Speaker 1: Hi. I'm Lisa from Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and I play
Speaker 1: at Airport National Golf Course.
Speaker 2: Welcome to golf Smiter.
Speaker 1: Hi. This is Mark Mason from Wahawa, South Carolina. I
Speaker 1: played my golf at o'conny Country Club and this is
Speaker 1: Golf Smarter Episode one twenty two.
Speaker 2: Here's the extra little bit of bonus to those of
Speaker 2: us that are athletes. Grateful athletes perform better, so we're
Speaker 2: actually seeing gratitude as a performance enhandser that gets us
Speaker 2: closer to success. So if you have two golfers who
Speaker 2: are similar in levels of ability, but one of them
Speaker 2: walks through last with a lens of gratitude and says,
Speaker 2: isn't it wonderful that I get to play on this course?
Speaker 2: How fortunate am I? People often say me, why do
Speaker 2: you think gratitude is performance and hancster and I think
Speaker 2: one of the reasons is you cannot be grateful and
Speaker 2: complain at the same time, Like those two things do
Speaker 2: not go hand in hand, getting on what I call
Speaker 2: the complaint train. My shots are terrible today and I
Speaker 2: can't believe that it's cloudy and it's a bit hotter
Speaker 2: than I thought, and people in front are too slow,
Speaker 2: and there's people going too quickly behind us, and all
Speaker 2: that sort of stuff that already sounds like the sort
Speaker 2: of person I don't really want to spend a couple
Speaker 2: of hours with. But it also doesn't put you in
Speaker 2: a mindset that sets you up to being open and
Speaker 2: created and curious, which we know of those things that
Speaker 2: go help us in terms of performance. When we are grateful,
Speaker 2: it's almost like an internal little sigh where we relax.
Speaker 2: Complaining and winging is tense. Gratitude is an absolute winner
Speaker 2: for us in terms of performance enhancement.
Speaker 3: The practices of elite athletes that will help all amateur golfers.
Speaker 1: With doctor Joe Lucas, this is golf s Murder, sharing stories,
Speaker 1: tips and insights from great golf minds to help you
Speaker 1: lower your score and raise your golf IQ.
Speaker 2: Here's your host, Fred Green.
Speaker 1: Welcome to the Golf Murder Podcast.
Speaker 2: Joe Ah, Hi, Fred, good to be with you.
Speaker 1: It's great to be with you. We've had doctor Joe
Speaker 1: on many times in this show, but it was doctor
Speaker 1: Joe parent It's great. It's great to have doctor Joe.
Speaker 1: Luken's on. A woman who has a really good book
Speaker 1: called The elite think like an athlete, succeed like a champion.
Speaker 1: I am fascinated and I want to go real deep
Speaker 1: with this. I think it's a great topic, especially for
Speaker 1: the golf Smarter audience.
Speaker 2: Yeah, thank you, Fred, looking forward to the conversation.
Speaker 1: So, you know, elite athletes have this routine. I guess
Speaker 1: that it would be called that would be prepare, train, compete, Prepare, train, compete,
Speaker 1: and it just goes on. And that is the cycle
Speaker 1: that they're in, right, And how did you get to
Speaker 1: that point under stid where you're going.
Speaker 2: With the book? Yeah, So the book's come of about
Speaker 2: after a number of years of working in the area.
Speaker 2: Like you said, it's that Prepare, Train, compete. And then
Speaker 2: the extra element that I like to put in with
Speaker 2: that is part of that preparation is to learn from
Speaker 2: the competition, you know. So my two favorite reminders for athletes, coaches, teams,
Speaker 2: you know, whomever I might be working with, is to
Speaker 2: always remember that success leaves clues. So when we have
Speaker 2: been successful in our performance, as successful in our practice,
Speaker 2: you know that hasn't come about by accident. So there's
Speaker 2: the little clues that sit in behind that. So understanding
Speaker 2: the clues so we can rinse and repeat them, and then,
Speaker 2: of course, when things don't quite great, a plan, which
Speaker 2: is also part of what it is in golf and
Speaker 2: in other sports as well. It's understanding that there's always
Speaker 2: a lesson on offers, so if we're wise, we'll stop, plause,
Speaker 2: learn the lesson, and then hopefully we can we can
Speaker 2: improve from that. So I guess Elite was the first
Speaker 2: book that I wrote, and it really was design. I
Speaker 2: guess it was a bit of a reflection piece for
Speaker 2: me in some ways. You know, it's what if I
Speaker 2: learned from working with the elite athletes and performers that
Speaker 2: I've worked in throughout my career, because I work in
Speaker 2: a brained domains and sports in my country, and so
Speaker 2: it's really been about what have I learned, and then
Speaker 2: what are those lessons that we can translate for anyone,
Speaker 2: whatever their discipline might be. And you know, even for
Speaker 2: the non athletes out there. You know, I know that
Speaker 2: you don't need to be an elite athlete to think
Speaker 2: like one, So we can translate some of those lessons
Speaker 2: and that's certainly some of the things I get to
Speaker 2: do in the work that I do.
Speaker 1: Well. I'm glad that you said, you don't have to
Speaker 1: be the elite athlete to think like one, And I
Speaker 1: think that's part of what golf smurder has always been about,
Speaker 1: is how to fine tune our mental approach to the
Speaker 1: game and our emotional approach to the game so that
Speaker 1: we don't have to just focus on our mechanics.
Speaker 2: Yeah. I would agree with that because I think that,
Speaker 2: you know, when we approach our sport in a way
Speaker 2: that is curious and we're open to learning, you know,
Speaker 2: it really sets us up. I mean, I think it's essentially,
Speaker 2: you know, there's probably a lot of goals that we
Speaker 2: set for ourselves, and particularly within golf, there's lots of
Speaker 2: things that people would be working on and wanting to
Speaker 2: achieve and to attain. But if you can walk away
Speaker 2: from it feeling like you've had some success in particular areas,
Speaker 2: it's just very satisfying. And I guess that's what Keys is.
Speaker 2: Going back to play again.
Speaker 1: Tell me your background on how you got to this
Speaker 1: and what made you study athletes in this way.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so you would think that being a high performance
Speaker 2: psychology expert, that was all part of a cunning plan,
Speaker 2: but it turns out that it wasn't it. Actually I
Speaker 2: got here by accident. To be honest, I as a
Speaker 2: young high school student, I thought I was joining the
Speaker 2: police force. So you might have picked up the audience
Speaker 2: might have picked up for my accent that I'm Australian,
Speaker 2: Australian based and as a young high see I don't
Speaker 2: think my accident accent is that pronounced, but anyway, I'm
Speaker 2: sure it is.
Speaker 1: It is.
Speaker 2: It is, okay, I'll try not to be too strine
Speaker 2: with it then, so we no, No, it's okay. It
Speaker 2: can be a little harsh with our sounds sometimes the Aussies.
Speaker 2: So I started, I thought I was going to join
Speaker 2: the police force, and so my parents used to take
Speaker 2: me to the information nights down at the police Academy
Speaker 2: near where I grew up. I if, for those who
Speaker 2: are familiar with Australia, if you look sort of top
Speaker 2: right hand corner, that's where I'm located there, just off
Speaker 2: the barrier reef, which is a nice part of the
Speaker 2: world to be living. And so yes, Mum and I
Speaker 2: would go down to the police Academy would get information
Speaker 2: on how I was going to join the police force.
Speaker 2: When I finally finished high school and in my grade
Speaker 2: twelve year, my final year of high school. As I
Speaker 2: was walking across the campus a police officer was walking
Speaker 2: in the opposite direction and he just stopped me mid
Speaker 2: stride and he said to me, what are you doing here?
Speaker 2: And I said, I'm coming to join the police force.
Speaker 2: And he looked at me and he said, well, what
Speaker 2: degree are you going to do? And in Australia you
Speaker 2: don't need a degree to join the police force, and
Speaker 2: you certainly didn't back in the nineteen eighties. I was
Speaker 2: looking to do it and I said, oh, I didn't
Speaker 2: know that I need to. What do I need to do?
Speaker 2: And he said, we'll just do something to do with people,
Speaker 2: and I said okay. And so, being a good child
Speaker 2: of the eighties, I went back to my school. I
Speaker 2: went back to the guidance officer and said, you know,
Speaker 2: I need to do a degree. It's got to be
Speaker 2: something to do with people. He said, what about psychology.
Speaker 2: I said that sounds good, and so I went and
Speaker 2: did a psychology degree. And I think probably for the
Speaker 2: good people of Queensland where I live. I don't know
Speaker 2: what sort of police officer I would have been, but
Speaker 2: I studied psychology. By the end of my fourth year,
Speaker 2: I'd found my love of sports psychology particularly and Australia,
Speaker 2: you know, like it is in the US, is very
Speaker 2: much a sports loving country, so there's lots of opportunity.
Speaker 2: There's national teams within the region that I live in.
Speaker 2: And now that I've spent sort of over three decades
Speaker 2: working in sports psychology, you know, I travel a lot
Speaker 2: around Australia. I have athletes from all different kinds of sports,
Speaker 2: teen sports, individual sports, and so forth. So that's where
Speaker 2: that all came about. And then about twenty five, twenty
Speaker 2: seven years deep into my work, I thought, you know what,
Speaker 2: and someone once said to me, if there's advice you're
Speaker 2: continually giving out, then think about putting it into a book,
Speaker 2: because that's a way to reach more people. So that's
Speaker 2: how The Elite came about. And I did a little
Speaker 2: bit of research into how to write a book and
Speaker 2: how to get that out there. Turns out that's a
Speaker 2: whole other adventure, and so The Elite was written and
Speaker 2: I'm continuing to refine that process. So I'm actually just
Speaker 2: about to release book number five.
Speaker 1: So wow.
Speaker 2: But the Elite is it's the one that I talk
Speaker 2: about the most. It's the one that has the broaders readership.
Speaker 2: And in addition to my work in sport, I also
Speaker 2: work in the Australian Defense Force. So many of our
Speaker 2: incredible defense members in Australia have have read The Elite
Speaker 2: and we include that as part of the education pieces
Speaker 2: that I deliver into the Defense Force as well.
Speaker 1: Fabulous fascinating background and what bright took you from police
Speaker 1: work and training and you know, getting that psychology, how
Speaker 1: did you get to sports? So I will opened those doors.
Speaker 2: Yeah, So there was my super In our fourth year
Speaker 2: of our degree, we I was given the opportunity to
Speaker 2: do an honors program and in that you need to
Speaker 2: do a set body of work and some set research.
Speaker 2: And it was actually my supervisor who I went to.
Speaker 2: She was someone who taught me through my degree. I
Speaker 2: really gravitated to her. I liked the way she thinked,
Speaker 2: I liked the way she challenged me. And her particular
Speaker 2: area of interest was child psychology. And so whilst I
Speaker 2: didn't specifically want to go into child psychology per se,
Speaker 2: we were talking one day and she said, you know,
Speaker 2: you could always do it in an area that interests you,
Speaker 2: that involves children. So my very first research was with
Speaker 2: It was probably the bravest research I've done in my
Speaker 2: career because I worked with eight year olds and ten
Speaker 2: year olds. So every one who's ever spent time with
Speaker 2: eight year olds and ten year olds, I've raised two
Speaker 2: of them. But you know, I love children of that
Speaker 2: age because they really don't have the filter that many
Speaker 2: of us learn as adults. So I looked at I
Speaker 2: compared children's levels of self esteem, and depending upon their
Speaker 2: self esteem, whether their self esteem was higher or lower,
Speaker 2: whether that had an influence then on how they would
Speaker 2: explain their relative successes and disappointments in sport. And it's
Speaker 2: probably no surprise to the audience listening that those children
Speaker 2: who had higher levels of self esteem would tend to
Speaker 2: attribute their successes in a more complimentary way to themselves.
Speaker 2: They'd think it was because of their ability. They'd see
Speaker 2: it because of their effort, whereas children with lower self
Speaker 2: esteem would say, you know, well, I was just lucky
Speaker 2: that day and competition wasn't very hard, and those sorts
Speaker 2: of things. So I was really curious about how children
Speaker 2: explain the world. I've always been interested in those levels
Speaker 2: of attributions, and that's always been an area of interest
Speaker 2: for me, and then that developed further from there and that.
Speaker 1: Took you to professional athletes.
Speaker 3: It did.
Speaker 2: So I live in the re of Australia, as I said,
Speaker 2: sort of top right hand corner of Australia, and at
Speaker 2: that point in time, not long after I graduated, I'm
Speaker 2: a big fan of I don't know if you remember Fred.
Speaker 2: In nineteen ninety six, Gwyneth Paltrow was in a movie
Speaker 2: it was Sliding Doors, and the Sliding Doors movie was
Speaker 2: all about I think in that movie it was whether
Speaker 2: or not she took a subway, you know, she got
Speaker 2: the subway or she missed the subway. In the movie
Speaker 2: sort of split down the middle and it showed her life.
Speaker 2: And the Sliding Doors moment for me, apart from the
Speaker 2: police officer stopping me. You know, six or seven years earlier,
Speaker 2: was that a new football team came to our region
Speaker 2: and they didn't have a sports psychologist there. There wasn't
Speaker 2: actually anyone working in sports psychology in our town. And
Speaker 2: with all the bravado and gusto that you might have
Speaker 2: at the age of I think I was about twenty
Speaker 2: five at the time, of course, I thought I could
Speaker 2: do it, so I I you know, fortune favors the Brave,
Speaker 2: I guess, and so I ended up speaking with the
Speaker 2: head coach there and was appointed and stayed with that
Speaker 2: team for twenty six years.
Speaker 1: I actually have been to Brisbane in the early to
Speaker 1: mid nineties. I was there with the National Basketball Association.
Speaker 2: They oh, there you got.
Speaker 1: They had a fan event and they wanted me to
Speaker 1: come along to do my thing over there.
Speaker 2: So oh fantastic it was, and I loved it.
Speaker 1: I've been begging my wife, come on, come with me,
Speaker 1: Let's go back to Australia. Playah A.
Speaker 2: I grew up just north of Brisbane, so okay, yeah,
Speaker 2: I work with Australian Busball Association, so there you go.
Speaker 2: Lots of connections, lots of connections.
Speaker 1: That's great in the elite. The one of the things
Speaker 1: that really stood out to me, And I wish I
Speaker 1: would have known this as a young person, not just
Speaker 1: through sport, but in life as the failure the way
Speaker 1: you describe it here, failure is not the opposite of success,
Speaker 1: but an integral part of it. I wish I would
Speaker 1: have realized that not succeeding isn't necessarily failure. It just
Speaker 1: breeds experience and it is what gets you to success.
Speaker 2: Absolutely, it's the pathway for learning. I think, you know, like,
Speaker 2: of course, we would all prefer to have success come
Speaker 2: away first time around. That would be you know, that
Speaker 2: would be wonderful if that's what happened, But I guess
Speaker 2: that's not the reality of the world that we live in.
Speaker 2: And you know, and golf is certainly one of those
Speaker 2: sports that there is so many opportunities to learn along
Speaker 2: the way and to gain wisdom whilst you're playing and
Speaker 2: whilst you're practicing. So I think it's I think, as
Speaker 2: you say, it's broader than what we do within our sport.
Speaker 2: It's how we approach life and when we understand that
Speaker 2: when the disappointments come, it isn't so much what happens
Speaker 2: to us. It is about what we do with it.
Speaker 2: And so when we see those disappointments, and it's okay,
Speaker 2: if you know, if it hurts for a little bit,
Speaker 2: if we kind of feel like we're a bit bruised
Speaker 2: from the experience, so give us seals permission to take
Speaker 2: a deep breath, you know, give ourselves permission to be
Speaker 2: a bit annoyed by it, if that's what we feel
Speaker 2: that we are. But what we need to do, then,
Speaker 2: is to put ourselves on a pathway with what I
Speaker 2: would call a performance mindset rather than fixed mindset. That
Speaker 2: you know, failures, disappointments, all those sorts of things. Failures
Speaker 2: is a word I don't typically try to use that
Speaker 2: too often for myself, but I do recognize the challenges
Speaker 2: and the disappointments when things don't go my way, and
Speaker 2: then go, well, here's life giving me a chance to
Speaker 2: learn something here. I wonder what the lesson is.
Speaker 1: What separated golfers from other athletes From your research.
Speaker 2: I think golf is a sport. I mean, I think,
Speaker 2: of all, there's so many sports that have such a
Speaker 2: strong mental component, but I think golf is for me.
Speaker 2: And I guess my experience with golf goes back to
Speaker 2: ramp at the time I thought I was joining the
Speaker 2: police force. Was I did in Australia. The subjects often
Speaker 2: referred to as PE or physical education, and we did
Speaker 2: a golf unit in my grade twelve years so that's
Speaker 2: when I first was introduced to golf for myself. But
Speaker 2: I've grown up with my father's played golf all of
Speaker 2: his life, so we're a golfing family. I have two sons,
Speaker 2: you know, they play golf, and I play a little
Speaker 2: bit of golf as well, and I am very much
Speaker 2: know every expert was once a beginner, and I am
Speaker 2: very much consider myself in the beginner ranks. But that's okay,
Speaker 2: that's what it is with golf. But I think the
Speaker 2: thing with golf is because it's you know, it's a
Speaker 2: sport where you play it over an extended period of time.
Speaker 2: So over the course of a couple of hours each
Speaker 2: time that you go out to play, you know, you
Speaker 2: have a lot of time to think, you have a
Speaker 2: lot of time to be inside your head, if we
Speaker 2: want to use that sort of expression. And so it's
Speaker 2: such a great opportunity to be mindful about the way
Speaker 2: we choose to speak to ourselves because there's no doubt
Speaker 2: that there's that relationship between what we say and how
Speaker 2: we feel, and how we feel is really what drives
Speaker 2: what we do. You know, So if something doesn't go
Speaker 2: to plan on the course, you know you're driving and
Speaker 2: it's not you know you're driving. You know you've had
Speaker 2: a couple of instances, over a couple of holes where
Speaker 2: it hasn't quite been what you've wanted. If your self
Speaker 2: talk is, for example, oh my driving is no good today,
Speaker 2: Then it sounds like you've actually set the scene for
Speaker 2: what's going to happen in the future in addition to
Speaker 2: what's happened in the past. So it's that challenge, isn't it,
Speaker 2: of going well? Okay? So it's true that for the
Speaker 2: last three holes that hasn't been the way that I've
Speaker 2: wanted it to. But I've still got six holes in
Speaker 2: front of me? So how can I think about this
Speaker 2: in a little more helpful way? And I think one
Speaker 2: of the phrases that I guess, the framework that I've
Speaker 2: found that's particularly useful for a lot of the athletes
Speaker 2: that I work with, but also for myself is to
Speaker 2: look at it through the lens of what's going to
Speaker 2: be helpful right now. So you know, when I've worked
Speaker 2: with golfers, it's really been about, you know, in light
Speaker 2: of where I'm at right now, in light of what's
Speaker 2: been happening, about how I'm feeling, what's the most helpful
Speaker 2: approach for me moving forward? And if you can move
Speaker 2: your self closer to the helpful, then you know you're
Speaker 2: less likely to go down a path where you're maybe
Speaker 2: negative or self deprecating in a way that doesn't get
Speaker 2: you closer to the goals or the success that you're
Speaker 2: looking for.
Speaker 1: And what can be helpful right now? I mean I
Speaker 1: frequently have said that the history has nothing to do
Speaker 1: with golf. When people start, oh boy, I can't drive today,
Speaker 1: I'm not it's not working. It's like, well, that has
Speaker 1: nothing to do with your next shot. And if you
Speaker 1: place that in your head and start telling yourself that,
Speaker 1: then you're doomed. So just go just close your eyes, relax,
Speaker 1: go through your your preshot or whatever it is that
Speaker 1: you need to do, but focus on what's next. Stop
Speaker 1: you know, eating yourself up.
Speaker 2: Basically exactly. And I would completely concur with that, Fred,
Speaker 2: because you're right, that self fulfilling prophecy that we create
Speaker 2: for ourselves. If we say my putting's no good today,
Speaker 2: or you know, I can't get shot in or whatever
Speaker 2: that might be, then don't be surprised when you replicate it.
Speaker 2: Because of course, one of the other things we know
Speaker 2: is that what we tell ourselves as humans, For many
Speaker 2: of us, we do think in visuals, so we are
Speaker 2: more likely to you know, if we talk to ourselves
Speaker 2: in a way that's less helpful in golf, And I
Speaker 2: don't even want to put the negative thoughts in anyone's
Speaker 2: mind as I'm talking through this, So I typically go
Speaker 2: to a different sport for this example, if I may. So,
Speaker 2: if you are a track hurdler, you know, and you're
Speaker 2: lined up at the start of the race, it's not
Speaker 2: going to be helpful for you to think, don't hit
Speaker 2: the hurdles, don't hit the hurdles, because you actually get
Speaker 2: that visual that image of the hurdles going down. What
Speaker 2: you would be what's more helpful is to go, well,
Speaker 2: you know, as I approach the hurdles, like clear the hurdles,
Speaker 2: like clear the hurdles, like clear the hurdles. So the
Speaker 2: same applies in golf. That as you said, it might
Speaker 2: be about your preshop routine. It might be about a visualization.
Speaker 2: There might be a cue word you say to yourself, well,
Speaker 2: maybe you just simply exhale and you don't think about
Speaker 2: any thing. You know, some performers that I work with,
Speaker 2: you know, they like the verbal cues for themselves. Others
Speaker 2: just say I don't actually want to think about anything.
Speaker 2: I just want to feel my way through it. So
Speaker 2: we all have to find our own pathway. But I
Speaker 2: do think it's you tapped into the probably one of
Speaker 2: the most important elements in sport, but particularly in golf,
Speaker 2: it's that understanding as humans, we've got three dimensions of
Speaker 2: time that we operate in, Like you said, our history,
Speaker 2: what's happened, what's happened to everything right up to this moment,
Speaker 2: what's happening in this current moment right now, and then
Speaker 2: what does it look like in our future? And physically
Speaker 2: we can only be in one of those spots, and
Speaker 2: that's in the present because unless we've got a time machine,
Speaker 2: which would be kind of cool, but we don't have one,
Speaker 2: you know, So we can't go back to this morning,
Speaker 2: we can't go ahead to the weekend, you know, whenever
Speaker 2: it might be sometime in the future. So physically we
Speaker 2: can only ever be in the present. But mentally time travelers.
Speaker 2: Mentally you can take yourself to wherever you want to be.
Speaker 2: Like you said, you could be thinking back to what
Speaker 2: happened that on the first hole, or you could be
Speaker 2: thinking about what's going to happen when you get to
Speaker 2: the clubhouse or whatever it might be. But the challenge
Speaker 2: for athletes, the challenge for golfers is to have their
Speaker 2: head in the right place at the right time. And
Speaker 2: to your point, you know, I would envisage that at
Speaker 2: the moment of taking the shot, and please, this is
Speaker 2: now your expertise, because you haven't brought me on here
Speaker 2: for my golf expertise more than my mental expertise. But
Speaker 2: my expectation would be around the time that you are
Speaker 2: taking the shot, you know, your focus does become far
Speaker 2: more narrowed. You may have gone into the past as
Speaker 2: you were selecting your club. You may look into the
Speaker 2: future as you survey the hole in front of you
Speaker 2: and you pick up on the distance and the hazards
Speaker 2: and the you know where you're hoping that the first
Speaker 2: shot is going to go. But at the point where
Speaker 2: you're actually taking the shot, my expectation would be that
Speaker 2: your focus sort of narrows a little bit in terms
Speaker 2: of time, and it's about being in the moment and
Speaker 2: however you need to spend the time in that moment. So,
Speaker 2: as I said, it could be through instruction to yourself,
Speaker 2: it could be through an image, it could be through
Speaker 2: a breath, whatever it might be. We've all got our
Speaker 2: own strategies, but it's how we navigate past present and future.
Speaker 2: That really helps to define then whether we've got our
Speaker 2: head in the right place at the right time.
Speaker 1: Regularly when I'm playing with someone in there or even myself,
Speaker 1: don't hit the water, don't hit the water. Don't hit
Speaker 1: the water. I always, you know, like chime in and say,
Speaker 1: you know, the last three words you just said, hit
Speaker 1: the water, hit the water, hit the water, and they're
Speaker 1: like what oh yeaheah, yeah, don't even just focus somewhere else.
Speaker 2: Absolutely, And I think the good reminder there is is
Speaker 2: that our brain struggles with the word don't. Your advice
Speaker 2: is so wise there. It's almost like if you can
Speaker 2: imagine those four words, it's written down on a page,
Speaker 2: put a big line through the don't because your brain
Speaker 2: doesn't hear it, you know. And if we go you know,
Speaker 2: my go to example, which probably resonates well for you
Speaker 2: at the moment, is I say, you know, don't think
Speaker 2: about the Eiffel Tower, you know, and when we don't
Speaker 2: think about the earful tower, boom, there it is, you know,
Speaker 2: right there in front of us that we do think
Speaker 2: in visuals and so you know, it's that extra little
Speaker 2: bit of work that we need to do to tell ourselves. So, okay,
Speaker 2: we know we don't want to hit it into the water,
Speaker 2: So where do you want to hit it? You know?
Speaker 2: And if it's down the fairway, down the fairway is helpful.
Speaker 2: Three words not in the water is the unhelpful ones.
Speaker 2: So it's and that translates across life, doesn't it. You know,
Speaker 2: you have a three year old in your lund room
Speaker 2: with a glass of water and you tell them not
Speaker 2: to spill it, and then you wander way. You end
Speaker 2: up with water all over your floor, you know. So
Speaker 2: what you need to say is careful hands, you know.
Speaker 2: So so, and that's when we're instructing others, but it's
Speaker 2: also when we're talking to ourselves because when we have
Speaker 2: a don't phrase in our mind, we've then got to
Speaker 2: do all that extra work and you know, transfer it
Speaker 2: back to what the actions are actually going.
Speaker 1: To look like exactly exactly. So the subtitle of the
Speaker 1: subtitle of the Elite, think like an athlete, succeed like
Speaker 1: a champion would be the subtitle of the Elite. But
Speaker 1: the next one is the one that really got my attention.
Speaker 1: That's ten things the elite do differently. Can we break
Speaker 1: those down?
Speaker 2: Yes, yes we can. Please yes, and I mean, certainly
Speaker 2: that's what I've done in the book is so, and
Speaker 2: what I learned in my research about how do you
Speaker 2: write a non fiction book is it seems that the
Speaker 2: general model is that you write a twelve chapter book
Speaker 2: with an introduction and a conclusion, and then you have
Speaker 2: your ten chapters in the middle. So the ten chapters
Speaker 2: in the middle, and that's where I've broken it down
Speaker 2: into some of those key elements that my experience has
Speaker 2: told me is that when athletes get some of these
Speaker 2: things right and work, and they're all the work in progress,
Speaker 2: you know, So it's not like you can work your
Speaker 2: way through the list and just tick them all off.
Speaker 2: Is that you know, for all of us, at whatever
Speaker 2: age we are, we're generally a work in progress. We're
Speaker 2: working on some things. There's always something to work on.
Speaker 2: So those are certainly the ten key chapters there in
Speaker 2: the elite are the key messages that I really wanted
Speaker 2: to focus on in that first book that I wrote,
Speaker 2: because what I wanted to be able to do is
Speaker 2: translate some of the lessons of high performance so that
Speaker 2: anyone can read it and hopefully it's a very comfortable
Speaker 2: read for people to read. Or listen to the audio book,
Speaker 2: however they might want to do it. But you know,
Speaker 2: we've got those lessons there and we can dip into those,
Speaker 2: spend a bit of time with them, and work on
Speaker 2: our skill sets.
Speaker 1: But if it's a golf book, it's going to be eighteen.
Speaker 2: Chapters, well yes, yes, I'd have to make smaller chapters.
Speaker 2: So maybe the golf book that I write will actually
Speaker 2: be eighteen Or as my son did the other day,
Speaker 2: I think he was avoiding doing something some chores at home,
Speaker 2: so he actually played thirty six so he had so
Speaker 2: much time the first time around he went around again,
Speaker 2: So that might be a thirty six chapter.
Speaker 1: All right, so let's start with I mean, I don't
Speaker 1: really care on what order it is, but I'd love
Speaker 1: to get to these ten things that elite athletes do
Speaker 1: that we could learn from, not that we don't, but
Speaker 1: you know, let's also put in perspective that most elite
Speaker 1: athletes are young people, right, I mean, whether the Olympics
Speaker 1: or professional sports, they're between eighteen and thirty years old,
Speaker 1: and we're looking at them like their heroes or something.
Speaker 1: But they've got a talent or they've you know, got
Speaker 1: a work ethic that puts them in a different place
Speaker 1: than most of us who have a work ethic for
Speaker 1: our work, right, so we shouldn't try to compare or
Speaker 1: look to those people as guides for our lives. But
Speaker 1: with that said, what are let's let's break down the
Speaker 1: ten things.
Speaker 2: Yeah, So I think one of the first things that
Speaker 2: I would say is, and it taps into what we've
Speaker 2: been talking about, is about having a master plan for
Speaker 2: your mindset. So it's it's understanding some of those things
Speaker 2: we were talking about earlier that you can have a
Speaker 2: very fixed mindset around how how it is that you think,
Speaker 2: or you can be open and you can be curious
Speaker 2: and interestingly, in the next book that I'm writing, I'm
Speaker 2: talking a lot about curiosity, which which fits in really
Speaker 2: nicely with that notion of having a little bit of
Speaker 2: a master plan around your mindset. It's understanding that the
Speaker 2: way that you think matters, if you know, which is
Speaker 2: such a simple concept in some ways, but it makes
Speaker 2: such an incredible difference. And having that curiosity being open
Speaker 2: to ideas is that you know, what I've what I
Speaker 2: find is that when I meet curious souls, and whether
Speaker 2: that be defense personnel, whether that be elite athletes, whether
Speaker 2: it be you know, really experienced coaches that I work
Speaker 2: with and so forth. It's about having that openness, that curiosity,
Speaker 2: that flexibility in terms of thinking about being open to
Speaker 2: you know, so maybe maybe in my golf game, actually
Speaker 2: my putting is actually probably the best bit of it.
Speaker 2: But you know, so let's say my driving, My driving
Speaker 2: is where there is the most room for improvement. So
Speaker 2: how's that for a positive reframe? So let's just say
Speaker 2: that's what that is for me. So exactly what I've
Speaker 2: just done there, see how I've really tried to positively
Speaker 2: reframe that. You know, it's not the strongest of my
Speaker 2: of my skill set when it comes to golf. And
Speaker 2: if I say to myself, well, I'm not good at driving,
Speaker 2: then that sounds quite fixed and it sounds quite permanent,
Speaker 2: and it doesn't sound particularly positive. But even just shifting
Speaker 2: that thinking slightly, I'm not good at driving, yet it
Speaker 2: recognizes that possibility for improvement. And so I think one
Speaker 2: of one of the key things for us to have
Speaker 2: is that notion of that particular mindset piece. And I
Speaker 2: think that's what's that's what's really helpful for us to
Speaker 2: to start that with the approach around around our actual mindset,
Speaker 2: because we know that your attitude can be your greatest
Speaker 2: or your greatest acquisition, or can be one of your
Speaker 2: biggest barriers.
Speaker 1: Absolutely, absolutely, and probably and again with golf, there's so
Speaker 1: little time that you're actually playing golf, and so much
Speaker 1: of the time is beating yourself up going over the
Speaker 1: last shot or worrying about the next one. Yeah.
Speaker 2: Absolutely, And it's challenging, isn't it Because for many people
Speaker 2: who don't go down the elite pathway, which is the
Speaker 2: majority of golfers, this is the fun stuff. This is like,
Speaker 2: this is what you're choosing to do in your recreation time,
Speaker 2: and it's the skill that you're choosing to build. So
Speaker 2: we want to find those ways to find the enjoyment
Speaker 2: in it rather than spending ninety percent of that time,
Speaker 2: you know, being frustrated and annoyed and like you said,
Speaker 2: beating ourselves up so that you can be really quite challenging.
Speaker 1: Absolutely all right, Where are we go next with that?
Speaker 2: I think the next one and I think this will
Speaker 2: resonate with what you were talking earlier about in terms
Speaker 2: of pre shot rituals and routine is habits. Now look
Speaker 2: to be honest habit. When I go into a room
Speaker 2: of people, and because I do lots of presenting, and
Speaker 2: I say, and I know we're going to talk about
Speaker 2: habits because I know how incredibly important they are. You know,
Speaker 2: about forty percent of what most of us do every
Speaker 2: single day is on auto pilot. They are the habits
Speaker 2: that we have. If you think about brushing your teeth
Speaker 2: this morning, and let's assume we all brushed our teeth
Speaker 2: this morning, but your routine of brushing your teeth, what
Speaker 2: it was today is probably what it was yesterday, is
Speaker 2: probably what it will be in a week's time. You know,
Speaker 2: how you know whether you stand at the base and
Speaker 2: whether you walk around the house looking for things, how
Speaker 2: you actually go through that particular behavior, how long you
Speaker 2: stand therefore, how effective a job you do, all those things.
Speaker 2: So we know that our habits are great because they
Speaker 2: save us from having to think. You know, I didn't
Speaker 2: have to think too much about whether or not the
Speaker 2: decision to brush my teeth this morning because I do
Speaker 2: it on autopilot. It's a habit that I have. But
Speaker 2: by the same token, we've got to be careful because
Speaker 2: habits are awful because they save us from having to think,
Speaker 2: so particularly in golf, there is the opportunity to bring
Speaker 2: in so many habits into the game itself, and as
Speaker 2: you very wisely share with the listeners or you know,
Speaker 2: however many so many episodes that you've been doing this
Speaker 2: for now is it is about those habits that we
Speaker 2: create for ourselves because they're the bits we don't have
Speaker 2: to think about. And as we get more expert at something,
Speaker 2: what we're typically doing is we're just creating more habits.
Speaker 2: Because the more habits you have, the more automated you
Speaker 2: can make some of those things, the less thinking you
Speaker 2: have to give them. You know, if anyone can remember
Speaker 2: back to when they first started playing golf and you think,
Speaker 2: I mean, it's a cognitive sport as it is, you know,
Speaker 2: like there's a lot of thinking involved in terms of
Speaker 2: there's a lot of intricacies and a lot of technique
Speaker 2: involved in doing it well. So when you're first starting,
Speaker 2: you can feel like you're running one hundred instructions through
Speaker 2: your head, which we know isn't necessarily helpful. But you know,
Speaker 2: over time, some of those instructions are less necessary because
Speaker 2: through routine, through repetition, but also through habit they've been created.
Speaker 2: So habit acquisition is probably I think one of the
Speaker 2: most important elements. It's not probably the most enticing of topics,
Speaker 2: or people don't go, oh, I'm really excited to hear
Speaker 2: about creating habits, but there's no doubt that in our
Speaker 2: lives that becomes incredibly important. And then of course it
Speaker 2: flows on to the other things that in some way
Speaker 2: have nothing to do with golf, but actually have everything
Speaker 2: to do with golf. Our sleep and nutrition, our hydration.
Speaker 2: I live in a very warm climate, so our sun's
Speaker 2: safety when we're out there playing golf and so forth.
Speaker 2: So we know that all of our habits, you know,
Speaker 2: our habits work about how that you know we're in
Speaker 2: a stressful work environment, what habits have we created around that?
Speaker 2: Or our family environment is that stressful? And then ho
Speaker 2: dos that then flow on an impact? So I think
Speaker 2: even though it's not the most meeting of topics or
Speaker 2: maybe the most exciting ones, I would say that investing
Speaker 2: some time in understanding habits and creating great habits from
Speaker 2: yourself really does set up that foundation for playing great golf.
Speaker 1: Joe, you're on the Golf Smarter podcast. So topics like sleep, nutrition, hydration,
Speaker 1: some protection habits routines. Those are not rare to be
Speaker 1: discussed on this show. And so I'm just guessing that
Speaker 1: either the audience rolls their eyes at me or they
Speaker 1: are in That's why they keep coming back to more,
Speaker 1: because we talk about things like.
Speaker 2: This absolutely, and I think it's challenging, isn't it, Because
Speaker 2: I know sometimes people wish there was a quick fix
Speaker 2: or wish that there was some little gadget or something
Speaker 2: that we can do. And absolutely, we've got lots of
Speaker 2: different skills and strategies and things that we can learn.
Speaker 2: But literally the low hanging fruit, the things that's easiest
Speaker 2: to pick, the things that are easiest to potentially change,
Speaker 2: other things that have the biggest factor, you know. So
Speaker 2: I spend a lot of time with defense personnel but
Speaker 2: also with athletes looking at the topic of sleep because
Speaker 2: whilst you know, excise physiologists and other specialists can give
Speaker 2: us lots of great information around sleep, we also know
Speaker 2: that sleep is a psychological experience, you know. So sleep
Speaker 2: sleep starts with a really big decision, And the really
Speaker 2: big decision is will I go to bed right now?
Speaker 2: You know, it might be nine o'clock, it might be
Speaker 2: ten o'clock and so forth, and there we are sitting
Speaker 2: on the couch going I could go to bed right now,
Speaker 2: or hey, there's one more episode of the show that
Speaker 2: I'm streaming or that I'm watching, and so forth, And
Speaker 2: then that's the decision point. And you know it's easy,
Speaker 2: Like you know, it's easy at that point in time
Speaker 2: to go, you know, like we know people know the
Speaker 2: better choice. You know, we know that we're better off
Speaker 2: to get more sleep. And I can say that, like,
Speaker 2: you know, we're in different time zone, so it's early
Speaker 2: in the morning for me, So I could tell you
Speaker 2: what a great idea it'll be for me to go
Speaker 2: to bed early tonight. But when I get to tonight,
Speaker 2: at the end of a long day, when I'm fatigued,
Speaker 2: humans struggle. Even the wisest people won't make good decisions
Speaker 2: when they're tired and their glucose is low. So if
Speaker 2: we want the things that make I guess pack the
Speaker 2: biggest punch, if we want to put it that way,
Speaker 2: or the low hanging fruit as I sometimes like to
Speaker 2: describe it, is that the biggest performance enhances we have,
Speaker 2: or are those elements. It's what's our nutrition been? Am
Speaker 2: I rested, when did I last do some physical activity?
Speaker 2: You know, those elements become incredib important and once we've
Speaker 2: got those in place, then we can then we can
Speaker 2: work on all the other stuff. But you know, it's
Speaker 2: so much harder when we're tired, Like try doing anything
Speaker 2: we're tired. It's it's such a struggle. And the other element.
Speaker 2: I work a lot with teenagers, you know, I sort
Speaker 2: of around that sixteen seventeen year old age group as well.
Speaker 2: And if there's one thing that I can share with
Speaker 2: the listeners, and I know not maybe some people are
Speaker 2: listening who are sixteen seventeen, but there's certainly there's plenty
Speaker 2: of people listening who were sixteen or seventeen once. And
Speaker 2: you know, if this piece of information helps you in
Speaker 2: that decision making at the end of the day when
Speaker 2: you're deciding whether or not to go to bed. There
Speaker 2: was some research conducted a couple of years ago now
Speaker 2: looking at teenage athletes, and that what that research particularly
Speaker 2: looked at is that those athletes who averaged under seven
Speaker 2: hours sleeper night increase their risk of injury over the
Speaker 2: next twenty one months by seventy percent. So, you know,
Speaker 2: as golfers One of the things we want to do
Speaker 2: is we want to avoid our risk of injury. If
Speaker 2: we want to lower our risk of injury, lots of
Speaker 2: things you can do. You would have had lots of
Speaker 2: experts over the years and lots of advice Fred that
Speaker 2: you give around injury prevention for people. But one of
Speaker 2: the biggest things you can do is go to bed,
Speaker 2: don't be tired. You know, when we're fatigued, we increase
Speaker 2: our risk of injury. And I know that that's not
Speaker 2: the bright and shiny advice that sometimes people look for,
Speaker 2: but sometimes it is that. You know, it's that stuff
Speaker 2: that we know, and it's just such a great way
Speaker 2: to set ourselves up. If you want to get closer
Speaker 2: to your goals, whatever they might be, if you want
Speaker 2: to get closer to higher performance, fulfilling those factors sleep, nutrition,
Speaker 2: and fiscal activity are They're really powerful things that we
Speaker 2: have at our disposal that we can do every single
Speaker 2: day that will help us.
Speaker 1: I am so guilty. I get I you know, after
Speaker 1: my wife goes to sleep, I'm like, yeah, I'll be
Speaker 1: there in a few minutes, and then I turn on
Speaker 1: YouTube and it's hours later that I come to bed
Speaker 1: and it's like every you know, it's like, oh, this
Speaker 1: one's under ten minutes, I'll just watch this one. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's good. O. Wait, oh here's a six minute when
Speaker 1: I can do that? Oh, fifteen minutes, that's way too long.
Speaker 1: I can watch that video. And I spend hours on
Speaker 1: YouTube when I should be going to sleep, and I
Speaker 1: know I should be going to sleep, and it's like,
Speaker 1: how did it become eleven thirty all of a sudden?
Speaker 1: Why am I still here?
Speaker 2: Absolutely? And part of that Fred, Part of that Fred
Speaker 2: is you know you're making a choice. But part of it,
Speaker 2: the other reason that makes it harder, it's a harder
Speaker 2: choice is because you're tired. And when we're tied, like
Speaker 2: to be honest, and I'm probably going to sound a
Speaker 2: bit logical as i say this, but if I think
Speaker 2: about my reality, if it's in the evening and I'm
Speaker 2: sitting on my couch and I'm watching some TV, it
Speaker 2: is so much harder to get up, turn off the lights,
Speaker 2: put the cat out, shut the door, go and brush
Speaker 2: my teeth. Climbing, you know, get into my pajamas, climb
Speaker 2: into bed. That's so much work. I don't even have
Speaker 2: to press next episode anymore on my remote because the
Speaker 2: streaming channel I used just flipped straight into the next episode,
Speaker 2: So no effort to get off the coat couch. But
Speaker 2: getting up and going to bed is work. So I've
Speaker 2: got one little handy hint that worked for has worked
Speaker 2: for a number of people that I work with over
Speaker 2: the years, is and most people. The other trap is
Speaker 2: that most people have got their phone close by, so
Speaker 2: let's use our phone for good rather than for less good.
Speaker 2: And if I can, one suggestion that I found work
Speaker 2: for some people is to set your alarm clock to
Speaker 2: go to bed, so you know that life, all life
Speaker 2: would be improved if you went. And I'll make it
Speaker 2: up if you know that you'd be better off if
Speaker 2: you were heading to bed at ten pm, then set
Speaker 2: the alarm for ten pm. And when the alarm goes off,
Speaker 2: and this is what I talk about. I talk about
Speaker 2: habit stacking and how to do that. In chapter three
Speaker 2: in the book, the tap was called success on Autopilot,
Speaker 2: but it's really about when the alarm goes off, then
Speaker 2: I go to bed. And I think the curiosity that
Speaker 2: we were talking about from chapter two that if you
Speaker 2: can do that and say, well, look, it's not that
Speaker 2: I have to go to bed early forever. But let's
Speaker 2: try it for a month and see how I go.
Speaker 2: Let's treat myself like a little science experiment, and I'm
Speaker 2: going to try one or two little changes. Please don't
Speaker 2: try lots of changes, because it's way too much for
Speaker 2: our brains, and our heads explode when we do things
Speaker 2: like that. You know, I'm a very big fan that
Speaker 2: little by little, a little will become a lot. So
Speaker 2: you know, just making a small if you can. And
Speaker 2: I remember a soldier I worked with who brought his
Speaker 2: bedtime forward by about an hour and a half because
Speaker 2: he was staying up close to midnight, and I think
Speaker 2: I think he changed his bedtime to about ten. He
Speaker 2: said his first week was not fun because his body
Speaker 2: just couldn't adjust and it took a little while. But
Speaker 2: then after that he was waking up without his alarm clock,
Speaker 2: he was feeling like exercise in the morning, he'd pack
Speaker 2: his lunch and go to work. He was saving money,
Speaker 2: like all these flow on effects, all because as he
Speaker 2: went to bed a bit earlier, So it could be
Speaker 2: how so, I'd say, if you're not sure, if you're
Speaker 2: a bit doubtful, maybe give it a little try and
Speaker 2: see how you go.
Speaker 1: My wife is has got the skill that I wish
Speaker 1: I could do, and that just she falls asleep while
Speaker 1: we're watching TV right there on the couch. She'll just
Speaker 1: fall asleep and I'll and then I'll watch for another
Speaker 1: couple of hours and then I'll go get ready for
Speaker 1: then I'll come out. Go Okay, it's time to go
Speaker 1: to bed now, girls like she just just stumbles into
Speaker 1: bed like.
Speaker 2: Ah, that lucky. You keep power, that's for sure.
Speaker 1: Yeah, definitely superpower. You got any more of you know,
Speaker 1: we don't have to do all ten obviously we want
Speaker 1: people to buy the book. But let's uh, let's let's
Speaker 1: do one or two more.
Speaker 2: Okay, So let's do uh. I think that one of
Speaker 2: the other things that I've always understood to be true
Speaker 2: is that part of what helps with success in terms
Speaker 2: of apperforms. So let's let's go. I've got to to
Speaker 2: in mind that we could do. First of all, in gratitude.
Speaker 2: Gratitude is one of those things now, So gratitude get
Speaker 2: spoken of a lot, and often gratitude is spoken about
Speaker 2: because there is a considerable amount of evidence that tells
Speaker 2: us that when we look at happiness in people lots
Speaker 2: of things that can make us happy. But when we
Speaker 2: look at the biggest predictors of happiness, the two biggest
Speaker 2: predictors of happiness, ay, they're great, they're free, and they're
Speaker 2: easily at our disposal. It's been grateful and it's helping
Speaker 2: other people. Those are the two biggest things that we
Speaker 2: can do that will just if you simply want to
Speaker 2: let's even put the golf to one side for a moment,
Speaker 2: but if you simply want to be happier in your life,
Speaker 2: be grateful for the things that you have and be
Speaker 2: grateful to the people around you. So we know that
Speaker 2: for sure, and there's in Australia and I'm sure it's
Speaker 2: similar in other places in the world. You know, gratitude
Speaker 2: as an intervention, if you like, is actually taught in
Speaker 2: the schools. It's part of we run what's called positive
Speaker 2: education programs, the science what goes well, and so we're
Speaker 2: trying to teach children that being grateful is a great
Speaker 2: way to start your day, it's a great rape feel
Speaker 2: good about yourself. And there's lots of evidence around how
Speaker 2: that helps in sort of many mental health conditions and
Speaker 2: so forth. We know it has an impact for people
Speaker 2: with multi moderate depression. So gratitude is just a winner anyway,
Speaker 2: just in terms of making us happier within our lies.
Speaker 2: But here's the extra little bit of bonus to those
Speaker 2: of us that are athletes or those of us work
Speaker 2: with athletes. Is what we're seeing now in the research
Speaker 2: is there is also evidence to support the idea that
Speaker 2: grateful athletes, grateful coaches, grateful teams perform better. So we're
Speaker 2: actually seeing gratitude as a performance enhancer. So it was
Speaker 2: enough in the first place that it makes you happier,
Speaker 2: but what it does is it gets us closer to success.
Speaker 2: So if you have two golfers who are similar in
Speaker 2: levels of ability, but one of them walks through life
Speaker 2: with a lens of gratitude and says, you know, how
Speaker 2: great that you know, isn't it wonderful that I get
Speaker 2: to play on this course, that I have the time
Speaker 2: to do it, that I have the resources to play, that,
Speaker 2: you know, because golf is not the cheapest of sports.
Speaker 2: You know that I'm financially in a way that I'm
Speaker 2: able to do this and spend this time. How fortunate
Speaker 2: am I? And I'm in this? And usually I don't
Speaker 2: think I'll beat to too many golf courses where it's
Speaker 2: not a pretty place to look around and so forth
Speaker 2: as well. So how good is that? And if you
Speaker 2: can play that mindset to someone who by defaults and
Speaker 2: the way I people often say to me, why is that, Joe?
Speaker 2: Why do you think gratitude is performance enhancer? And I
Speaker 2: think there's probably a couple of reasons. But one of
Speaker 2: the reasons is that, you know, have you ever met
Speaker 2: a grateful winder or a grateful complainer? You haven't, as
Speaker 2: it's very you cannot be great. There's not many things
Speaker 2: that can't do coexist and do, but you cannot be
Speaker 2: grateful and complain at the same time. Like those two
Speaker 2: things do not go hand in hand. Try it now,
Speaker 2: but I've never seen it. It's okay complaining and whinging,
Speaker 2: getting on what I call the complain train. You know, well,
Speaker 2: my shots are terrible today, and I can't believe that
Speaker 2: it's cloudy and it's a bit hotter than I thought,
Speaker 2: and you know, the greens are too short or they're
Speaker 2: too long, and they're da da da da daha, and
Speaker 2: you know, and people in front are too slow, and
Speaker 2: there's people going quickly too quickly behind us and all
Speaker 2: that sort of stuff. Well, that already sounds like the
Speaker 2: sort of person I don't really want to spend a
Speaker 2: couple of hours with. But it also doesn't put you
Speaker 2: in a mindset that sets you up to being open
Speaker 2: and creative and curious, which we know of those things
Speaker 2: and go help us in terms of performance. So I
Speaker 2: and I think physiologically it makes a difference too. When
Speaker 2: we are grateful, it's a happy place, you know. It's
Speaker 2: it's almost, like I say, it's almost like an internal
Speaker 2: little sigh where we relax. Whereas if I'm not grateful,
Speaker 2: if I am complaining and whinging, I'm going to exaggerate
Speaker 2: it for those who are watching on the YouTube. But
Speaker 2: if you imagine for those who are listening, I'm scrunching
Speaker 2: up my shoulders, I'm furrowing my brow, I'm scrunching my hands. Like,
Speaker 2: complaining and winging is tense. So my understanding of golf is,
Speaker 2: you know, you're probably not going to say, well, Joe,
Speaker 2: your next shot, you go to a really good job.
Speaker 2: If you completely tense up through it, you're not going
Speaker 2: to tell me that. So while we're thinking to get
Speaker 2: you closer to being tense rather than being relaxed. So
Speaker 2: gratitude is an absolute winner for us in terms of
Speaker 2: performance enhancement.
Speaker 1: Absolutely, and I think that's a performance enhancing drug that
Speaker 1: is not in jeopardy of being banned very soon.
Speaker 2: Absolutely. The thing is it's free. You can be listening
Speaker 2: to this podcast and almost momentarily, you know, thinking about
Speaker 2: the things that you're grateful for. You could be standing there,
Speaker 2: you know, maybe you are waiting for your tea time
Speaker 2: or whatever it is to start, and you could sit
Speaker 2: there sort of you know, worrying about something you can't control,
Speaker 2: like the speed of the people in front of you,
Speaker 2: or you could go, well, this is a bit of
Speaker 2: extra time on the calls, and how beautiful is this?
Speaker 2: So that gratitude piece is really and yeah, I don't
Speaker 2: think there's any research in it, but I'm very sure
Speaker 2: that grateful people that are looking as well, so maybe
Speaker 2: as that effect.
Speaker 1: Oh that's that's awesome. And I wanted to just make
Speaker 1: sure we cover part two of the two biggest predictors
Speaker 1: of happiness and you and let's go to part two
Speaker 1: on that.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so part two on that is helping others. So
Speaker 2: we do know that when we lean in literally to others.
Speaker 2: When we do things to make lives for others better
Speaker 2: or improved, or we assist them in some sort of way,
Speaker 2: not only does that person get the benefit of us
Speaker 2: about help and assistance, which is a great enough reason
Speaker 2: to do it, but we also need to understand that
Speaker 2: it flows back to us. It feels good to help others.
Speaker 2: There's a little dope mein kick that comes with it,
Speaker 2: and that fits in with one of the chapters in
Speaker 2: the book, which was going to be the second point
Speaker 2: that I was going to make. And that's why those
Speaker 2: two go so well hand in hand, is because we
Speaker 2: know that people matter. And you know, if we're looking
Speaker 2: at this in terms of our success in golf, whatever
Speaker 2: that might be, or our ability to perform well in it,
Speaker 2: it is based on those people who are around you.
Speaker 2: Maybe part of your bolfing success is because there's other
Speaker 2: people in your life that helps carry the load at home. Say, say,
Speaker 2: if you've got home commitments and maybe are partners at
Speaker 2: home looking after people or animals or whatever it might be,
Speaker 2: or doing something in the home that enables you then
Speaker 2: go and play golf, maybe you then do that in
Speaker 2: return for them so that they can spend their time
Speaker 2: doing the thing that brings them joy. You know, how
Speaker 2: you manage your relationships is really critical to your life.
Speaker 2: And we know that when we're engaging in sporting endeavor,
Speaker 2: we don't do it in a silo that when we
Speaker 2: could talk to others about it. And in golf, you know,
Speaker 2: we've always got friends who play as well and can
Speaker 2: talk for hours at a time. I guess about golf
Speaker 2: and the intricacies of it and how it all works,
Speaker 2: but I guess human connection is important for us just
Speaker 2: as humans. But when we're playing golf, it is one
Speaker 2: of those pursuits that we can really, you know, get
Speaker 2: that extra benefit and in terms of what that means
Speaker 2: for us in terms of our mental health and our
Speaker 2: well being, that connection with others doing a shared, hopefully
Speaker 2: fun activity is something that's really beneficial for us. And
Speaker 2: we know that's another part of what will keep us
Speaker 2: coming back.
Speaker 1: Amazing. That's fabulous. Please tell us the names of the
Speaker 1: books that we should go find.
Speaker 2: Thank you. So I would start with the Elite. So
Speaker 2: the Elite is and it's written at a sort of
Speaker 2: grade ten level, So you know, so fourteen fifty from
Speaker 2: age fourteen fifteen is probably a time when you could
Speaker 2: be reading the book. And the nice thing about The
Speaker 2: Elite is we know that people learn and read and
Speaker 2: consume information in different ways. So I've got it there
Speaker 2: as paperback, as an ebook, and also as an audiobook,
Speaker 2: and it is actually me I did Actually it was
Speaker 2: the longest weekend of my life when I did it,
Speaker 2: but I recorded the audiobook that is also that was
Speaker 2: also a test of perseverance. So I've got the Elite.
Speaker 2: Then in twenty twenty, I wrote a book called In
Speaker 2: the Grandstand and that is a parent's survival guide for
Speaker 2: teen sports, so that there's lots involved in sports parenting.
Speaker 2: So that was actually you can probably guess the age
Speaker 2: of my own children at the time that I wrote
Speaker 2: that book. I also wrote an interactive journal which is
Speaker 2: called The game Plan, and the game Plan goes through
Speaker 2: the five predictors of high performance, and we've actually talked
Speaker 2: about some of them on the episode today. And that
Speaker 2: journal is designed as I think that works best as
Speaker 2: the paperbacks then you can actually write in it. But
Speaker 2: what I've also put in that is I've put I
Speaker 2: think there's about twenty five QR codes in there that
Speaker 2: link to videos explaining concepts, so it's an extra little
Speaker 2: bit of individual creating. I guess through that. Last year,
Speaker 2: I wrote a book specifically for athletes and performers called Belief,
Speaker 2: and that's about building unshakable confidence. So I wrote a
Speaker 2: book called Belief, and if I may show it hot
Speaker 2: off the press is my new book, The Whistleblower. So
Speaker 2: it is a mental toughness rule book for officials, umpires,
Speaker 2: and referees. So motivated by the fact that I've worked
Speaker 2: with a lot of referees and officials over the years,
Speaker 2: because we do know that it's a mentally challenging and
Speaker 2: tough area to be in. And also it's a little
Speaker 2: bit of a project of the heart because both of
Speaker 2: my sons are referees in their own sports, so that's
Speaker 2: what they've gone down, and well both of them have
Speaker 2: actually gone down in the elite pathway in refereeing and officiating.
Speaker 2: So and look, I think a few people have read
Speaker 2: it and said to me, this is actually for anyone, Joe,
Speaker 2: and I said, I know, but I've specifically written it
Speaker 2: for referees. So if you're not a referee, I want
Speaker 2: to read it, you'll just have to translate it in
Speaker 2: your head. But all the principles apply. And I think
Speaker 2: that's the thing, isn't it, Fred That the mental side
Speaker 2: of what it is to play golf applies across our lives.
Speaker 2: So if we're working on our mental skills in our life,
Speaker 2: it will translate across to what's happening for us in
Speaker 2: golf as well, So it goes both ways.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and tell us about how we can follow you
Speaker 1: or your URL and social media.
Speaker 2: Thank you. So if you can remember my name, you
Speaker 2: can find me. So it's doctor Joe lukens Jo and
Speaker 2: that's l u k i NS so I have that
Speaker 2: and I go under that for all my socials. So
Speaker 2: I'm on Facebook, LinkedIn Instagram. My children tell me I
Speaker 2: have a fairly average TikTok following. Aparently I could be
Speaker 2: better at that, So I just tell them every expert
Speaker 2: was once a beginner, and I'm still a beginner.
Speaker 1: There you go.
Speaker 2: And certainly, in terms of finding the books, they're available
Speaker 2: on all the usual platforms of books. So wherever you
Speaker 2: like to consume your books, wherever you like to get
Speaker 2: them from, maybe you've got a great indie bookstore nearby
Speaker 2: that can get them in for you. If not, some
Speaker 2: of the larger platforms can also find them for you.
Speaker 2: So Fred, thank you for allowing me to share that
Speaker 2: with the listeners.
Speaker 1: Well, thank you for sharing your knowledge and your experience
Speaker 1: and your insights with us. We really appreciate it and
Speaker 1: it was a great conversation. I really learned a lot.
Speaker 2: Thanks Grett, Thank you, Fred,