I wish I was a better putter.
I wish I could drive farther.
I wish I could put my approaches closer to the basket.
I wish I could keep a better attitude on the course.

I wish, I wish, I wish.

How many people instead say…

I will be a better putter.
I will drive farther.
I will park my approaches.
I will have a better attitude.

Not a lot.

Even less people take the actual steps needed to make those things a reality. If it were up to me, no one would ever be able to say “I wish…” unless the very next statement out of their mouth was, “And these are the things I’m doing to make that happen.”

The thing is, doing requires discipline. It’s what separates the people who get their wishes from those who don’t. Discipline is not wanting to practice, but doing it anyway. It’s not wanting to do field work, but doing it anyway.

It’s great to have dreams.

The question is, do you have the discipline to make those dreams happen?

…

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The post Wisdom Wednesday | Desire is Nothing Without Discipline appeared first on Mind Body Disc - Disc Golf Blog.

Life isn’t practice. This is the real thing. It’s our one shot. Regardless of what you think comes next, the lives we are living now are unique. We won’t get to do this over.

With that in mind, it puzzles me how so many people in this world can drag themselves out of bed and go through their days lethargic and unhappy.

If you woke up one day and someone came to you and gave you the most incredible gift you’d ever received, you’d be pretty pumped, right? You’d feel obligated to care for that gift and use it properly, wouldn’t you? I bet you would even show it off with pride to anyone who would look. Well, you have been given that gift. It’s the gift of getting to be a human being on this crazy beautiful planet of ours.

And there are disc golf courses here, how awesome is that?!?!?

Accept it with grace and be grateful. Wake up every day excited. Every night, go to bed proud.

[tweetthis]Wake up excited and go to bed proud! #discgolf[/tweetthis]

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I’m from Colorado. One of my favorite things about Colorado is the weather. Over 300 days of sunshine every year. How can you not love that?

But I don’t just miss the weather. I miss people’s attitudes about the weather. Hot and sunny? Time to go hiking in the mountains! Raining? The fishing will be good tomorrow! 3 feet of snow? Time to go skiing! My Grandfather was one of those people.

No matter what the weather was, people didn’t complain. They saw it as an opportunity to go do something unique to that weather. I love that. Here in Chicago, people are not that way. Here, we complain about everything. It’s too hot. it’s too windy. It’s too cold. It’s too humid. There’s too much snow, too much rain, blah, blah, blah. It really gets to be a bit much.

The funny thing is people look at life the same way. The same exact thing can happen to two people and those people can have two completely different reactions to it. One person’s bad is another person’s blessing. In life, we can either sit around and complain about things or we can make the most of them. Our happiness is completely in our own hands.

This also translates directly to the disc golf course. When we are playing disc golf, we can be upset we shanked a drive, or we can use it as an opportunity to work on our flick roller. We can be disappointed we blew a putt 30 feet past the basket, or we can look at it as an opportunity to practice putting under pressure. We can be mad we had a poor first round in a tournament, or we can look at it as a test of our ability to regain our composure. We can be furious we lost a disc, or we can be happy because now we get to go shopping for new plastic!

So how do you react when it snows? Do you stay inside complaining that you can’t get out to the course and play? Or do you grab your snow shoes and hit the course anyway? I can tell you for sure that one of those solutions is a whole lot more fun than the other!

So remember. When life snows on you, you always have a choice. You can stay inside and cry. Or you can go skiing.

I’ll see you out on the slopes!

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Disclosure of Material Connection: Some of the links in the post above are “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will add value to my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

The post Wisdom Wednesday – When it Snows… appeared first on Mind Body Disc - Disc Golf Blog.

In the last couple of newsletters, I’ve touched on motivation (if you don’t get the newsletter, you are missing out, subscribe below!). Last week’s Wisdom Wednesday post was about maintaining regular motivation. But try as we might, no one can keep themselves motivated all of the time. Even when you purposefully surround yourself with motivating things, you will still sometimes lose your spark and drive.

So what to do when that happens? How do we keep ourselves moving forward when all we want to do is stay in bed 10 more minutes? The answer to that is habits.

When is the last time you were motivated to brush your teeth? I mean you just couldn’t wait to get some toothpaste and go to town! When have you sat at work just watching the clock, counting down the minutes until you could get some alone time with that delicious tube of Colgate? Most likely, the answer to that is never. But somehow you manage to brush your teeth every day, right?

It’s the same thing with showering, driving to work, and a whole host of other things that we all do every day, but don’t need to be psyched up to do. This is because they are habits. They are deeply ingrained behaviors that we do because, well, that’s just what we do. We don’t have to think about them. We don’t have to psych ourselves up. They are just part of our day. They are automatic.

Imagine if putting practice were as automated in your life as brushing your teeth? How good would you be at putting if that were the case? What if field work was just what you did every lunch break? What if instead of getting up at 7am every morning, you got up at 6 and went to play? There’s all kinds of habits you could create for yourself. And once they were habits, you’d just do them. All the time.

So while motivation is great, and it will definitely get you off the couch and get you moving in the right direction, it’s habits that will get you where you want in the long run.

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If you hadn’t noticed, I have a soft spot in my heart for motivational memes. I put them up several days a week over on FaceBook. I have a regular Wednesday post (that you just so happen to be reading now) that I try to make as motivational as possible. I try to inspire with the Instagram images I post. There’s a whole category of motivational posts right here on the blog!

I’d like to be able to say I do it all just for you. But I don’t. I do it for me too. Getting and staying motivated is one of the things I’ve found all successful people in any field to have in common. I regularly find myself in need of inspiration. I try my best to share a lot of it with you.

[tweetthis]You can have all the skill in the world, but if you aren’t motivated to get off your butt and use it, it’s wasted.[/tweetthis]

The problem with motivation, as Zig so accurately points out in this week’s meme, is that it doesn’t last. When I read one of Paul McBeth’s FaceBook posts, I get super motivated to go practice every day. Two days later, I’m playing rounds instead of practicing. A couple of days after that, I’m telling myself there are too many mosquitos out to go play today.

What’s the solution? Daily motivation. The key is that you have to actively seek it out. As much as we’d all like to think that all the motivation we need comes from within us, it just doesn’t.

In a really great book called the War of Art, Steven Pressfield talks about “the resistance”. The resistance is that little voice inside that tells you how much better it would be if you just hit the snooze button. It’s the little devil that sits on your shoulder and seduces you with the easy path through life. The resistance isn’t looking out for your best interest.

How do you fight the resistance? First, get Pressfield’s book. It’s really short and honestly one of the best books I’ve ever read on getting things done. I use the concepts it teaches almost daily.

Second, seek out daily motivation. Get yourself fired up. Play the theme to Rocky as your alarm in the morning. Watch great movies. Read motivational books. Follow people like McBeth who you can’t help but be inspired by. I would humbly say that following Mind Body Disc here and on Twitter, Instagram, and FaceBook would help too.

Surround yourself with things that rev your engine. Intentionally get yourself pumped up. Add motivation to your life on purpose.

At the end of your days, you’re going to look back on your life and say one of two things. “I wish I had.” or “I’m glad I did.”. The difference between which of those you end up saying could simply be how motivated you were.

Are you going to go out by saying “I wish I’d practiced more”, “I wish I’d played more”, or “I wish I’d spent more time with my friends on the course”? Or are you going to go out saying “I gave it my all”, “I spent every moment doing the thing I loved”, and “I played exactly as much disc golf as I wanted to”?

Make motivation like bathing. Do it every day. It’s not always the easiest thing to do, but I promise it’s the most rewarding.

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Disclosure of Material Connection: Some of the links in the post above are “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will add value to my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

The post Wisdom Wednesday – Motivation and Bathing appeared first on Mind Body Disc - Disc Golf Blog.

I started listening to the Disc Golf Answer Man podcast long before I ever had the opportunity to be on it. From the beginning, I’ve heard this question in various forms at least once an episode. If you keep up with any disc golf forums, you’ll see it there too. Heck, I see this question everywhere in life.

In today’s world of “hacking” everything around us, everyone is looking for the short cut. We all want that one tip or trick that’s going to make life easier for us. Don’t believe me? Check the headlines you see on TV or the inter webs…

“Lose 10 pounds with the cheesecake diet!”

“Earn 6 figures by sitting on your couch!”

“10 ways to get a promotion without doing any work!”

Everyone wants to know how to get great results without actually putting in the effort to get them. Welcome to 2015, right?

First, let’s “keep it real”, as Bobby Brown would say on the DGAM podcast.

You’re never going to get results you don’t work for. Yes, there is the oddball person out there to whom everything comes easy. Unfortunately that person isn’t you or me. No amount of shortcuts or hacks is going to change that.

The truth of the matter is, if you want to get significantly better at disc golf, you have to make the time to practice. Sure, we can make some progress by just playing a lot. But not as much as we’d like to convince ourselves we can.

If you play regularly, in a few years you’ll look back and realize that yes, you have improved. But you’ll also look at some of the people you play with and realize that they spent the same amount of time getting in some real, significant practice. Now they whup you every time you play them. They out drive you. They out putt you. They play in a higher division in tournaments.

Here’s where we need to back up a step and start being brutally honest with ourselves. We need to look in the mirror and answer a couple questions. First…

Get better at putting? Throw your drive further? Win a tournament? Beat that unbeatable friend? Move up a division? Shoot a 950 rated round?

Take a minute and think about what they are for you.

Be specific and detailed.

Now ask yourself this question…

In other words does what you are doing match what you are saying? That’s called integrity. That’s also called being honest with yourself. There’s and old saying, “I see your lips moving, but your actions are speaking so loudly I can’t hear what’s coming out of your mouth.”

Did you say you want to get better at putting but you never practice putting? Did you say you want longer drives but you never do any field work? Did you say you want to lose weight but all you eat is cheesecake? Life doesn’t let you have it both ways. You have to pick one.

It’s like Mr. Miyagi said in the Karate Kid:

“Walk on left side of road, safe. Walk on right side of road, safe. Walk middle, sooner or later get squish, just like grape.”

In other words if you’re committed to disc golf, be committed. Let your actions reflect that. You’ll be surprised how easy it is to make time to practice when you are truly all in.

If you aren’t, that’s cool too. There are a lot of people out there for whom the idea of practice is a lot more appealing than actually practicing. Deep inside, they’d rather be watching TV. There is no wrong answer.

That’s where the title of this post comes from.

Disc golf practice isn’t for everyone. Some people really should just blow it off and watch TV instead. It’s more in line with their values and they’ll be happier too. No one ever said disc golf needed to turn into work. In my opinion, the first priority for every disc golfer should be to have fun. When it stops being fun, you’re doing it wrong.

[tweetthis display_mode=”box”]The first priority in #discgolf is to have fun.[/tweetthis]

This also helps answer the question of how you get better at disc golf without practicing.

You don’t.

But if you hurry I think the new episode of the Walking Dead is just about to start. I hear that show is pretty awesome.

If you are busy practicing or watching TV, make sure an subscribe to this blog! We’ll take all the work out of following us and just send you a nifty newsletter with great content and links to all the week’s posts. You won’t miss a thing!

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Pressure. It’s the silent killer of our best day on the disc golf course. All the preparation and practice in the world can be crushed by the mounting tension placed on us by a tough opponent, a close tournament round, or the self induced stress of trying to beat our personal best score on our home course.

Many top pros have made the observation that what separates the winners and the losers of major tournaments is the ability to handle stress. All of them have a very similar level of skill. It’s what they do with it under pressure that determines how they score.

That’s all well and good, but how exactly do we learn to deal with pressure out on the course? It’s not like there is a field work drill designed to deal with competition related stress. What are those of us not named McBeth supposed to do? One possible answer lies on the basketball court.

Jordan Has the Answer.

Michael Jordan will go down in history as one of the greatest athletes of all time. When people argue that LeBron or Kobe are better players, they are missing some key facts about Jordan. First, he was 6 for 6 in championship series. If he was there, he won. Second, he never needed a game 7. Third, he took almost two years off and came back as good as when he left.

Yeah, Jordan was a bad ass on the basketball court. You youngins who never got to see him play in his prime just don’t understand. No one is even close.

One of his greatest skills was that not only did he perform under pressure, he thrived in it. Pressure actually made him better. I always wondered how he did that. I’m very jealous. Today, I heard a big part of the answer.

Tim Grover was Jordan’s personal trainer. Kobe Bryant is quoted as saying “Tim Grover knows more than anyone about the mental side of sports”. That’s one heck of a compliment. Today, on the way to work, I was listening to Grover being interviewed. That’s where I heard him talk about how Jordan did so well under pressure. MJ didn’t see pressure as a burden, he saw that “pressure is a privilege”. (Definitely listen to that interview, it’s fascinating all the way through!)

Grover is the author of a book I’m about half way through right now. It’s called “Relentless: From Good to Great to Unstoppable”. It’s really, really good. Grover was Jordan’s personal trainer. He coached him on the mental side of the game as well as the physical. I can think of few better people to get insight into dealing with pressure and stress in competition from than these two.

Grover and Jordan both see pressure as a compliment. The only reason you are under pressure in the first place is because you put yourself there with a top notch performance. Why are you in the final 9 of a tournament? Because you played well enough to be there. Why are you the point person on a big project at work? Because your boss recognized your abilities and put you there.

This concept is totally freeing. It’s a complete mindset shift. It allows you to see pressure as only existing because you are the one that can handle it! If you couldn’t, you wouldn’t be under it in the first place. Welcome it. Embrace it. Prove why you deserve it in the first place. Pressure is a privilege.

Disc Golf Under Pressure

Pressure is a mental component of the game of disc golf and of life. It starts in your head, so it only makes sense that it should end in your head. How you look at pressure and how you let pressure effect your confidence is totally under your control. The reason it negatively effects so many people is because they look at it as a bad thing. They see it as something to be fought and overcome.

[tweetthis]Don’t fight pressure on the #discgolf course, welcome it.[/tweetthis]

Jordan didn’t fight or try to overcome pressure. He welcomed it. He looked at it as a sign that he was doing things right. He was totally at home in pressure packed situations. According to Grover, we can learn to be that way too.

The next time you find yourself buried under a mountain of pressure on the disc golf course, stop and think about this point. Stop and realize that you are there because you deserve to be. You are there because you are good enough to handle it. You’re there because no one else deserves that spotlight. The pressure you are under is a privilege. Say thank you and enjoy it. Who knows, you could become the next Michael Jordan of disc golf!

You know what has no pressure at all? A subscription to this blog. Every week we’ll send you a stress free newsletter full of disc golf goodness that you won’t see anywhere else. Plus we’ll send you links to all of our posts for that week. That takes all the pressure off of you and puts it on us. Why? Because we deserve it, we’re that good!

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Disclosure of Material Connection: Some of the links in the post above are “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will add value to my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

The post A Word From Michael Jordan’s Trainer on Playing Disc Golf Under Pressure appeared first on Mind Body Disc - Disc Golf Blog.

One of my readers, Jarrod Job, hit me with this saying the other day. Considering I have my second to last tournament of the year this weekend, I thought it was appropriate.

Since I’ll be spending what little spare time I have getting ready for the tourney, I figured instead of a long post this weekend, I’d just leave this picture right here for you. A little disc golf motivation to get you psyched up for the weekend.

If you are playing in a tournament, I wish you the best of luck. If you are playing with friends may you win with grace and then rub it in a little bit (or a lot). If you are stuck working like I usually am on the weekends, my thoughts are with you.

No matter what you are doing this weekend, remember to punch par in the face. Be better than expected. Perform at your best and above. Make this a weekend to remember!

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It’s been really cool to meet so many people. Something I always ask the people I play with is whether they play in tournaments or not. It’s usually a good conversation starter regardless of the answer. I’ve been kind of surprised by how few have ever played in a disc golf tournament.

I always ask why this is. While the answers all seem to vary on the surface, they really boil down to one reason… People don’t think they are good enough.

First, this is a terrible reason to not do something. I can tell each of  you who think this that you are wrong. I played in a tournament this year with someone who had only been playing 3 weeks. If he can do it, so can you.

Luckily, there are lots of reasons to play in your first tournament other than being “good enough”. Here’s a short list, I hope it inspires some of you to check out a local tournament:

1. It’s not about winning. Only one person wins in each division. Does that mean that everyone else all went to their cars and cried? No! Pretty much everyone has a great time whether they win or not. Forget about the winning part for now and just get out and play!
2. Speaking of divisions, skill level is the whole reason they have them. You will be playing with and competing against other people of a similar skill level. You won’t be placed in a group with Avery Jenkins, Ken Climo, and Simon Lizotte and expected to compete. You’ll be put in a group with 3 other disc golfers who also miss 10 foot putts and hit trees just like you (and I) do.
3. Usually, those 3 other disc golfers turn out to be pretty cool people. One of my favorite things about playing in tournaments is getting to catch up with all of the folks I have come to know and love over the years I’ve been playing in tournaments.
4. Even though you will be playing with some fun people who play at or around your skill level, you’ll still get to see what it’s like to play under pressure. It’s a way to test yourself and see how you do. There just isn’t another way to do this. Leagues are kind of similar, but nothing holds a candle to the butterflies in your stomach on the first hole of a tournament round.
5. Because of this pressure, you’ll come away with a very clear picture of what it is you really need to work on. Nothing exposes your true opportunities like playing in competition under pressure.
6. Not only will you be playing under pressure, but you’ll be playing by the rules. Getting in to your first disc golf tournament is a great way to see our great sport played properly and by the book. No cheating your lie. No mulligans. No multiple throws on each shot. For many people who only play casually, playing by the actual rules can be a whole different experience.
7. While you are there, you’ll also get to see some of the local pros play. If you look around while you are there, you’re bound to see some amazing disc golf that you never get to see on your normal daily rounds.
8. Lastly, how will you ever know if you like it or not? You might find out that you absolutely love playing in tournaments. That would open up a whole new world within our sport for you. And if you find out that you don’t love it? No harm, no foul, at least you tried.

There are actually a lot more reasons than just those, but the bottom line is that if you play disc golf, you should play in at least one tournament.

What are you waiting for? There’s plenty of good weather left. Get out there and give it a shot! A great place to look for an event coming up near you is right here on the PDGA website. Then let us know how it was. We’d love to hear about your experiences!

You know what else you should try out? Subscribing to this blog! That way, when you are too busy out there competing in your first tournament, we’ll take care of sending you a weekly summary of what you might have missed! Just enter your email below.

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You guys rock.

I mean that.

I get some of the best emails and comments from the people that follow this blog. They share pictures, challenges, successes, and inspirational stories about their life and disc golf. I love getting those emails.

The other day I got one from someone who had started playing disc golf later in life. They said they needed to get out of the house and their local park had a disc golf course on it. He said that he thought to himself, “If not now, when?”.

If not now indeed. I’m not sure if I’d heard that before or if his story just really resonated with me, but I’ve found myself repeating that saying to myself over and over and over since he said it.

What are you waiting for?

This saying applies to everything, including disc golf. How many of us have been putting things off for years? How many of us have gotten down on ourselves for never doing that thing we always meant to do? Here’s some examples…

I’m going to start practicing putting.

I’m going to start doing field work.

I’m going to lighten up a little bit and put less pressure on myself out on the course.

I’m going to stop buying so many discs and really learn the ones I have.

I’m going to learn rollers.

I’m going to learn a flick shot.

I’m going to learn to throw a putter off the tee.

I’m going to stop making this list because I could literally go on forever!

All we have is now.

Yesterday is history and tomorrow has yet to come. All you have is today. Right now is the only moment you truly control. Think about the things you want from life. Think about the things you want from your disc golf game. Then decide. Which ones will you do now? Which ones will you put off?

I have some advice for the ones you are putting off. Attach a date to them or just take them off your list. There’s not a calendar in the world that has “someday” on it. You don’t have to do everything now, it’s just not possible. But it’s also not possible to do things “someday”. Figure out what’s really important to you and get to work.

Thank you.

I didn’t get permission to share the person’s name who sent me this saying, but I’m sure they know who they are. To them I say thank you. To everyone who has taken the time to write or comment or share my work, I say thank you. Each and every one of you inspire me to do things now instead of putting them off. In that way, each and every one of you has made my life better. Now take this little 4 word saying and apply it to your life. Do things now.

And you know I have to ask, “If not now, when?”

You know what else you should do now? Subscribe to this blog! First, you won’t miss a single post. Second, you’ll get a weekly newsletter with stuff you won’t see anywhere else. Third, you’ll be automatically entered in every random draw type contest we run! You just can’t lose, so enter your email below now!

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