Sunday August 7, 2022

What I learned this week | Play & The Purge

Greetings, Fam!

I hope this Sunday evening read will help everyone kick tomorrow off with a burst of positive energy. I'm excited to share "the purge" — an exercise I've been doing with a coach for two years that's helped me clear negative thoughts and unlock clarity and focus.

My feed this week

• These short stories about golf helped me play in life (Imagine Golf)

• Stew's Newsletter on learning and desire doubled down on the above

What I learned this week

• Instagram ads sometimes work. I started golfing more in Miami. Visit a golf course once, and you'll get seventy-two thousand golf ads. I caved and downloaded the Imagine Golf app and even paid for it. The result? Way better than I imagined - wink wink. Imagine Golf is a series of audio clips that tell happy, fun stories about golfers; young ones, older people, professionals, beginners, men, women, and downright awful players. The first story I listened to was about "the worst golfer in the world." His name is Maurice Flitcroft, and there's a tournament named after him. Imagine Golf captures something unique and yet applicable to all games IMO. And that is — all games, life included, become more about the inner work once a particular skill has been developed. As a lifelong golfer, I developed a terrible internal dialogue when I started playing competitively. TLDR: I was convinced I'd only ever be so good and stopped trying. After one year of collegiate golf, I quit. Would I have ever played professionally? Probably not. The older I got, the more I realized I had different dreams. That's not the point. The game itself had stopped being fun. I stopped playing, which impacted my life off the course too. (I was resentful.) Imagine Golf helps people lower their scores by reconnecting them to why they started in the first place. There are no swing tips or "how to" videos - inner work only. It's helped me think more positively, reconnect to my childhood fascination for the sport, and focus on having a consistent, confident routine instead of the score. More importantly - it's helped me take things a lot less seriously. Another reminder to lean into play.

• I'm happy entrepreneurs are speaking more openly about the mental game too. Is there an Imagine Golf for founders? The Kobe Bryant quote in Stew's newsletter doubles down on what I wrote above. Learning new skills and getting more information goes only so far. The real breakthroughs happen when we're emotionally ready.

Try this on

• The Purge is a tool I learned from the Handel Group. It helps me clear negative thoughts and emotions. This video from coach Lauren Zander explains how to do it. Here's my version:

  • Write the uncensored story about anything unwanted. Be the worst version of yourself; curse, name-call, all of it. Be horrible for 15 minutes. It's fun. Make sure you write in the first person - "I can't stand this," "It never works for me," Etc.

  • Find the trends. You'll find there are only one or two things you're scared, angry, or upset about. Group those sentences into buckets and name them.

  • Cross out the fake sh*t. You've just written from the voice of your lower self. It's time to remember that it isn't you. Your inner dialogue isn't you. Your ego spins lies and stories to keep you safe. Now that you see them cross them out. Re-write your narrative, including how you want to feel and who you want to be.

  • Take action. Make a few promises that would re-write the story in reality. Keep the promises.

Let's all play this week,

✌️ Mike