Monthly Motivation: January

[Craigers]

This is a thread I used to do on GolfWRX and hope that it will help people here, too… I think it’s important to set year long goals, and then have a place to plot out how you are going to get from here to there…

My biggest goal for 2021 is simply to be healthier and be able to play golf again… I’m on month 5 of a back injury and very tired of it… I’m 39 and need to take better overall care of myself. I reached out to Mike Carrol and he recommended a nutritionist… I’m also going to get back into core work and walking to keep me healthier while recovering…

On the tangible golf side, I still really want to shoot a round of even par golf. It’s definitely an achievable goal for me, if I’m healthy. My biggest opportunity is my putting, which I’ve addressed at length.

So for January, I am:

Meeting with a nutritionist, cleaning up my diet and trying to focus on a healthy lifestyle for the entire month.

Getting fit for a Seemore putter, and hopefully getting some coaching while I’m there… If nothing else, I’m interested to see my SAM results.

If we have any decent weather, I’m going to start practicing putting more. Especially building a true putting routine to implement on the golf course. I’ll probably look like a crazy person as I hit one putt and then leave the practice green, but I’m OK with that.

New Year is always a good time to make plans, and start working on changes… What are your goals for 2021 and what are you doing to get there in January?

[golfingbrock]

2020 was the best golf year for me since having kids. I got new irons and a new driver, played more than ever, and got some great training aids. But I feel like 2021 can get better. I turn 38 next week, and also need to get in better shape as I put on a Covid-20 lbs this year with the gym closed.

My handicap started at 0.5, peaked at +2.0 after a few low rounds in early summer, than fell back to a +0.4 to end the year. My low HI came when I was playing a lot of rounds away from home where I played better, so I need to get my scoring average down at home.

2020 Goals:

1. Lose 20-25 lbs
2. Stay in + handicap
3. Get to 120mph cruising speed
4. Have a span of 20 straight rounds on GHIN under 80. Currently I have one 80, and need 12 rounds in 70’s or better to clear it.
5. Break 70 at my home course (rating 73.7)
6. Average less than 1 3-putt/round and average 30 putts/round(currently 32)

How I’m going to get there:

1. Dry January- No booze for a month to help my body recover faster and kick-start weight loss(Starting on my birthday Jan 8)
2. Golf membership- I just got annual pass so I should be able to play around 40 home rounds in 2021 (played around 25 in 2020)
3. Superspeed training and lifting 3x week at office. Also getting a basketball goal for office warehouse to use daily(used to play 3x a week pre-covid)
4. Perfect Putt mat at office for daily use. also switched to claw grip in November and putting has improved greatly
5. Tracking stats and workouts. I’ve never been good at tracking. I like that I can enter round with stats on GHIN now, but this will show areas of improvement. Will do a spreadsheet like @Golfer_Jake_78 for golf stats and habit roadmap with written weekly checklist like @jon for the workout/superspeed stuff

Jon Sherman (practicalgolf)

[Craigers]

This is awesome! Look forward to hearing more as you progress.

I’m also on a dry January…

[jon]

Awesome stuff, I can’t tell you how much that habit checklist has changed my life. I feel accountable to it every day since it’s staring at me on my desk.

I encourage everybody to read the book Atomic Habits by James Clear. I’m not into self-help books too much, but once you really understand how you can build positive habits and start eliminating negative ones, it can be a real game-changer for your entire life!!! He’s a writer I’ve admired for a long time and his book is incredible.

[CoryO]

Honestly I’m just looking to keep things going. That means playing or at least practicing golf daily and staying engaged. On the fitness side, I could do to add a bit more muscle mass, so getting better at consistently doing resistance and body-weight training would be good.

[Craigers]

Bought the book! Excited to read it.

[jon]

I think you’ll enjoy it. If you like what I do with golf, he does it 100x better with habits

[Craigers]

Sounds good. I’ve always had a hard time developing good habits, so I’m interested to see if it helps me.

[Golfer_Jake_78]

Well thought out list of goals Brock.

I should probably put this much thought into my game. I just want to keep what I had rolling a month ago into 2021. So sticking to speed sticks, off day body weight exercises and walking.

The 9" of snow we got on Tuesday isn’t helping my golf game though.

[JohnM]

I bought that book, along with your recommendation for Psychology of Money. Looking forward to trying anything to improve my procrastination. Currently reading Art of Learning after seeing a similar Twitter recommendation. Wow, who knew the parallels between chess and golf?!

[jon]

Let me know what you think of them. They’re both incredibly simple, but if you follow the instructions each has the ability to really change the course of anyone’s life. No fluff or gimmicks, just good advice mapped out very clearly.

[HennyPenny]

Craigers - I like your plan. First, I have to heal up and strengthen my left wrist and elbow, and lose the pounds I gained over the holiday season! Then practice with the Perfect Putting mat and my new-to-me SeeMore putter! And get some needed golf fitness exercise - when possible, may hit some chips into the net outside, but it’s too cold right now. Hoping it’s a mild early spring!

[Craigers]

Awesome! I’m pretty excited about my seemore too

[Matt]

I second reading Atomic Habits. One of the things he talks about is systems/processes over or instead of goals. It’s a great mind shift because you “win” whenever you go through your system (unlike “losing” when you miss your goal) and there’s no ceiling to speak of (unlike a goal).

You also always have something to work towards whereas when people meet their goals (often times arbitrary ones like making $$$ or losing XX lbs, etc.) they don’t know what do next (read Mike Tyson’s bio for a good example of this).

Anyway, definitely a solid book. I’m about due to reread it.

[Craigers]

I’ve already bought the book, and am excited to dig into it further… I’ll finish The Practice Manual afterwards…

I do like the concept of building systems and focusing on those vs outcomes… I’ve always done better when I get into good processes, but tend to end up flipping back to “goals”.

I definitely think it’s a better strategy for golf, as there is enough randomness that having a “goal” can be counterproductive (trying to shoot 72) vs following a process that puts you in position to make pars (and birdies) where the score comes out naturally.

[Matt]

Agreed. Plus, why limit yourself? Why limit yourself to shooting par for a round or becoming a scratch player? Having those goals sort of limits you, even if it’s easy to readjust your goals after the fact.

A system is (or can be) fluid, so you can make adjustments on the fly if something’s not working or if maybe you’ve reached a ceiling/stopping point.

And I agree 100% for systems being ideal for golf. You can set a goal for shooting par once throughout the season. Say you play 25 rounds during the year and never shoot par. Now you might feel like a “loser” regardless of how well you performed in other areas.

Compare that to a system (be it for course management, mental game, routine, etc. or all of the above) – if you follow that system every time you play, you “win” every time you play.

From there, it’s a matter of tweaking your system (or maybe getting coaching or something) if it’s not currently putting you on a path to reach your targets/goals.

[golfingbrock]

My wife went through a few habit tracker apps and found this one that looks pretty solid. Only a few things added so far. It’s called the Repeat Habit Tracker in Google Play

[Golfer_Jake_78]

I initially read meditate as mediate and wondered what type of tasks your wife was assigning to you.

I hope this helps you.

[Craigers]

My wife’s a lawyer… no mediation in this house… I just agree and move on.

[jon]

Yea there are a million of these now. I actually found for me having them written down on paper made it more significant.

James Clear wrote about Seinfeld’s technique of “not breaking the chain.” His goal was to write jokes every day, and he simply crossed off the days on a calendar. As he checked more and more days off the pressure/commitment built not to break the chain. I’ve started to see this with the habit tracking sheet I have.

In the past if if was too lazy or tired to work out I might just skip the day. But now I’m having this overwhelming feeling of keeping the streak alive so I’ll break through.

Also I keep the sheet on my desk, and all of my workout equipment is in my house, which is another one of his cornerstones for habits - make it easy. Want to eat more apples? Leave them out in a bowl in the middle of your kitchen, not hidden away.

I’m glad we’re having this discussion because I think these are all great ways to get positive habits into our lives.