Your Golf Mind – Are You Running Your Brain Or Is It Running You?

Are you passively reacting to events as they unfold around you, a victim of being run by your brain even though you think you are in control? You may need to do a bit of old fashioned honest soul searching because the chances are very good that you are submissively responding to events. You need to discover how to take control of yourself if you want to play better golf and enjoy yourself to the maximum.

As much as you may not want to hear it you are run by your brain rather than you running it. Now that’s not to say you have no control and say over your daily, weekly, monthly, yearly and life existence, because clearly you do have a say in it. But if we are talking percentage in control, you consciously versus your unconscious (which you have no conscious control over*) I’m afraid we all come a dismal second.

Now as your indignation perhaps arises and you are forming arguments in your mind that you are in full control, stop a second and think about that reaction. Or if you like tell me how much you are consciously aware of virtually all your incredibly complex life functions which are going on right now and controlled by your unconscious.

Digestion and distribution of nutrients, oxygen exchange and removal of pollutants, blood replacement, lymphatic system, skin repair, liver and kidney function, blood ph balance, control over the working of tens of thousands of muscle moves each day controlling every tiny move you make. Do I need go on? No, you are not in control of the vast majority of what your body and mind does. Your brain is running you.

The brain’s control of us in those areas is highly desirable but for most people there is also a lack of control in more personal behaviour areas, and these should concern you. Have you ever lost your temper and regretted it? Of course you have. That’s an example of not being in control of an emotional reaction that you should have control over, and it really should concern you that you are being run (you did not consciously control your reaction) by your brain.

Now lets look at this as it applies to a couple of areas in golf and why you should get more control over your own emotional reactions if you wish to play better.

You play a bad shot and immediately get a little embarrassed/annoyed/cross/fuming mad. None of which are helpful to you in playing your next shot. I’m sure you understand that best performance comes from a relaxed, calm mind that is confident and committed to each shot. So it follows that any form of negative emotion from embarrassment to humiliation to annoyance or outright fuming anger is going to be harmful to your following shots. The downward spiral is now set in motion because you are more likely to play bad shots because of your poor emotional state and those bad shots get you even more upset, right?

If you have not experienced this then either you are a Zen Master or from a different planet to us humans. I suppose you could also be very lucky and have no ego which would really help in controlling emotions.

I hope you can now see the connection between going into a mental state that is bad for playing golf and my earlier claim that you have less control over yourself than you think. If you are completely in control of your emotions then you will never get annoyed, cross, angry, embarrassed or downright humiliated on the course ever again, because you know it will make things worse.

The great challenge is not to be in control of our golf game, but to be in control of our emotions and state of mind, for that is the real governor of performance.

While I am not sure that you will ever completely master your own emotional control when faced with any situation, (and I’m not saying you won’t) you can get very, very good at controlling emotions no matter what you are faced with. There are good reasons we react poorly to shots on the course and it pretty much boils down to your ego in the end.

The world of modern sport psychology has now got a number of highly effective tools for emotional control ranging from Hypnosis to Cognitive Behavioural Techniques and in particular NLP. (Neuro Linguistic Programming). Sport psychology has advanced tremendously just in the last ten years and we have learnt more about the human brain function and behaviour in that short time than in all of history.
Take advantage of these techniques and you can expect some really significant, profound changes in your golf game, which by the way, will positively impact on virtually all areas of your life.

Wishing you FIR’s, GIR’s & Blue Skies.

*Although I say you have no conscious control over your unconscious there are some gray areas. You don’t have any conscious control over a great many body functions etc but you can for example speed up or slow down heart rate intentionally. You can also reprogram your unconscious reactions/beliefs etc by using specific techniques. So from that perspective you do have some control over your unconscious although the vast majority of people will not even be aware of this. Ergo they have no conscious control over even these areas as they lack the critical information. Unlike you now..

PS - Remember to go now and get your FREE golf ebook from the Golf Mind Shop website just one easy click away from discovering some great techniques to quickly and easily get results the next time you play.

If this article has been of interest you can find specific programs on controlling emotions and state using the inner game of golf techniques at http://www.golfmindshop.com

Discover What’s HOT & What’s ROT. Reviews of Golf Training Programs are now available online so you can read up on a system before deciding if it’s right for you. Some of the systems are great and will give you excellent results if you work them, but some of the systems which promise to knock loads of shots off your game are, quite frankly, rubbish. Read my reviews at http://www.golfmindshop.com and decide which mental game system is best for you. I’ve bought them and tested and reviewed them so you don’t have to risk your hard earned money.

Mark Wright is a Master Coach and Sport Psychologist. He can be contacted via his website where you can get free advice on your golf swing or mental game just for the asking.

You and Tiger Woods Have More in Common on the Golf Course Than You May Realize

If there is one thing that certainly separates Tiger Woods from most if not all the other golfers on the tour, it's his mental toughness, but hey, don't take my word for it, here's what Tiger has to say.

"I am the toughest golfer mentally." Tiger Woods.

Does that mean that he never has a negative thought like the rest of us? I doubt it, but he is very, very good at refocusing and controlling his thoughts and emotions when he needs to, no matter what the circumstance.

What You have in common with Tiger is that you also have negative thoughts on the golf course, perhaps before you even get to the first T and if you've had a bad round then a whole lot more after you leave. It's not the having of negative thoughts that's the problem really but how you deal with them and how long it takes you to do it.

If you hit a bad shot are you able to walk away immediately? Do you beat yourself up about it or do you immediately forgive yourself and refocus on the job in hand - the next shot - with calm confidence and a belief that you WILL pull it off? Or are you angry, self depreciating, doubting of your own ability and pretty damn cross and tense?

The more you allow negative emotions into your game the more your game will spiral out of control. Think back to a time when you were playing really well. What emotions were you feeling? What attitudes did you have? When asked to describe their game and how they felt when playing really well most golfers describe that it was "easy" and that they felt happy and confident. Certainly the list of your emotions and attitudes you have when you are playing really well will be in the opposite column to anything negative. So if you don't control negative emotions then don't expect to play any better.

Now you know negative emotions are really harmful to your game lets take a quick look at negative thinking because that's what triggers the negative feelings. You have a negative thought and the emotions follow. In other words; "You think it before you feel it." So now you know that in order to stay in control of your emotions, you need to stay in control of your thoughts and what you tell yourself. I am not suggesting this is easy because it isn't always just a case of changing your thoughts and the emotions instantly disappear.

The quicker you can recognize and stop negative thoughts/emotions the better and this is certainly a skill which improves with practice and like anything of any real worth and value in this world it does require effort. So don't beat yourself up if you can't think like Tiger right out the blocks. He was working with a marine psychologist at 13 and Earl Woods was constantly testing at an even earlier age.

Wishing you FIR's, GIR's & Blue Skies.

Mark

How To Influence People Without Them Knowing

Discover These Powerful Influence Tactics

In today’s society the more skilled you are in persuasion the better. It’s not that persuasion suddenly has power, it always has and a select few who master it always rise to the top. It’s not necessarily always a nice top as in the case of persuaders such as Hitler, but that’s just focussing on the negatives – not what we want here. The top achievers are top communicators and persuaders. Fact. We absolutely need the support and cooperation of other people to help us in our respective journeys and the more you can persuade others to agree with and then help you, even if they don’t consciously realise it, the further you are going to go.

Here are some techniques to effectively influence and persuade virtually anyone but one Word Of Warning before we start and something I want you to bear in mind whenever you are intentionally trying to influence someone covertly. Most people aren’t stupid and have great instincts even if they choose to ignore those instincts a lot of the time. If you intentionally use covert influence tactics unethically, you will eventually get caught. You will become shunned and despised and when you do this kind of damage to a relationship, and you are no longer trusted, it’s very hard for you to come back.

So please, by all means learn influence tactics and employ them covertly but always bear the other person in mind and protect your long term relationships and reputation.

1) Be Nice And Be Friendly.

If you walk around smiling at people you will find you get lot of smiles back and help to brighten a few beings mind. Try to find all sorts of ways to compliment the people in your life, without being silly about it. This is a test to see if you can slide complements in without them really noticing it. Good covert tactics builder. If you just throw loads of blatant compliments at someone it is going to get really obvious.

People need listening and leaning posts. Be both. Let people know you are available if they need help and then MAKE SURE YOU HELP when they ask for it. If you offer to be a supportive and helpful friend and then make excuse or hold back you have lost their trust. Listening to someone is a fantastic skill to develop and very, very few people are good at it. Develop listening skills and tactics specific to this field. You can find loads of stuff on the internet specifically to do with developing listening skills.

Great listeners are often referred to as; “Highly intelligent and very interesting” even though all they do is listen!

2) Walk In Their Shoes On Their Map Of The World

Here’s another great rapport building skill which will get people to really like you and thus be far more receptive to your requests and prompts. Put yourself in their shoes. See life from their point of view. Feel the way they feel by imagining you are them. Seek the appropriate response you could give them when you are experiencing life according to them. What would be beneficial to them? What do you need? Is there a win-win? If not go with what is beneficial to them.

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next time..........

3) How To Get A Total Stranger to Like You Even From A Distance

4) Lead Them Slowly To Evidence That Supports What You Want…

5) Another Cool Trick To Getting What you Want is…..

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Work Tip

WORK TO GET YOUR BOSS PROMOTED not yourself. If you are constantly working to help your boss succeed then when he gets promoted you are going to get his/her job. This is not about sucking up, it’s about having an attitude of success orientation. remember the average person works an average job their whole life. If you “Fit in with the crowd” at work you are probably just doing all the average things and that will get you average results – which in my opinion is nowhere – FAST.

You Can Get More Advice Here

Get help and advice from my website lifemindshop.com
Life Coaching site for people who want more from their lives, social, work & career, sport and leisure. Links to sister sites Golf Mind Shop and Sport Mind shop for sport psychology and the mental game of performance.