Lessons for a father - I suck at Golf but can learn a lot from it

I have always thought of Golf to be easy. How difficult can hitting a ball with a club be after all?

As I were to find out this week, quite difficult actually.

My version of playing Golf was pretty simple before this week. It included:

• Hold club in hand (preferably a driver because the bigger head should make it even easier to hit)
• Stand next to the ball, which at this time should be on a little peg (or a Golf tee)
• Swing the club and hit the ball with all your might.

Easy peasy lemon squeasy, right? Apparently not.

A good friend of mine taught me the basics this week. The fine game of Golf, just like any other sport that deserves to be taken seriously, needs a few other inclusions.

So my 3 step process to hitting a Golf ball got a little more detailed. It now includes:

• Hold club in hand the proper way (something about the thumbs facing downwards) and focus
• Stand next to the ball, with the ball right below the eyes, bend the knees a bit, balance and focus
• Swing with proper form and concentrate on making good contact with the ball rather than hitting it long, and always keep your eyes on the ball.

All that focus, concentration and mindfulness took a lot of work this week. It is not as easy as it seems.

The realization is going to help me a lot; both at home and at work. The idea of getting better, no matter what we do is rooted in:

• Being focused in what we are doing
• Concentrating on the goal 
• Intentionally minimizing distractions and,
• Not expecting things to happen easily

Looks to me like leadership resembles hitting a golf ball. If we are all about hitting the proverbial ball as hard and as far as possible, we might lose out on the form and focus that would help us get better. We might even get lucky and taste occasional success (even with my terrible form, I did hit the ball sometimes), but if we are in for the long haul, we have to continuously work on and correct the basics.

Turning adversity into success requires a lot of intent, hard work, positive attitude and an unwavering belief in self.

My feeling is if we concentrate on fixing the obvious things, treating our team well, speaking the truth and working with goodness in our hearts while ignoring all temptations of taking the short-cuts, we will end up being champions.