On Saturday, Rick and I were out playing Frisbee golf. I have been consistently getting better, but Saturday was a tough day! It was very windy and I was having a tough go of it. I threw one disc (by mistake, of course) into a lake. I was struggling to make par. We were on the 13th hole and I had another bad drive. I was immensely frustrated! As I was walking towards the disc for my second throw, I remembered a bit of coaching I received back when I was a league bowler (okay, don’t laugh!).

At the time, I was a decent bowler, but I had one significant problem: when my first ball went awry, my second ball would likely find the gutter. A member of one of our opposing teams was an elderly man who made very few strikes, but usually ended up with no open frames. In other words, he found a way to get spares in most of the frames. At the end of our first game, he pulled me aside and said, "You are a good bowler, but you could be much better, if you can simply learn and accept one rule: the first ball – and what you do with it – does not determine the result of the second ball. They are totally separate acts. Bowl like it."

As I picked up my disc, I focused solely on the throw in front of me. At that point, what I had done before simply didn't matter. What mattered was what I did next. I made the approach shot of my life! It landed at the base of the basket setting me up for a very easy par shot. It was a good reminder of the value of pausing, regrouping and focusing on the next act.

How can you remain focused on your next shot – on what you do next?

To Your Success,

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