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What are YOUR Limiting Beliefs?

January 28, 2012 By ChrisBaxter

If you are like most people, you probably took the opportunity to set some goals for 2012 right around the beginning of the year.  You may have been so passionate and confident in your plans, that you share New Year’s resolutions with friends and family. Fast forward a month; it’s now the end of January. Have you kept your resolutions? If not, you are not alone. According to a recent study of 1,000 Americans, 98% of all resolutions to change unwanted behaviour fail. Wow!

I’ve helped many clients set goals for golf (and life in general) using a unique process called S.E.T.T.I.N.G. Goals. Once a goal has been established, I help clients to flag limiting beliefs; statements and feelings that the client holds to be true that will limit his or her ability to achieve the goal.

Here is how you can flag your limiting beliefs:

  1. Set a goal using the S.E.T.T.I.N.G Goals system
  2. Grab a notebook and a pen
  3. Read your goal and ask yourself “If I didn’t achieve my goal, why would that be?”
  4. Listen to all the answers that flood your thoughts and write them down!

These answers are your limiting beliefs. Whether or not they are true is irrelevant; if you hold them to be true they will impact your performance and derail your plans for success.

As an example, a golfer might set the following goal”

“November 1, 2012. I now carry a 5 handicap or better in golf”

When flipped around with the question “if I didn’t achieve my goal, why would that be?” , the golfer might write down

  • I am a terrible putter under pressure
  • I don’t have enough time to practice
  • I can’t hit consistently straight drives
  • I am not flexible enough
  • I never achieve my goals

Limiting beliefs are flagged by words that are personal (I can’t, I’m not, etc.) and permanent (always, never, etc.). If these beliefs aren’t changed or challenged, there is no way that the goal will be achieved.

Once your limiting beliefs are identified, it is time to share them with your golf coaches. Your trusted team of professionals can help separate fact from fiction and provide instruction, coaching, and motivation to destroy your limiting beliefs and replace them with new beliefs that support your goals!

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Let The TPA Project Begin!

January 24, 2012 By ChrisBaxter

As you may have heard via our Twitter feeds (@playersacademy, @complete_golf, @vancouvergolf), The Players’ Academy is embarking on a year-long mission to transform the golf games of CKNW’s Dave Sheldon (pictured left) and his fiancee Janice.

Earlier this month, I had the pleasure of meeting Dave and Janice in our Players’ Lounge to kick-start the transformation with a goal setting exercise. Goals are crucial to improving performance; if you don’t know what you want to achieve, how will you know if you’ve been successful?

When working with clients, I use a process called S.E.T.T.I.N.G Goals (read more about it here). This process allows us to write clear and concise goals AND act as if the goal has already been achieved. This later piece helps with buy-in at the unconscious (or subconscious) level.  If you want to be a champion, you have to walk like a champion, talk like a champion, and otherwise carry on like your goal is already a given.

Both Dave and Janice opted to set handicap related goals; Dave wants to lower his handicap index to 6.5. Using the S.E.T.T.I.N.G. Goals system, his goal is:

November 1st, 2012. I now carry a handicap index of 6.5 or better in golf.

This goal checks all the right boxes; we have a specific date, use concise and positive language, have a clear benchmark for success, and incorporate the word NOW (to act as if the goal has already been achieved).

Dave admitted that he has never been one for writing goals down and discovered that in actually putting pen to paper that the goal was becoming more tangible.

Once we had a goal in place, we through a curve ball into the process by asking Dave “If your goal were not to be achieved, why would that be?” This question opens the floodgates for identifying limiting beliefs; thoughts that we hold to be true that limit our performance.

In Dave’s case, the key limiting beliefs were:

  • I don’t have enough time to practice
  • My short game (from 100 yards and in) isn’t good enough

It doesn’t matter if Dave’s limiting beliefs are actually true; he may have a fantastic short game, but if he does not believe that his short game is good, it will derail his ability to perform.

Now that we’ve flagged Dave’s limiting beliefs, we can come up with a plan to change these beliefs through skill development.  Fraser and the rest of the coaching team can help to separate fact from fiction and help Dave to come up with a game plan to achieve his goals. After all, a goal without a plan is just a wish!

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