spirit dramatically triumphed over bureaucracy, inertia,
fear and complacency. As I watched Annika Sorenstam handle
the pressure at the Colonial golf tournament with grace and
humor, I was humbled and profoundly moved.
And I was reminded that what we saw should NOT be unusual!
What we watched ought to be the ORDINARY human experience!
Nothing that Annika did, or sought to do, required anything
beyond the capacities we all enjoy every single day. The
only question is, 'Do we use them, or do we waste them?'
Oh, sure, you can quibble that her strength and athletic
talent are far beyond anything we will ever know. Of course
her ability to get a golf ball in the hole is astonishing,
but her physical talent is a small thing compared to her
willingness to test herself and explore the limits of her
potential. THAT is the impressive part!
Annika is the best woman golfer in the world, probably the
best to ever play the game. She is young, rich, talented
and famous. She is at the extreme pinnacle of her sport,
respected and admired around the world. That takes hard
work, discipline and skill, so why take risks? Why not play
safe, enjoy the fame, soak in the glory, spend the money,
and be comfortable? That's what most of us do, most of the
time.
For whatever reason, Annika chose to do something
different. She set a goal, a terribly public goal, one that
challenged tradition and held enormous risks for her, for
her sport, her friends and her colleagues, and she triumphed!
What exactly did Annika do? Here are the things that
absolutely awed me, and make me proud of what we humans can
do when we choose:
1. Knowing the risks, she DECIDED to test herself.
Most of us, most of the time, avoid risk, and too often, we
really don't want to discover the limits of our ability. We
want to do well, achieve a modicum of power, wealth or
respect, and then protect what we have. Abraham Maslow said
that 'security' is one of the most basic human needs, and
we DO want to protect and preserve what we have. The
decision, especially when it is consciously and freely
made, to test the limits is both rare, and awesome.
Lindbergh, to Sir Edmund Hillary and modern astronauts, the
decision to risk it all by pushing the limits of our
strength, endurance, courage and ability inspires us. Few
ever make the decision or take the risks. Annika did.
2. Respecting the enormous challenge, she PERSISTED.
Annika didn't just decide to enter the tournament, hit a
few balls and then go home. She set a goal, developed a
strategy, hired trainers and coaches to help her, and day
by day, she WORKED! Have you seen the 'before' and 'after'
pictures? Annika worked out every day. She trained HARD!
She respected the enormity of the challenge and responded
with discipline, persistence and hard, hard work.
3. She did it for PERSONAL reasons.
No one asked her to do this and many would have preferred
she not do it. Her goal was to find her limits and the fact
that she had to do it in such a public setting did not
change the nature of the challenge, except to make it
harder. She wanted to know how far she could go. Do you?
How often do we dare ask ourselves what is truly possible?
4. She did it with GRACE and BALANCE.
Did you see the interviews? Did you see her smile, her
laughter, her celebration? The challenge was not an
obsession or a matter of 'life or death', it was a quest to
find the upper limits of her potential and she did it with
humility and for the joy of it. That is very classy!
5. She TRIUMPHED!
Because her quest was, ultimately, a test of her own
potential, there was no possibility of 'failure', only
learning. She, and the world, learned a lot.
They say that women's golf will never be the same and that
may be true, although if that is all that changes, we will
have wasted an enormous opportunity. Annika gave us a
chance to see ourselves, and she threw down a challenge to
follow her in exploring the outer limits of possibility.
Written by Philip E. Humbert, PhD
No comments:
Post a Comment