number one in the world in a quest to get better.
Brad: 14:26 That’s where I’m making this strong argument that this guy was focused on the process more so than any other athlete we’ve ever seen and that’s probably the best lesson you can take to your own peak performance goals is focus on the process. Don’t obsess on the results. He also showed this by being what his peers called the greatest grinder on the tour. A grinder is a guy who was fighting for every shot no matter if he’s ahead or fighting to make the cut. And so when Tiger has been out of contention, which has been a lot, he has the greatest winning percentage of all time, right? I think he’s won something like 25% of all the tournaments that he started, which is absolutely mind blowing in golf. Remember there’s a 156 opponents. It’s not like a boxer or an MMA fighter whose record is 38 and four because he has to either beat one guy or lose to one guy.
Brad: 15:20 Uh, anyway, all of those times that Tiger has been out of contention. You can go watch him when he’s battling to make the cut and he is sweating over those putts and those shots just as if he was, uh, had a one stroke lead in a major championship. Best example of this Pebble Beach 2000 PGA tour event, you can probably find it on YouTube. He was seven strokes down with seven holes to play and he caught up to the poor guy. Oh, who was it? I can’t remember. And uh, actually ended up winning that tournament, which is a stunning comeback. But when you’re seven down with seven to play, 99.9% of the athletes on the planet are going to get into a mindset that there’s absolutely no chance for them to win. Uh, the great Jim Furyk, one of the greatest pros of all time, he’s up there on that all time list. I think he’s got a 25 wins or whatever. I saw him scrolling through the list. He also shot at frickin 58 in a golf course, a PGA tour golf course. So I think that’s tied for the lowest score of all time in a single round. You can find that puppy on YouTube also, Jim Furyk,, 58, look at his funny goofy swing, if you’ve never heard of him, works for him. Shows that you don’t have to be a robot. You can find your own way to hit that golf ball down the course. But Jim Furyk said about Tiger quote, most guys in that position aren’t still trying to win the tournament, but Tiger was thinking he still had a chance. He believes he can win even when he’s 10 strokes down. He never makes a frustrated, hasty play. He always plays the correct shot. He never says, Oh crap, I’m two back and pulls out driver and hits it, tries to bomb it down.
Brad: 16:59 Like a lot of players will go for broke or go crazy and um, make a worst mistake and dig further hole for them. So back to forks, quote, he plays the course the way it should be played. And let me tell you, as a fellow golfer, that takes a lot of mental resilience and discipline to play the course the way it should be played and hit the correct shot even when you’re out of contention or extremely disappointed from perhaps a previous stroke that didn’t go well, and I’m going to call, call myself out right now because I have noticed on more than one occasion that if I have a birdie putt, which is so exciting, I have a chance to make a birdie and I step up there and miss the putt. I’m so disappointed that on many occasions I have missed the comeback putt.
Brad: 17:47 In other words, maybe I’m 15 feet away trying to make that birdie barely miss it. Sometimes I’m five feet away. And what a frustrating thing to be that close to birdie missed the chance and then I’m two feet away and miss the next putt because my concentration is broken due to my disappointment and the opposite would be the ideal way to play golf. A Tiger talks about that in his book. Jack Nichols talked about that in his book where you just play each shot independent of whatever happened previously up to that point on your day on the course. Uh, there’s a book by Connell Barrett where he says Tiger lusts for the opportunity to achieve success and has no fear of, or else it’s like he plays golf in a quiet room. All he can see is the ball has called but his shot, he can’t see or hear anybody else.
Brad: 18:35 Uh, so what I mean by the work/play ethic, this is me talking now, is that this really is a game to him. He’s playing monopoly with real money, right man in real life. He has vicious competitive intensity, but he doesn’t fear losing his buildings or being a gins, conserving a, uh, nine shot lead, which is so common in sports and team sports, especially where the NBA team”s up by 23, early in the fourth quarter and they go a little bit soft or they start to play a little bit conservative. And here comes the opponent coming back strong. So in the 97 Masters, that tournament that I referenced that just blew the sport of golf wide open and turned it into an athletic, uh, event rather than, uh, guys, uh, knocking it around that were, uh, physically unfit, but had some golf skills who he had a nine shot lead.
Brad: 19:26 Here’s a guy with a nine shot lead. Instead of protecting it, he was putting the gas pedal on, taking it up to 12 shots and breaking the record, tying the record for the lowest score ever by the Masters. Uh, so he was feeling a little stressed the night before the final round sleeping on that nine shot lead and a great quote from his dad. His dad did a lot of good stuff. I’m sorry I ripped on him, but the book kind of exposed him as a little bit of a, a, a manufactured image. Um, he told his son, you know what, Tiger, just go to sleep. You know that tomorrow is going to be the most important round of your life, but you can handle it. Just go out there and do what you do. Just get in your own little world and get out there and thrash them.
Brad: 20:08 Note this contrast between another popular coping mechanism used by athletes facing pressure. The old quote, just pretend it’s an ordinary competition. You know what? This probably messes up the subconscious more than anything else. How can you pretend it’s a normal competition when your brain knows exactly what you’re facing? It’s kind of like the, uh, the dated advice when you’re doing public speaking, uh, to say, uh, just imagine the audience in their underwear or just imagine you’re at home, uh, delivering your talk to two people or something like that. And so I think we need to get out of that, uh, pretend land and acknowledge like his dad told Tiger that tomorrow’s going to be the biggest round of your life. Go to sleep, right? Let’s not beat around the bush. Let’s not, uh, forget about the elephant in the room. I think that’s a wonderful insight.
Brad: 21:01 Christopher Smith, my speed golf guru, the greatest speed golfer of all time. Listen to him on three shows on, Get Over Yourself. Get deep into mental training. And, uh, of course all the attributes, uh, around his training program that he calls, trained to trust. Things like context, specificity, aligning your practice methods with, uh, what you face and competitive circumstances. And I remember he gave me a one liner, I think I, uh, got into this during the show with him, but he says, you know, you really don’t need to use the word “relax” on the golf course when you’re playing golf. And that’s probably the number one word used by a recreational players everywhere. I’m just going to try to relax and hit a good shot. I’m going to try to relax on the back nine. Even though I’m having the best round in my life, I’m going to try to relax over this super important putt. You can’t relax when you’re under competitive pressure. You can’t do it. It’s a, it’s a ruse to even say the word to yourself. So instead he wants players to focus instead of relaxed. Huge difference, right? It doesn’t mean you have to be anxious, emotional, edgy, any of these things. So if you’re telling your little high school basketball player or a softball player to relax before a big game, no sense, don’t waste your breath. Just tell them, Hey, this is a really big game. Do your best. Focus on the process, whatever. Acknowledge, love it. Love it.
New Speaker: 22:23 Okay. Back to the insights from the book how Tiger Does It and uh, regarding those, uh, swing changes, the famous, uh, retooling of his swing, what he’s doing when he’s looking at the videos and seeing opportunities for improvement and for more mechanical efficiency. Uh, he’s a guy who is obsessed with winning, but unlike many of his competitors, he’s answering to a higher calling that’s represented by winning. You get the difference anecdote to drive it home at a press conference two days before the 2007 Masters where he got second to Zach Johnson, Tiger was holding trophies from the previous two major championships that 06 British open in PGA coming into O7. He was asked if he was thinking about another Tiger slam, which is holding all four major titles at once, maybe not in the same calendar year. Like a true grand slam Tiger’s answer. No, I’m thinking about trying to place my golf ball around this course. That’s about it. My whole preparation is getting the ball in play and putting the ball on the correct parts of the green and getting the speed of these things and that’s it. End quote. So there’s our perspective over and over. Every time he talks, he’s talking about the process, trying to cut through the superficial questions from the high shock value media.
Brad: 23:50 Always looking for that sound bite about, yeah, I want to win. I want to bag another title. Ah, no wonder he has a little patience for the media. So here we go. Finishing off with four tips to cultivate your own strong work/play ethic. Number one is make your work fun. It’s not enough anymore to put your head down. Work hard and produce results. Reject this. Just make it through the day mentality rooted in narrow values like puritanical social climbing. The most powerful competitive stance is to get the biggest rush from the battle itself. By releasing your attachment to the outcome. You can experience the pure joy of competition and push your limits without distraction in pursuit of peak performance. Cultivate a pure motivation that extends beyond winning and losing as Tiger demonstrated when he overhauled his swing. Pursue endeavors that you love and represent the highest expression of your talents.
Brad: 24:45 Have fun at all costs. Understanding that this is the true secret of champions. Number two is expand your horizons. Discard society’s harmful programming that value shortcuts, decadence and conformity. Forget moderation in this context, take risks and push limits to pursue true peak performance. Transcend the energy struggle to beat opponents and the repetition of control dramas that you developed as coping mechanisms throughout your life. Realize that pursuing something bigger than your selfish needs will lead to performance breakthroughs. Thanks to the quote and love is power concept. A selfless evolved approach will create a collective escalation of passion among those around you and provide a more powerful, pure and long lasting source of motivation than focusing narrowly on personal gain. Number three, be comfortable with competition. The negative emotional baggage connected with a results oriented competitiveness has led many to loath putting it all on the line due to fear of failure, winner’s contribute to the peak performance and personal growth of all competitors.
Brad: 25:53 So don’t be afraid to enjoy victory and the yachts and the mansions you might accumulate as a consequence, as Deepak Chopra once said on 60 Minutes when they asked him how his spiritual message aligns with the fact that they were doing the interview in his $7 million mansion overlooking the beach in Southern California. And he says, the great thing about living in America is I don’t have to apologize for anything end quote, okay, so little little transition there. Uh, but the idea of becoming comfortable with competition, becoming comfortable going for the throat in competition like Tiger’s mom says, but then exhibiting great sportsmanship afterward. If you’re seven shots back with seven holes to play, don’t give up. Relish the opportunity to just chase if you’re a head or running neck and neck with a competitor, savor the to push each other to greater heights. That is a subtle distinction.
Brad: 26:48 I want you to definitely realize that love of competition and getting away from potentially even fear of success. We know about fear of failure. Um, the great Olympic 400 meter hurdler, Kevin Young, he still has the world record dating all the way back to 1992. He ran a 46, seven, eight and the 400 meter hurdles winning the gold inBarcelona and the headline story next day in the paper a was him explaining that he had to overcome his fear of success to be able to win the gold medal and break the world record. Uh, he worked with my good friend, doc G on this matter. And getting clear, getting beyond that fear of success. What did he mean? It was the fact that you’re working so hard, you have such a compelling goal, you’re trying to improve and you got a passion every single day to get better and better and better.
Brad: 27:39 But what happens when you run the perfect race or win the Olympic gold medal? Then what’s gonna push you and drive you, uh, the next day to get up and do it again? And that’s where this obsession with winning often runs into trouble. Look at the misbehavior by celebrities and famous athletes that can’t seem to cope or immerse into real life successfully because of their obsession with winning among other things. Okay. Number four, work smart. Having fun and working hard will not lead to success unless your work is focused, guided by expert coaching and directly applicable to your peak performance goals. Be brutally honest with yourself and make a clear decision to align your behavior with your stated goal of peak performance. Understand that this entails sacrificing things that bring you and your ego a certain measure of satisfaction, but will lead to more fulfillment, productivity, and less stress.
Brad: 28:32 Pay particular attention to the importance of focusing on one endeavor at a time and achieving a smooth transition to the next. Seek out coaches, experts, and friends who will tell it like it is to you. Do the same when you look in the mirror and then take specific and decisive action to address your weaknesses. Witness the example of scrawny Tiger Woods or a [inaudible] dam venturing into the weight room and emerging with a another distinct advantage over their rivals when they built up their bodies and became more athletic and apply that to golf. All right, you got it. Lots to think about. Repeating, make work fun, expand your horizons, be comfortable with competition and work smart. Thank you for the inspiration, Tiger Woods and the occasion to record another show for another victory number 82 and thanks for listening to the get over yourself podcast.
Brad: 29:25 Thank you for listening to the show. We would love your feedback at getoveryourselfpodcast@gmail.com and we would also love if you could leave a rating and a review on iTunes or wherever you listen to podcasts. I know a hassle you have to go to desktop iTunes, click on the tab that says ratings and reviews and then click to rate the show anywhere from five to five stars and it really helps spread the word so more people can find the show and get over themselves cause they need to. Thanks for doing it.
