PracticingwithPurpose.mp3 - powered by Happy Scribe

You're listening to the MentalNotes podcast. In this episode, MentalNotes founder, Scott Dow, explains two different ways to practice.

Okay, I want to tell you a story about two different golfers on the PGA Tour, their two different practice methods, and how those practice methods affected their careers. And it all starts with the three of us sitting around dinner one night. It was early in the week, say a Monday or Tuesday. On the PGA Tour, these are practice days, and I admit the two guys for dinner.

Now a little back story. These two guys were friends and one of them loved to practice, spent a lot of time on the practice range, and he was making a lot of money. But the other pro wasn't. He wasn't practicing as much and he wasn't making anywhere near as much money. You see where the story is going, but stick with me for a second.

The more successful golfer had spent six hours practicing that day. He was in a really good mood. You could tell he had had a good day. He felt like he had had a very productive day. The other pro hadn't spent anywhere near as much time practicing. He said he practiced about three or four hours. But even though he had practiced last time, he was in a really sour mood and he looked exhausted.

Now the conversation, good-nature conversation goes back and forth for a while. But then the better player says to his buddy, you need to cheer up. If you want to make more money, all you need is a better attitude about practice. Now I kept my mouth shut but I tended to agree.

Now his friend thought for a moment and said something that really stuck with me. He looked back at his buddy that was making more money and enjoying practice. And he said, you know what? You're grooving, I'm grinding. There's a difference. I'm going to repeat that. He said, you're grooving, I'm grinding. There's a difference.

The better player really got a kick out of that statement. And he knew exactly what his friend meant. If a pro is grooving their swing, they're simply refining the things that they're already good at. It's less stressful, it's comfortable. Hell, it's easy. That's what the better player was doing. He was grooving. The pro that wasn't making as much money was grinding. He was working on all the stuff he wasn't good at. That's why it was stressful, it was uncomfortable, it was such hard work.

So what's my point? As you think about your personal development, you have to decide if you want to groove or grind. Do you want to refine what you're already good at or do you want to put in the work to get better?

Now before you answer, I want to give you the rest of the story. I continued working with these two guys for the next four years. Now the groover had a nice career but he didn't improve much. In fact over time, his career began to slowly fade. Now the grinder, that was a different story. He started to win more and more prize money. In fact, over those next four years, his earnings more than doubled his buddy's. He even won one of the most prestigious tournaments on the PGA Tour.

So there are a couple of key takeaways, and the first one's this. The amount of practice you do isn't as important as the quality of practice. Remember, the grinder that day, in any day, never spend as much time practicing as the groover did. Second thing is this. Effective practice is really hard work. That's why the grinder was exhausted and in a sour mood, that in most days after he spent his time on the practice range.

And the third and final thing is this, the most important point. To get better, you have to grind. If you spend all your time refining what's already comfortable, you're going to get comfortably stuck in your comfort zone. Remember this, personal development begins where your comfort zone ends. Growth lives outside your comfort zone. Success is enjoyable and it's comfortable, but the road to success isn't. It's not comfortable. It's really hard work.

We're going to be talking about self coaching, and I want you to think of self coaching as your practice plan. It's a roadmap for navigating outside your comfort zone. It's a plan to help you grind on skills you don't have today. And I promise you, it'll help you today, but it's going to help you tomorrow, and it'll help you along into your future.