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Mental Management client Rich Beem was not 'trying' to win the PGA Championship in 2002. He stayed performance-oriented instead of outcome-oriented and went on to capture his first major title. |
Here is an example from the world of golf. Recently, I had the pleasure of teaching the 2002 winner of the PGA Championship Rich Beem. He shared with me that the year he won this major golf championship he was not really trying to win the event. He had won a PGA tour event just two weeks earlier netting him over $800,000. He had already doubled his previous year's winnings and he went into the PGA Championship with an attitude to just enjoy the experience of playing. He was not among the early favorites to win and was not worried about his score while playing. Relaxed and enjoying the moment proved to be the best thing Rich Beem could have done. He finished with a strong 68 on the last day for the win. Winning a major championship in golf can mean millions to a PGA tour player, but thinking about winning while you are playing rarely yields a victory.
I have interviewed hundreds of World and Olympic Champions and asked them what they were thinking about while performing at their best. Interestingly, most say that they were thinking about nothing or very little while winning their event. This makes sense when you consider that when the Conscious mind is quiet the Subconscious can do its best work. We need to perform subconsciously in big competitions. When we think about winning while performing, we become outcome-oriented instead of performance-oriented and normally over-trying is the result. Over-trying has caused more good competitors to lose competitions than any other form of mental error.
It is difficult not to think about winning the competition when you are in position to win it. You cannot hide from the score if you are an elite golfer for if you are near the lead and are “score-sensitive” someone will certainly remind you of your place. Sometimes you want to win so much that it becomes the most important thing in your life at the moment. Ask any Professional Golfer about WANTING IT so bad you can taste it. But the taste is bitter-sweet if wanting it too much keeps you from shooting well enough to attain it. Friends tell us to just go out and enjoy the competition. Yeah, right! It is easy to say but oh so hard to do. But, that is exactly what some of the people we have a difficult time beating ARE doing. They are working hard in training and working easy in the competition. This is an advantage some of our younger competitors have on us old guys. They still view this as a game. We see it as life or death and it's neither one. What golfing means to each of us is a very individual thing. One thing is certain however, your worth as a person is not equal to your score this day. It is more than a game to the serious golfer but not worth the self destruction that many competitors do to themselves after a poor performance.
Is there a proper time to think about winning? Well that depends on your definition of winning. First, there are many winners in a big competition. There are class winners, pro and amateur winners, male-female, junior-senior-veteran winners, and team event winners. But, there is only one over-all winner of the competition or should be in my opinion. This is the position that every truly competitive person wishes they held. Secondly, there are many ways to win other than finishing first on the leader board. One could argue that we win whenever we advance down the road to achievement. We win when we learn and we learn more from our struggles up the mountain than by just standing on the summit.
Winning and being a winner can be two different things as well. Did you hear about the USA Olympic shooter in Athens that shot on the wrong target on his last shot in the final and lost the Gold Medal? What was not so widely broadcast was how the shooter handled his mistake. Once he fully understood what had happened, 23 year-old Matt Emmons was the first to congratulate the winner. He took the responsibility for his error and accepted the consequences with grace and honor. You do not have to win to be a winner. One could also argue that who you become is equally important to where you finish in the long run.
So should we be concerned at all about winning? Certainly! And the best focus, in my view, is on a winning performance not on finishing on top. I suggest that if you have paid the price and have developed the skill to win an event that you goal set to have a winning performance on the day of competition instead of goal setting to win the competition. What is the difference you ask? If you goal set to have a winning performance you will always be process-oriented and not outcome-oriented. You will be much less likely to over-try in the competition because you are always focused on the hole you are on and not counting your score. I'll give you one more reason to focus on having a winning performance instead of winning the event. The golfer with the best performance in a tournament does not always win it. If you've been golfing any time at all you have seen this happen or had it happen to you. You can draw a late start time when the weather is brutal and be beaten by one stroke by someone on a calmer time call. Who really had the better day? If you had both been golfing at the same time you just might have been the victor. Stay at this game long enough and what is taken away will be given as well.
Don't get me wrong. If you are first on the leader board I will be the first to say you've won the event. But, I also believe that maybe more than one person had a winning performance today and their names will not be recognized. If you are one of those competitors you can leave with your head held just a bit higher than normal and your Self Image will grow a bit for your work this day.
There is a time to think about winning and that time is while training for the event. Your Self Image needs to believe that it is "like you" to win. One way to enhance this attitude is to picture that you are having a winning performance every time you train. Your Self Image imprints that it is “like you” to win and aids the likelihood that winning will fall within your comfort zone in the upcoming competition.
So, think about winning in training and keep your conscious mind on performance in the big event. By the way, thinking about losing while competing works every time.
Lanny Bassham is an Olympic Coach and an Olympic Gold Medalist. He is a member of the Olympic Shooting Hall of Fame, ranks third among all shooters in total international medal count for the USA and one of the most respected mental trainers in the world. His book With Winning in Mind and his Mental Management ® concepts are used and endorsed by Olympian and World Champion competitors. You can reach him at 1-800-879-5079 or at www.mentalmanagement.com