Golf and Business:  A Mental Game

In today’s competitive business environment, maintaining focus can cause quite a lot of stress. How one person manages his or her emotion and mental state in the business world, can actually impact his or her business dealings or overall performance. And if you look at it, the system seems a lot like a game of golf. In essence, golf and business both require the right mental and emotional skills to cope in its very competitive world. The mental skills you use in your business dealings may be the same ones you need to apply in your golf games.

Golf and business have a lot of similarities. Both require skills to win under pressure. Both are similar in that, people meet in head to head matches, where mental fitness is just as significant as skills and talent. Face it, without an awareness of your mental state, you can become caught in the hectic turn of events. Losing your sense of calm, and affectively losing your confidence, can distract you from doing your best to perform. While this is especially true for business dealings, it may also apply to golf, and in some cases, business golf.

Business golf is a challenge. It is a combination of interacting socially while producing legitimate business goals. If you miss your chance by focusing on the wrong agenda, then you may have missed a good deal, or consequently lose a good game. When you remain focused on keeping scores or avoiding bad shots; or if you let other opponents (usually your clients) see the tension when you play games with them, you may also be showing them your poor performance.

Image is very important in these games. How you project yourself on the golf course can be strongly perceived by your business partners and can have a lasting effect on your success. It is no wonder people are less tensed when simply playing a round of golf with friends, than with a very important client.

Developing stronger mental skills helps you both on and off the golf course. These skills — tension management, proactive thinking, intuitive thinking, and focus, among many others — have to go hand in hand in order for you to perform better and achieve your goals. At the back of your mind you have to continually remind yourself that while this is a recreational sport, you also need to play a respectable game, one that will impress your business partners.

Sports psychologists often provide a list of techniques to guide golfers to the proper process and right state of mental readiness. Often, this involves a system that boils down to focus — or the need to concentrate on the present goal or task. Whether this is about business or golf, it is admittedly hard to keep focus when you know that your losses are figuring up. You have to realize that failure is a given, whether in the game or with business dealings.

To improve in the game, and to consequently make progress in the business, you have to acquire a tremendous amount of confidence. You do this by practicing. Practicing helps you improve your weakness, as well as keep your strengths on the defense.

In golf or in business, you also have to realize where your capabilities lie. While it is okay to aim high, do not aim for the impossible and then be badly upset when you fail. In the game of golf for example, if you’ve once achieved a hole-in-one, do not fret if you are not able to do it again. Much like in business, a good player must know his limits and will not try to aim for something that is actually a defeated goal from the start.

Lastly you have to recognize that all of these are in fact a game against yourself. Each time you get out there and play the game (of golf or business deals), you must learn to get better at controlling it. When you have had a terrible run, you are responsible for it. But the beauty of this is, you can always try to outdo your last game or maintain your standing.