3-Step System to Play Shot by Shot – The Ultimate Focus

Focus is tough, especially in competition with so many things going on.

I was reading an article in the New York Times about Tiger Wood’s win in the Tour Championship. The title said, “How Tiger Woods Won the Tour Championship, Shot by Shot”. Most people don’t understand this concept, but I sure do. This is part of the work I do with golfers and all other clients. This philosophy is the make or break of your game. It’s called slightly different things in different sports, but the premise is the same – hit, shoot, or catch, let it go and move onto the next. Simple, right? Ha, not really!

Our brain is full

Your brain is going all the time thinking about this, that, or the other thing. It’s human nature. You read something on Facebook and your brain attaches itself to it. Or, you are working on a project and your brain continues to think about it. Maybe you had a fight with a loved one and your brain won’t let it go. You made a mistake during training or practice and you are beating yourself up about it. Many days all of those things are going on at the same time and you are trying to walk the dog, wash the dishes, listen to music, have a conversation with your spouse, and get other work done. That’s a lot!

When we have something on our mind

When we have thoughts, we feed them. Some of this thinking can be helpful but most of it is just taking up space and time from the other thing that we should be focusing on in that moment. Facebook, the project, the fight, and the mistake all require some thought but not on and on, and not while you are working on something else. Your brain cannot do or think about both things at the same time so what ends up happening is that each topic gets a little bit of thought. Your brain will try to effectively switch back and forth, but it can’t. What topic does your mind generally get stuck on?

Usually the most emotional, ego driven, or one we can’t ‘solve’.

Step #1 – Be Present

The problem is not necessarily how much you have going on in your brain but that all of IT, is taking away from performing (well) on everything else.

In life and sports, learning to take things ‘shot by shot’ is an incredibly important and helpful lesson to learn. It’s hard but you have the ability to do it.
Similar to all other muscles in the body, the brain has plasticity that will expand and grow if you consistently train it to do what you want. The notion of shot by shot is the idea that you can be present in each shot. When you learn to develop this mindset, you have a deeper ability to react and respond fully to situations.

Step #2 – Reel in the “mind wander”

Once you develop the ability to be more present you can train your brain to recognize when it’s wandering off. It’s really, really hard to recognize when your brain is wandering off and losing focus from its intended place of focus. It’s another skill that when developed can help you get out of situations you don’t need to be in, stop your thinking from being all over the place, and allow you to bring your focus back to where it should be in order to perform most optimally.

Step #3 – Refocus and be present again

After you’ve developed the ability to be present and better recognize when your mind wanders off, you now have to decide what to bring it back to. In Tiger’s situation, it’s most important for him to bring it back to the next shot (versus the last bad shot or what his score can be in the future if he hits…).

Be in the shot. Focus on it and learn to tune out distractions particularly from your wandering mind.

Train your brain

Take a short 5-minute walk. As you walk down the street, pay conscious attention to what’s in your environment. Focus. When you realize you’ve lost your focus bring it back to your immediate environment.

Every time you lose your focus, your goal is simply to notice and gently, without judgement, guide it back.

In the initial attempt, one of my tennis players reported losing her focus a lot. By the end of her 3rd attempt she noticed that she was able to keep her focus longer, more quickly notice when she lost focus, and bring it back and translate it onto the tennis court.

Focus on it 100%

When you are in your head thinking about something that happened or might happen you are not thinking about what you are doing. When you aren’t giving the thing you are doing your full attention, it doesn’t get done to the best of your ability. For example, in golf if you hook a shot and are thinking about it for another several holes, you are no longer playing golf.

You are in your head. You can’t go back and change the hook you hit several holes ago so why are you still thinking about it and letting it get in the way of your current shot.

Learn to be present, let go of rewind and fast forward thinking, and refocus on what you are doing NOW.