subject: Play Your Own Game [print this page] I play golfI play golf. Correction, I play golf badly. In fact, I played so badly the other day I came home and told my wife that I was seeing someone else for the four hours.
It doesn't matter to me because I'm just so happy to be out there swingin' the clubs. I'm the village idiot of my own town. It's great. Of course (no pun intended), the great thing about playing badly is that there is always room for improvement. And I don't mean small, tweaky improvements, I'm talking LEAPS. Perhaps that's why I'm so excited.
Anyhow, while I was out swinging at the turf, I realised something. It was while I was going through a purple patch. I noticed that, while my slight better golfing partner went off looking for his wayward shot, I kept the head down, addressed the ball correctly and hit the ball straight and true. For a while, everything came together and I enjoyed the game more than usual. Now, I wasn't suddenly some Tiger Woods player but I was relaxed and let the clubs do the work (as any professional teacher will tell you you should).
It got me thinking about my business, even my life. I play the same game as hundreds of thousands, home based business owner. I play the same course as thousands, sales. I play the same type of course as many, personal development. I'm even a member of a club.
For a long time, I watched the top players in the club and tried to emulate them and that was a mistake on my part. What I should have been trying to emulate was the simple system that is being used by them and be true to my own self. You see, marketing gurus are not duplicable but systems are. I can't outdrive John Daly but I can learn to emulate his swing. And would I like to get lessons from John Daly? No, I'd like to get lessons from the person who taught John Daly!
The information is the key, not the person, and my business has benefitted greatly from the training and support given by the top income earners in the company that I work with. They're brilliant. So free with their time and knowledge. It took me a while to get used to it. It also took me a while to discover that I had been trying to match up to people instead of playing my own game. Once I figured that out though, guess what? That's right, I'm keeping my head down, addressing the ball correctly...
Here's an interesting article I came across while writing this http://cac.ophony.org/2008/06/11/drive-for-show-putt-for-dough-its-the-small-stuff-that-matters/
