Play Your Game

The Simple Newsletter - Issue # 086

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Adam’s Thoughts

I was standing in the mall, school shopping with my kids, when a notification came through that I’d been waiting for.

Every New Year’s Eve, I don’t set a resolution.

I set a New Year’s project.

And this year, that project was simple:

Improve my golf game.

Golf is one of the things I enjoy most.

I get to spend four or five hours outside in nature.

I’m critically thinking.

Problem solving.

Competing against myself.

Building relationships.

Laughing with friends.

And, probably most importantly, detaching from the business for a little while.

I get so much out of it.

But last year, while we were building Atomic Business Coaching, I didn’t make golf much of a priority.

I didn’t play enough.

And my game suffered.

My handicap drifted into the twenties.

For me, that wasn’t acceptable.

I knew I was better than that.

And the problem with not playing much is that when you finally do get out there and play worse than you know you’re capable of, the frustration compounds.

Something that was supposed to be fun becomes another thing you’re disappointed in.

So this year, I decided to change that.

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Adam’s Lessons

There’s a line from the book Essentialism that I’ve always loved:

You can do anything. You just can’t do everything.

If I wanted to improve my golf game, I had to actually play golf.

That sounds obvious.

But my regular foursome isn’t always available, and I don’t really enjoy going out alone.

So part of the project became finding more people to play with.

Over the course of the year, I found about a dozen new guys who play golf and also happen to be business owners.

Most of them don’t get out nearly as much as they’d like either.

But now there were more of us.

And something interesting happened.

Two games I love started overlapping:

Business and golf.

I got to bring people together, which I love doing.

I got to build new relationships.

And I also had to show up well because these people had already seen me perform in the arena of business... where there are no handicaps.

Then I approached my golf game the same way I’ve approached business for years.

I asked:

What am I already really good at?

And how can I leverage that?

I’m a phenomenal putter.

I’m pretty damn good with an eight iron.

Then I asked:

Where am I weak?

Inconsistency off the tee.

Long irons.

Short game.

And instead of immediately going for lessons, spending hours at the range, or watching social media golf gurus, I tried something different.

I looked at why I was good at the parts of the game I was already good at.

Confidence.

Focus.

Routine.

Doing the same boring thing over and over again.

Then I started applying those same things to the parts of my game that were weak.

I started seeing my game for what it actually was, not what I wanted it to be.

I stopped trying to play golf somebody else’s way.

I started playing it mine.

And once I became disciplined about that, something changed.

I started looking forward to playing again.

When I hit a bad shot, I usually knew why.

It wasn’t the clubs.

It wasn’t the course.

It wasn’t some mystery.

Either I lost focus…

Or my ego jumped into the cart and told me to try something stupid.

And now?

My handicap is down to 15.8.

That means I can consistently break 90.

And man, that’s fun.

It means I’m a "good" golfer.

Not a great one.

But definitely not a terrible one.

So, to everyone who has come out and played with me this year:

Thank you.

It’s been meaningful.

And when I told my son what I’d accomplished, he was excited for me.

Then, like a true Hurd, he immediately asked:

“So what’s the next goal, Dad?”

Apparently, the next goal is a single-digit handicap by the time I’m 50.

That’s a little more than two years away.

And wow… that’s scary to say.

But before I get too focused on that next goal, I’m going to enjoy this one.

I’m going to enjoy being in the 15s.

I’m going to enjoy breaking 90.

I’m going to enjoy being outside.

And I’m going to enjoy spending time with this group of new friends where business and golf have somehow come together.

Because sometimes, achieving the goal isn’t just about immediately setting the next one.

Sometimes, you should actually enjoy what you worked so hard to achieve.

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So here’s my question for you this week:

What’s something you’ve intentionally worked to improve this year... and have you actually stopped long enough to enjoy how far you’ve come?

Reply and tell me. While I can’t respond to every message, Tom and I read every reply, and we genuinely appreciate hearing from you.

That’s all for this week.

See you next Saturday.