I was having lunch the other day with a friend, and we were discussing people who seem to lose their cool on the golf course, who get extremely upset and angry when they don’t play perfectly, or things don’t go their way. In addition to being unpleasant for their fellow players, we agreed that it can’t be productive for the golfer either. My friend quoted Dr. Bob Rotella, noted golf psychologist and guru to many professionals, as saying that “anger is the enemy of focus”.
Enemy of Focus is Any Distraction
Mental focus is a powerful ally. Pro golfers talk about the challenge of winning, and the extraordinary effort it takes to stay focused on every single shot. There’s a struggle to not let their mind wander about the impact of winning before completing their round. In addition to uncontrolled anger, for us amateurs there are many things that are the enemy of focus on the golf course including an obnoxious playing partner, slow play, or poor course conditions. These distractions draw our focus away from the matter at hand, making a solid swing. We become quickly derailed and our game suffers when we allow these external circumstances to dominate our thoughts and emotions.
Enemy of Focus Takes Us Off-Track
In the workplace the enemies of focus are also numerous, taking us way off-track pursuing issues and finding obstacles that don’t have impact on the matter at hand, business performance. These enemies of focus appear at every stage of work performance from beginning to end. It can start before we actually do anything, when we are in the pre-work or planning stage. Poor planning resulting in undefined purpose, unclear goals and conflicting priorities eliminates our ability to focus before we ever get started. Even if we have planned well, when we execute against our plan the enemies of focus are attempting to derail us at every turn, disguised as interruptions, distractions, changing priorities, slow decisions, and lack of resilience.
Eliminate Your Enemies of Focus for Resiliency
Mental focus is the key to great results whether on the golf course, in the boardroom, or in a cubicle. The bottom line is that being unfocused hurts peak performance. Anything that takes away our focus is the enemy of improved performance and results. Look for these insidious enemies, isolate them and defeat them to insure you are reaching your performance potential.
– Paul
