Fearless Golf: Conquering the Mental Game

accomplishment. This is because unless people believe that their actions can produce the outcomes they desire, they have little incentive to act or to persevere in the face of difficulties. Our self-efficacy beliefs are instrumental to the goals that we pursue and to the control we exercise over our world, however large or modest that world may be. A great deal of research evidence now supports the contention that self-efficacy beliefs touch virtually every aspect of our lives. Whether we think productively or destructively, pessimistically or optimistically determines in large part how well we motivate ourselves and persevere in the face of adversities; how vulnerable we are to stress and depression, and even what sort of life choices we make. In short, self-efficacy beliefs help determine the outcomes one expects.
People with strong self-efficacy anticipate successful outcomes
. Golfers confident in their putting ability anticipate, even visualize, making successful putts. Those confident in their driving skills expect their drives to be straight and true off the tee. The opposite is true of those who lack self-efficacy. Golfers who doubt their putting ability regularly envision two- or three-putting difficult greens. Those who lack confidence in their driving skills envision uncontrollable hooks and slices even before their driver comes in contact with the ball. And, of course, it’s amazing how often the expected results are achieved: a low round for the former, defeat and constant difficulties for the latter.

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    perseverance

    It is one thing to set goals, but it is quite another to persevere against the setbacks that stand in the way of achieving those goals. Individuals with high self-efficacy view obstacles as challenges to overcome rather than as barriers to avoid. For example, behind every great success story in the history of human achievement is a resilient sense of self-efficacy. The number of examples are inspiring.

    • Thomas Edison’s teachers said he was “too stupid to learn anything.” He was fired from his first two jobs for being “nonproductive.” As an inventor, Edison made 1,000 unsuccessful attempts at inventing the light bulb. When a reporter asked, “How did it feel to fail 1,000 times?” Edison cleverly replied, “I didn’t fail 1,000 times. The light bulb was an invention with 1,000 steps.”

    • Henry Ford failed and went broke five times before he succeeded.

    • As a young man, Abraham Lincoln went to war a captain and returned a private. Afterward, he was a failure as a businessman. As a lawyer in Springfield, he was too impractical and temperamental to be a success. He turned to politics and was defeated in his first try for the legislature, again defeated in his first attempt to be nominated for Congress, defeated in his application to be commissioner of the General Land Office, defeated in the senatorial election of 1854, defeated in his efforts for the vice presidency in 1856, and defeated in the senatorial election of 1858. At about that time, he wrote in a letter to a friend, “I am now the most miserable man living. If what I feel were equally distributed to the whole human family, there would not be one cheerful face on the earth.” Two years later he was elected president.

    • Albert Einstein did not speak until he was four years old and did not read until he was seven. His parents thought he was “subnormal,” and one of his teachers described him as “mentally slow, unsociable, and adrift forever in foolish dreams.” He was expelled from school and was refused admittance to the Zurich Polytechnic School. He did eventually learn to speak and read. Even to do a little math.

    • Van Gogh sold only one painting during his life. And this to the sister of one of his friends for $50.

    • Baseball great Derek Jeter went 0 for 14 in his first 14 at bats as a pro. Hank Aaron went 0 for 5 in his first game with the Milwaukee Braves.

    • Coaches Tom Landry, Chuck Noll, Bill Walsh, and Jimmy Johnson accounted for eleven of the nineteen Super Bowl victories from 1974 to 1993. They also share the distinction of having the worst records of first-season head coaches in NFL history. Their collective record as first-year coaches was 1 win and 45 losses.

    • An expert said of Vince Lombardi: “He possesses minimal football knowledge and lacks motivation.” Lombardi would later write, “It’s not whether you get knocked down; it’s whether you get back