I Think I Can
I got a laugh out of this story I read the other day. On the PGA Tour this last weekend, Luke Donald won the Honda Classic. Apparently, this has made him semi-delusional as he now has his sites set on World No. 1 Tiger Woods.
A little perspective on these two players make this story humorous. Tiger Woods is 30 years old, has 48 PGA Tour victories, including 10 major titles. Luke Donald is 28 years old and now has 3 PGA Tour victories - none of which were majors. In fact, one win came when the final round got washed out, another win wasn't even an official PGA event, and his win at the Honda Classic was against a weak field.
But one shouldn't let reality get in the way of things. In fact, Donald states that "surely I can be the best player in the world". How does he intend to do this? Not through hard work; Donald states, "I don't think I need to practice that much harder". Instead, he feels that he has to "start believing you're the best player in the world".
Attitude does have an impact on performance, but how can you "think" your way to success without putting in the work (or having the talent)? I love reading that other golfers choke or fold and "give" Tiger Woods some victories. This may be true in a few cases, but it ignores the obvious: Tiger Woods is better than everyone else at golf. It doesn't matter if other people play good or bad, Tiger still manages to win. For example, Luke Donald has won three times in his career; Tiger has already won three times this season.
Why do people have trouble admitting that someone wins for the simplest reason: that they're better? Maybe it's anti-American to do so, I don't know. You can work and improve your performance, but you can always come up against someone who is just plain better than you. There's no shame in this - someone either has put in more work, has more talent, or both.
We can always get better at things, but we can't all be the best. And that's okay, because "the best" isn't the right measuring stick for success anyways.
