If you’ve been reading this blog you know that The Puddle Club book is a fantasy tale about how golf and life are similar. It vividly shows young folks that the tools they first learn to use in golf are again used in life.
Golf is a game and so is life.
You cannot beat Golf and you cannot beat Life. Both require one seemingly simple gesture – you must play. There are really just two ways to play — you can Play to Get By or you can Play with a Purpose.
You know folks who Play to Get By — you can tell who they are because they never do more than is required, never face the danger of the unknown, and are always making big plans that just need more time before they’re ready to execute. They secretly enjoy being in the safe space known as the bench. Most folks postpone Playing with a Purpose because they don’t feel or believe that they are ready.
This is a lie. What they really lack is an understanding of process, it’s supreme importance at the start of any action and how to develop one of their own.
You know folks who Play with a Purpose – you can tell who they are by their willingness to jump right in and get dirty, do more than is required, and never take their eyes off the ball (goal). They don’t judge themselves for their mistakes along the way because mistakes show you where to adjust your PROCESS.
Playing with a Purpose can be boiled down to simply focusing on the process needed to move forward and constantly adjusting according to what the situation requires.
Purposeful players reap most of life’s greatest rewards as a symptom of their effort. That chance meeting that changed your life? It’s a symptom of process. That book that “found you” and contained in it just the information you needed at that moment? It’s a symptom of process.
LUCK is a symptom of process.
What kind of a player are you?
MICHAEL McGRUTHER 