Last month, you may remember me lamenting about a few swing ailments. I got back to the basics of grip, alignment, stance, and posture (GASP) and after some hard work at the driving range, all was well.
Well, not really. It was the start of a serious downward spiral. I let myself break rule #1: don’t abandon the plan without cause.
When my game went south, I did a couple of things that started a chain of events. First, I devoted all my practice time to work out my pitiful ball striking. That meant no work on the short game. Period.
The second thing I did was replace regular fitness workouts with range time. While I perceived that it was all right because I was still working, it wasn’t all right at all. I was breaking the discipline that I had built over several months.
Sure enough, when I got my ball striking back in order, predictably, my short game was a mess. I was playing a little better but I lost the ability to really score and start putting up the numbers I know I’m capable of.
And even worse, I started talking myself out of regular workouts because of the need for “rest” or because I felt I needed to practice. And eventually, I got wrapped up in working on Life in the Rough. Not so much in posts, but in a lot of behind the scenes work. (I won’t tell you how long that simple new header took me to do. Heh…)
It wasn’t long before I started to talk myself into straying from my diet a little here and there. After a stretch of that, I nearly completely derailed.
To compound all that, over a week ago, I did something to my foot that has kept me from playing, practicing, or working out since then. I’m not sure what the foot problem is, but having extra time on my hands had allowed me to come to grips with my failings during the last week and has really left me feeling beat down because I want to get on track but I’m stuck.
One thing my grandmother gave me before she left this world was a propensity toward gout, a painful arthritic condition that affects me where? That’s right, in my feet. So as I transition from whatever I tweaked last week, I can feel an oncoming episode that could keep me sidelined for days. I take a medication to prevent it, but as I laid around my apartment feeling sorry for myself this past weekend, I forgot to take it one day.
So why am I burdening you with all this? Certainly not for pity. No way. I dug this hole.
I’m telling you this because remember how I mentioned going back to basics at the top of this post? GASP: Grip, alignment, stance, posture? Well, that applies to life too.
Except it’s: diet, exercise, practice, play. I won’t be turning that into an acronym for obvious reasons.
The point is, that it’s time to get back to the basics. That means reviving my activity and diet logs. That means sticking to my plans. That means developing discipline again.
Where I went wrong was in trying to trash the plan because I was having serious trouble in one area. Well, guess what? I can hit my 2-iron to the moon now, but I can’t sink a putt, I feel like garbage, I’m not losing weight and probably actually gaining, and my endurance and strength are leaving me.
What a trade off.
The lesson learned is to show some patience. So what if it took me longer to work out the ball striking? I could have at least kept the rest of the ship from filling with water.
I have a goal I’m driving toward but I let myself lose sight of that in exchange for some short-term gratification. I know all too well that it’s going to take me years to reach even the bottom rung on my ladder of success. A few weeks injured or a couple of months dealing with some swing flaws is not that much time in the grand scheme.
As I sit here brooming up the pieces and reaching for the super glue, I share this nugget of learning with you: when things go sour, don’t lose sight of the goal. Keep the ship afloat while you work on whatever the critical problem is. It takes extraordinary patience, and I’m hoping I’m able to develop that trait.
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You have the right approach. When you fall down, admit what got you there, create a plan to handle the problem, and get back on the horse.
Creating accountability is really helpful too.
Well, the new header came out looking good, even if it did take you longer than you care to admit. Is that you in the finish position?
The error I’ve made in the past is sticking to my original plan too long and not allowing any flexibility. This is true mainly with the gym. I’ve gone through phases where I schedule three exhaustive workouts per week. My pattern is that I do this for a few months, with good results. Then I get sick of it, but I force myself to go. A month or two later I’ve had it with the stupid gym and I blow it off completely.
These days, I’m allowing myself to change the plan before I get burned out. It’s better to scale back to two shorter workouts per week and stick with that for a year than to force myself to go three times a week and end up quitting after a few months.
Unfortunately, that’s not me posing for the camera. Both shots in the header are stock photos. I’m going to work me in here somehow before too long. I’m actually planning on reworking the site during the winter when I have down time.
I’m definitely on board with the schedule flexibility. When I start to resent the routine, then it’s time to step back and take a breath. I try to allow myself breaks if I feel like they’re necessary, but I need to keep the discipline when it happens. My problem is that a few sessions missed in a row turn into a 3 month slide.
I’m a golfer and a runner and both require strategy and goals. Everyone has bad stretches but as the saying goes, there’s always a light at the end of the tunnel!
Exactly, you must address what you did wrong enough so that you are concious you don’t make that same mistake over and over. Don’t get too down on yourself though, keep on swinging.