Become More Like a Golf Ball
I didn’t know this until recently. When golf balls were “invented”, they were smooth. In fact, when they were hit and a dimple or indentation was formed, the first golfers were used to a new, smooth ball. However, as with most things, sometimes these golfers would run out of new, smooth balls. They would then have to play with their dimpled balls.
But a funny thing happened! They discovered that dimpled balls flew faster and further than their new, smooth counterparts. In fact, the more dimples a ball got; it seemed to increase its ability to fly further.
You guessed it. Golfers started asking for balls to be created already dimpled so that they could immediately have an advantage when they were competing with other golfers. Golf balls now come with between 300-500 dimples.
Think about that a minute…
We all get frustrated by our mistakes, poor decisions or bad choices. We feel that those moments in our business and life take away our competitive edge. They make us feel like we have “lost ground”. We keep looking for ways to start fresh or start over. But what if the competitive edge; the thing that is going to make you go further and faster…the thing that eliminates the drag are the “dimples” those mistakes, poor decision and bad choices make on our lives.
We learn something important every time we make a mistake. We discover things about ourselves every time we make a poor decision. And we learn what choices to avoid moving forward when we have discovered we have made a bad one!
So, we don’t necessarily have to start over or have a “new” chance. We start where we are on the “golf course” of business and life and we keep playing…with our dimpled perspective. That perspective now gives more lift to our swing. It helps gain momentum and pushes our efforts further.
Sometimes we think of drag as the weight we carry when we keep reviewing our mistakes and letting them beat us down mentally. However, if we take the time to learn, analyze and apply what we learn with each dimple of our past, we can eliminate forward drag.
Think about forward drag for a moment. Forward drag is the time it takes for your consistent efforts, actions, and strategy execution to synthesize and have impact thereby creating results. Don’t we all want faster results? So, eliminating forward drag is critical.
The powerful story of the creation of the golf ball is a powerful reminder that those dimples are actually assets. It doesn’t mean we purposefully go out and make bad choices. But it does give us grace that allows those dimples to have worth going forward.
I for one would love less forward drag. And I certainly have a lot of dimples in my business and life. But I would much rather let go of the past to soar in the future. Wouldn’t you?