What Are You Aiming For?

I don't golf. I'd like to learn how, but it just doesn't climb up my priority list very fast.

Years ago, a friend of mine related a story to me about his father who was a scratch golfer. He said his father was very competitive and entered golf tournaments frequently. On one of these occasions my friend, Bruce, got to be his caddy. Bruce said "I think it was on the 8th or 9th hole, kind of a dog leg type of green, where my father swung at a golf ball with a wood club so hard it screamed across the sky. It looked like it was a beautiful shot, but the ball fell into the rough. My father then took a one iron and strategically swung again at that ball, lifting it out of the thicket and back on to the green. He eventually got a birdie on the hole.”

Later, as they were putting the clubs away Bruce’s father said something that impacted Bruce deeply. "In golf, " his father said, "the straight shots are the pretty ones, and that is what everyone is trying for. But that isn't the game of golf." "Golf,” he said, "is learning how to get yourself out of problems; learning how to work your way out of the rough"

The great golfers have their share of great shots, but even more important they can tell of their many experiences in the rough. Driving on the course requires strategy and foresight. Getting yourself out of problems when you are there, trying to smack shots straight down the green when you can.

So what are you aiming for?

I want you to do something. I want you to make a wishlist. Some kind of bucketlist of things you wish for. Places, things, people, hobbies, activities, etc. It will take effort even to make such a list, but if you don't make a list of what you wish for and want, how are you ever going to find it?

The wishlist doesn't have to be long or even that realisitc. You are not getting your hopes up, you are just making a list. The list will help you discover what makes you happy. Each wish is a hole on the golf course of life.

So make the list. Don't blow off this request and take the road of least resisitance. Really make a list of what you want out of life. It's not really goal setting or planning (that comes later) its just asking yourself what do I really want.

I joined a choir, helped build a float, performed on stage in a musical, and gave up marching band, all in the same year. I didn't win an Oscar or climb Mt Everest, but I did something new. And it all started with interest and intent.

So what are you interested in? What do you intend to do?

I intend to make a list.