By: Nick Kacher
Tiger Woods is an American professional golfer. He holds multiple golf records and is considered one of the greatest golfers and most famous athletes of all time. Despite this greatness and just like everyone else, his career has had many ups and downs. When asked about how he handles the mistakes and pressure, he has been quoted to say that after he hits a bad golf shot he allows himself to think about it for 10 steps, but then he must leave it in the past and move on to the next shot. If he does not, he risks having one bad shot become two bad shots, two bad shots becoming three, and so on and so forth. Continue to do this and he is no longer Tiger Woods instead he becomes me…your local average golfer!
The longer one worries about their last bad shot, the less capable they become to make up for it on the coming holes. In golf, each shot is a different story and each one brings the opportunity for redemption. I think this idea is applicable to a lot more than just golf. In fact, the concept is important to remember in all aspects of life. Do not dwell on past failures or you will have a hard time obtaining and even defining success as you move forward.
I don’t want to disappoint anyone reading this, but I have made a mistake. I have also failed. I know it is hard to believe, but it is true. In fact, I fail all the time. On more than one occasion I have assembled 95% of something only to realize I forgot something and must start from the beginning. I make enough parenting mistakes each week to write a novel. And I am sure if my wife were really pressed, and she dug deep into her memory bank, she might recall some small, inconsequential instance of me not being the perfect loving partner. The good news for me is that I am not alone. We all make mistakes. We all come up short at times. We all fail. The better news is that our past mistakes don’t have to define us and if we don’t allow them to weigh us down, we all will get our shot at redemption.
While it is a certainty that everyone errs, it is how we respond to those mistakes that makes the difference. When we fail, we must learn from it and march forward. We must acknowledge our mistakes, while at the same time not dwelling on them. This is the balance that we all struggle to find from time to time. We cannot drive the bus looking out the rearview mirror…we must look forward. We will struggle to reach our potential if we are beating ourselves up over past mistakes. All of us know the tales of some of the world’s greatest successes overcoming failure time and time again. Thomas Edison, Walt Disney, and Abraham Lincoln did not become some of America’s greatest success stories by letting themselves be anchored by past disappointments. Remember this and the next time you make a mistake, acknowledge it, learn from it, and then keep moving forward on your path of achievement.