I was watching the feature film A Gentleman's Game on cable. It's a great movie, but it was on the Golf Channel, so I had to put up with long commercial breaks . . . and I mean long commercial breaks. I wanted to watch the movie, not the commercial breaks. But, if you've got to watch something you don't want to see, you may as well learn something from it. There were three hosts that made comments about the movie during the breaks. There were five theater seats in each of the two rows on the set. Two of the hosts sat in the front row with three empty seats between them and the third host sat in the second row just off center for a nice, relaxing Japanese set composition. The plot of the movie revolved around Timmy, who was a caddie for a private golf club. He loved the game and had a perfect golf swing. During a commercial break the three hosts talked about golf swings, and noted that they each knew many golfers who had the perfect swing and a seemingly perfect golf game, and yet they never won tournaments. On the other hand, they saw golfers with bad swings, who won tournaments in spite of their form. Golf is about failure and overcoming failure time after time they theorized. People watch golf on TV and they always say that they watch to improve their game as they see what the pros do. I think, however what these TV golf fans do is become hooked on the drama . . . like watching reality TV or soap operas. Great golfers are those who make bad shots, and then go on to the next shot. All golfers make bad shots, so it's easy to see ourselves in the roles of bad-shot golfers. And, we feel the triumph when bad-shot golfers reverse their worst moves and win. Winners are those who have the desire and drive to win. They brush aside the bad shots, the bad luck bounces, the wrong club choices; and they focus on winning. Is business any different? How many times do we fail in business? Every time a prospective client says no, we fail. Every time we offer a new product or new service we take a chance of failure. Winners are those who overcome resistance. Winners alter their game plan along the way to success. The triumph we feel is even greater when we experience it personally. We need to continue swinging, whether the swing is perfect or not. Bad moves in business can be overcome. We make bad choices and sometimes have bad luck bounces, but business winners are those who have the drive and determination to succeed. And in business that should always be par for the course. |
