Last weekend the golf world was fixated on the Master’s Tournament. Jordan Spieth was the reigning champion and right up until the final 9 holes in the tournament he looked like a sure thing. However in sports, as in life, “It’s not written until it’s over”. Unexpectedly at this year’s Masters, one bad hole turned Spieth’s game on its tail and the outcome was not what had been such a sure thing only hours prior.
In life, a similar game often plays out for each of us. We are so certain of an outcome that we feel that there really is no other possible conclusion. Perhaps we slip into ‘cruise control’, assuming that there is no point in imagining different endings since the ending has already been established. But what if this was not the case?
Think, for example, of a situation at work or in your personal life where the same script predictably plays out repeatedly. You might say, “I’ll mention it but I know they have their mind made up already”, or “ I might as well just do it, no one else will take this on” or “There is no point in hoping for that; that isn’t the way it happens here”.
Some people actually use this mentality, not only for things in daily life, but also in the way that they picture their ‘Big Life’. They are so certain that they know exactly how it will turn out that they stop noticing possibilities.
I imagine that Danny Willett, the unexpected winner of the Master’s Tournament this year, is pretty thankful that as he headed into the final 9 holes of golf, he did not simply assume that Jordan Spieth would be the winner and that he would be second. Despite the solid lead that Jordan Spieth had, Danny Willett dared to work with the possibility of ‘what if’. And he continued to play his absolute best. Against many odds, he ended up victorious.
I wonder what possibilities have escaped each of us because we were so willing to allow prior expectations to dictate our willingness to try something again – even when we had plenty of evidence that the outcome would likely not change.
If it is true that “It’s not written until it’s over”, then the story of our life is not yet finished. The most wonderful news is that we are the author of our story and we get to choose exactly what that story will be.
My challenge for you this week is to look for a possibility of an outcome that you would not normally expect, and to ‘go for it’. I’ll bet that Danny Willett is very glad that he did!
In life, a similar game often plays out for each of us. We are so certain of an outcome that we feel that there really is no other possible conclusion. Perhaps we slip into ‘cruise control’, assuming that there is no point in imagining different endings since the ending has already been established. But what if this was not the case?
Think, for example, of a situation at work or in your personal life where the same script predictably plays out repeatedly. You might say, “I’ll mention it but I know they have their mind made up already”, or “ I might as well just do it, no one else will take this on” or “There is no point in hoping for that; that isn’t the way it happens here”.
Some people actually use this mentality, not only for things in daily life, but also in the way that they picture their ‘Big Life’. They are so certain that they know exactly how it will turn out that they stop noticing possibilities.
I imagine that Danny Willett, the unexpected winner of the Master’s Tournament this year, is pretty thankful that as he headed into the final 9 holes of golf, he did not simply assume that Jordan Spieth would be the winner and that he would be second. Despite the solid lead that Jordan Spieth had, Danny Willett dared to work with the possibility of ‘what if’. And he continued to play his absolute best. Against many odds, he ended up victorious.
I wonder what possibilities have escaped each of us because we were so willing to allow prior expectations to dictate our willingness to try something again – even when we had plenty of evidence that the outcome would likely not change.
If it is true that “It’s not written until it’s over”, then the story of our life is not yet finished. The most wonderful news is that we are the author of our story and we get to choose exactly what that story will be.
My challenge for you this week is to look for a possibility of an outcome that you would not normally expect, and to ‘go for it’. I’ll bet that Danny Willett is very glad that he did!
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