Hiking Yoga and Tee it Forward

Tree Pose:

One of my goals when I left Salient Systems in early January was to attend 80 yoga classes in 90 days. Yoga is a great way to restore your body and replenish your mind. I enjoy the low impact, peaceful pace of the classes and find that it helps me start my day with a wonderful outlook on life. I am pleased to report that I have made that goal and am, in fact, on-track to attend 160 yoga classes in 180 days. To celebrate, my wife treated me to a Hiking Yoga excursion this weekend on the beautiful Barton Creek Greenbelt. Hiking Yoga is a unique 90 minute workout that combines the cardio of hiking with the power of yoga. I commend it to you.

I wish I could report having accomplished my other athletic endeavor, which was a golf goal. I aspire to break 80 from 6000 yards. Like my yoga goal, I set my golf goal in January, well ahead of the PGA Tour's new Tee it Forward initiative. At least I am on the same wave length as the PGA and I am far more flexible, thus I know that round in the 70's is coming one day.

"Simply put, TEE IT FORWARD can make golf much more fun for millions of people," said PGA of America President Allen Wronowski. "We believe that by moving up to another set of tees, golfers will experience an exciting, new approach to the game that will produce more enjoyment and elevate their desire to come back and play even more golf."

 Who is going to win the US Open?

Wooden on Leadership, Penick on having dinner with good putters

100 Smiles an Hour:

For those that follow 'The Churn' in Austin and for those who love golf, I thought you would enjoy two short videos on our Westlake Chaps Girls Golf Team, the two-time Texas State UIL 5A Champions. The first video (3 minutes) was the introduction to Coach Chuck Nowland's remarks at the banquet this week, and features inspiration from John Wooden and Harvey Penick. It will give you a sense of the amazing golf program we have at WHS. The second video, titled 'Road to State' features photos from District (Lion's Municipal in Austin), Regional (Cottonwood in Waco), and State (Jimmy Clay in Austin). The music in the second video is titled '100 Smiles an Hour' by Ceili Rain and it does a great job of capturing the love these girls have for the game and especially for the team concept that our coaches teach. Enjoy!

It's all in the follow through

Teach to learn:

As we close out this weeks theme on the third 'C' that launched churnOn.com I want to mention the often used sports term, 'follow through'. Follow through is certainly a key ingredient to completing the essential task. Do what you say, whether you say it to others or whether you say it to yourself.

David Rupert discusses 'follow through' in his Red Letter Believers blog post at this link. I thought is was a nice piece on the concept of doers versus talkers. Unfortunately, David's Little League experience was not the same as mine, but it sounds like he still learned the lesson.

The photo at left is a great example of 'teach to learn' as that is little Lucy 'May' Singletary, working with Grandpa May on his follow through! I plan to share this same photo on the My Little Golfers Website, under the topic Teach to Learn.

Complete - Keep your attention on the essential task

Head down, complete the task:

This is the fifth post in my six part series The Four C's that launched churnOn.com and this blog; as well as an ecosystem of social networking tools in just four weeks.

Read part one: The Four C's that launched churnOn.com
Read part two: Create, Connect, Complete, and Churn
Read part three: In corner number one - Create!
Read part four: Connect - It is still a who you know world 

If you have followed this series, you know I am a big Stephen Covey fan and also have drawn inspiration through the years from Jim Loehr and his work at the Human Performance Institute. One of the basic tenets they both teach is that when we are living life from a place of purpose, when we are hitting on all cylinders, we move in and out (in a daily rhythm) of the four capacities that make us human. Here are some of the ways these four capacities can be defined, all listed in this order: mind, heart, body, and soul.

• mind, heart, body, soul;
• mental, social, physical spiritual;
• talents, passions, needs, conscience;
• to learn, to love, to live, to leave a legacy;
• vision, passion, discipline, conscience;
• create, connect, complete, churn; 

Vision Board

We have looked at how I 'created' the website by first using a vision board in order to set the project in motion. Then we studied how the site gained momentum by 'connecting' with those who could cheer me onward, such as my buddies at the Apple store. Now let's look at the third cornerstone in the model, 'complete' (i.e. discipline, needs, physical, body, to live.)

I was recently at the golf course with my daughter Emily. Emily is a junior in high school and a member of the highest ranked 5A girls golf team in Texas. She plays to about an 11 handicap. We are proud of how she has embraced the game and how golf has taught her many life lessons at such a young age. I am also blessed to be able to 'hang out' with my daughter on Saturday and Sunday afternoons at the golf course.

Golf is a game that teaches the importance of completion. One of my favorite 'how to play' the game books is called Conscious Golf: The Three Secrets of Success in Business, Life and Golf by Gay Hendricks. The first secret, and what Hendricks spends over half of the book discussing is: "Keep your attention on the essential process until it's complete."

Here are three keys to completion, using golf as the teacher:

• Keep your eye on the ball
• Head down until the task is completed
• Perfection is the enemy of completion 

Emily has developed an exceptional putting stroke, as well as outstanding chipping, pitching and wedge play skills. When putting, chipping and pitching she understands the importance of finishing the stroke, holding the finish, and slowly turning her head to see the results of the shot. She is always coaching her dad on this very subject.

Yesterday, we were hitting some wedge shots into a flag approximately 40 yards away and directly into a setting sun that was quite bright. Emily hit the first shot and when she turned her head to see the result she was literally blinded by the light. She said: "Dad, don't look up, it will blind you." So I stepped up to the next ball and hit one of the best wedge shots I have ever hit. A beautiful pitch with purpose that landed six feet from the hole, took one bounce and stopped dead cold inside of a foot. I hit a second and third shot with nearly the same result. The blinding sun had literally forced me to stay on task. The blinding sun had taught me the lesson: eye on the ball, head down, don't worry about the result.

This was the same lesson I used when developing churnOn.com. I went underground for four weeks and broke the site up into sections. I would spend a couple of days on each section, head down, only responding to email and phone calls if absolutely necessary. After completing a section, I would review it with family and friends for feedback and then go back to work on a new section, head down and never worrying about perfection. To me, this is one of the key attributes of successful entrepreneurs. Someone who creates, connects, and completes and then puts their product or their ideas out into the world, without fear of rejection and without being paralyzed by perfection.

Can you create? Can you connect? Can you complete?

The series is dedicated to Coach Dean Smith and pays tribute to the four corners offense.