A Best of Barry: Setting goals and overcoming fear

There's a strategy in golf that many of the greats employed. Instead of practicing and playing a few rounds on a golf course, many of the great golfers would instead play the course backwards.

"Playing the course backwards" meant they would stand on the green and look back to the fairway to examine the hazards as well as the open areas where they could land their ball. Then they next walk to the fairway and look back to the tee and everything in between--the trees on the left, the bunker on the right, etc.

Why do this and...what does this have to do with business?

Golf courses are designed to trick the eye and to scare a golfer, to demand execution. Many times those hazards, trees or lakes out there are merely illusions (they're not in play), but if we don't watch out, they'll affect our swing and ultimately our score. Playing backwards allows the golfer to see the reality of those hazards and be able to overcome them.

In our businesses, we can employ this approach. Look at your business not from today's standpoint, but from next year's, for example. Looking back to today, what's in your way? Is it real or an illusion? What's the smart play?

The business world is designed to scare and intimidate. Play it backwards.

Barry LaBov
LaBov & Beyond
Originally posted 04/12/10
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