Learning Can Be a Dirty (& Enjoyable) Business

When most people go to learn or develop in some way it is something they generally have the attitude of "hurry up and get it over with." The same goes for health and fitness and you can see the commercials on television littered with this point of view every day.

But what if learning was so interesting, so enjoyable, that you couldn't wait to get to it?
What if when you woke up in the morning you felt a sense of excitement because the possibility of real breakthroughs in learning and development were possible? What if learning wasn't seen as something where there is an end to it like with the attitude of "get it over with" but rather something that is always on going? What if each moment presented an opportunity to learn, grow, and enjoy the hell out if it?

This is my dog Rilo who couldn't be happier in this picture, completely covered in mud. He absolutely loves it! I use to hate when he would get in these things because cleaning him off was such a chore but when circumstances changed in my life and I wasn't able to spend much time with him anymore, there was a shift in my point of view. Now when we get the chance to go to the dog park I embrace his joy more than ever, and you can't see it in the picture but on the other side of the camera I was smiling just as much as he was. If we hadn't driven there I would have probably gotten in with him!

The lessons drawn from this story are many but clearly it's possible to get dirty and love it. All joy takes is your willingness to experience it and the same goes for learning and developing.

Recreate the business of your learning & developing by making it fascinating, just like a giant mud hole at a dog park is to my dog Rilo, then see what happens...

Happy Holidays,

In appreciation,

Brandon Richardson, PGA
Golf with Freedom Lesson Center
www.GolfwithFreedom.Net
www.Facebook.com/GolfwithFreedomLessonCenter
www.Twitter.com/GolfwithFreedom

Understanding isn't Knowing...

To understand something does not mean you know how to do it. When it comes to learning an activity like a golf swing, you don't need more information to get better, you don't need more understanding to lower your handicap, you need more awareness. I am not saying information isn't useful, because it is but when you experience something fully, when you can distinguish one action from another and how they create different results, that's moved beyond understanding information into actual knowing, and that kind of knowing doesn't fit in a book or belong only in your mind.

Fred Shoemaker said it best in his book Extraordinary Golf when he wrote, "If something is only in your head and not in your body, you don't own it, and you can't really trust it."Something to check out if you want more on this from the man himself: Fred Shoemaker YouTube interview

The kind of learning required to develop your golf swing is the very same kind we are born with, the kind that allowed us to learn how to walk and trust that ability so much so we don't need any "walking thoughts" to get us through the day.

It's simply ACTION, AWARENESS, RESPONSE. Move, notice what happens, then respond accordingly.

Much of the teaching I see going on skips over the awareness part of this biologically necessary feedback loop that allows us to learn actions and motor skills naturally... I find this absolutely baffling. If someone has NO AWARENESS of how they are moving and you ask them to move differently it's like asking someone to give you directions over the phone without first knowing where you are. It's hard to get anywhere and a lot easier to get lost.

Experience is the key here, and your ability to be present during your practice and play is the access to greater, faster learning. Now, one of the reasons learning to walk was such a breeze for most of us was because we didn't understand language so there was no judgment coming from our parents, or from ourselves. We could fall over again and again so we could gain the awareness necessary to find balance. So in order to really discover what's possible, judgment needs to be removed from the equation. It generally only takes about two swings in order for most people to go away from their instincts, to start judging, manipulating, trying, remembering etc, and it becomes a struggle to learn until they are given the opportunity to return to the foundation for which we were all gifted as human beings. If you understand what I am saying here that's great, but don't stop there, get to KNOWING it!


" The love of learning does not have to escape us just because we have become adults, actually, our capacities to grow and develop very well may depend on it" -Brandon Richardson, PGA

Golf with Freedom Lesson Center
www.GolfwithFreedom.Net
www.facebook.com/GolfwithFreedomLessonCenter

Trying doesn't work...

Just a quick piece on the word "try" and how "trying" doesn't work.
The definition of "try" is:

—Try:To subject to something (as undue strain or excessive hardship or provocation) that tests the power of endurance.  To make an attempt.
When you "try" to do something more effort is used and the implication within the word "try" generally means you failed..."I tried to ice-skate" doesn't really provoke any images of success does it?
      Or when a child has decided they don't like carrots and you ask them to "just try it" has that ever won them over? Perhaps by exchanging the word "try" for another, more possibilities in learning and development could open up... although I imagine there will be mixed reviews on how saying to a child "Let's explore carrots!" works out, but it's worth a shot...anyway back to the point and how it relates to your golf game!

      
 Exploring:def.Travel in or through (an unfamiliar country or area) in order to learn about or familiarize oneself with it: Examine or evaluate (an option or possibility)

 "Exploring" might be a word worth substituting for the word "try".
 For example, if I were to say "I am going to explore how I curve the ball today," rather than "I am going to try to learn how to curve the ball today," which one sounds like it's more empowering, open to learning and has the greatest potential for making progress and developing awareness?
You can keep trying,  which seems to only have your attention on what you THINK should be happening rather than ACTUALLY experiencing what IS happening.  You could keep "trying" while using extra effort, creating more tension, and basicly resisting any kind of real time experience you could be having while swinging a club(or listening in a business meeting or to your significant other) or you could choose to start being present and begin exploring. You could re-discover your instincts, develop a sense of knowing that previously wasn't hitting your awareness, and you could be well on your way to discovering what's possible.
   













 Brandon Richardson,PGA
 www.GolfwithFreedom.Net 
 www.Facebook.com/GolfwithFreedomLessonCenter

Practicing for Break-Throughs

"His one sorrow was not solitude, it was that other gulls refused to believe the glory of flight that awaited them; they refused to open their eyes and see." ~Jonathan Livingston Seagull by Richard Bach

The first thing it takes to achieve a break-through is to know it's possible. A big part of my job with students is to "open their eyes" to what is possible.
Each possibility of course requires a certain level of awareness to develop in order to experience a break-through. During the awareness development phase we often experience a distruption in performance that is actually a biological requirement in developing.
Take the act of a child learning how to walk, throw a ball, or ride a bike. These actions are incredibly complex yet most all of us become quite proficient at these tasks, after safely failing, over and over and over again. What I mean by safely is more than the physical danger of falling or getting hit by a ball,but the support system that also creates a feeling of safety to learn and keep at it.(When I was learning to catch, my dad threw a baseball to me that hit me right in the eye, then simply said, "That's where your glove is suppose to be son." Long story short I learned to catch pretty well.)
The less judgment that is present while learning, the more you will learn. period. By simply distinguishing the differences in an action, just as a child does when learning to walk, you will begin to find balance, or your golf swing in the context in which we're talking. A child would never find balance without the vivid experiences of imbalance. 
HOW TO PRACTICE(in a nut shell)
-No matter where you are in terms of experience, awareness development and knowing who you are being(enthusiastic, excited, curious, doubtful, afraid, resigned etc.) will always be the fuel that drives you towards or away from a break-through....
1) If your point of view does not change nothing will change. You might see the light at the end of the tunnel but you will never know how bright the light is or how it brings a whole new world to life until you step outside of  the darkness of the tunnel.
2) Being intentional with each shot in one half hour of practice is far more engaging and developmental than spending 1 hour wacking golf balls with your "same ol" commitments to looking good and trying to hit it straight. (Hint:It's way easier to be intentional when judgment is removed)
3) Just because you are hitting the ball good doesn't mean your learning anything and vise versa, just because you are hitting the ball poorly doesn't mean there isn't great possibilities for you to learn from that experience that could lead you to a break-through.
4)You have to be present either way. Being present is simply having your attention on something for the length of time you have determined to have it there for.
If you are not here(not here meaning in your head, thinking, judging, anticipating etc.) to notice any one of the following: Your body, the ball, the club,or your connection to the environment/target, then the last two seconds of your life while swinging the club was a blur...It also takes presence to notice that you weren't present, "Wow! I noticed my attention went to that dog barking rather than feeling my arms swinging back and through."
5) Create an environment for yourself where you are free to explore, create, laugh, learn, imagine, and play...then see what happens...


In appreciation,
Brandon Richardson,PGA
Golf with Freedom Lesson Center
www.GolfwithFreedom.Net

Failure? How Fascinating!!!

You just sent another relatively simple chip shot screaming over the green...how do you feel about it? Typical responses include "pissed" "frustrated" "disappointed" "mad" "angry" etc...

Why do you feel that way? "BECAUSE I DIDN'T WANT TO DO THAT!!!"
Got it.
But here is the question I would like for you to consider. Suppose that the reason you are mad isn't because you hit the ball over the green but rather you are afraid of doing it again. I mean if you knew you were going to make the next shot would you stay mad for long? Would you even get mad at all? It's absolutely a possibility that you could play wonderfully from here on out right? I am not talking about odds here, just is it possible? 

Now, if you are afraid of doing it again why is that? Because you haven't experienced how you are being and what you are doing to create that shot in the first place. So rather than looking at that poor result as an embarrassing failure and a blow to your ego, could you recreate that experience as fascinating? Can you use your curiosity to get to the bottom of it rather than your past conditioning controlling your emotions and behavior? This will help you learn how you are being and what is happening with your body and the club when you send the ball flying over the green,  dump it into the bunker or do exactly what you intended.

Experience, presence, and awareness is what will advance you beyond what is now unknown to you. You don't need to "remember to keep your head down" because then you are just experiencing a voice in your head trying to tell your body what to do...can you just create an intention, become present to your senses while you are swinging, and actually experience what is happening in the moment that it occurs?

When you see great players playing great, they still hit "poor" shots from time to time, but they don't carry them around with them for long. They don't think they are going to do it again the same way you don't think you will trip again when you briefly lose your balance after catching the toe of your shoe on a rock while walking. You experienced the whole thing and you move on. If you are afraid of doing it again it's simply because you are unaware of critical distinctions during the action. Become aware of them and you can't help but improve.  How do you develop awareness? Create an environment for yourself where failure is fascinating! Practice this and see what happens... 

Play Golf with Freedom,

Brandon Richardson

http://www.golfwithfreedom.net/

"Discover what's possible"

New Year, New Possibilities

Happy New Year everyone!  It's that time of year where we all have grand ideas about bettering ourselves but unfortunately in a few months generally it's back to more like the way it was---the past seeming to jump into the future and repeat itself over and over again. What will make this year any different?

Tim Gallwey wrote in his book The Inner Game of Golf "without desire, there is no goal, & no action."
So in order to keep the past from repeating itself, in order to honor those commitments you made to start this new year, the vision you have for the future has to be empowering/interesting enough to generate the energy and desire required to honor those commitments.

Let's say you want to lower your handicap from a 15 to a 9.  What would you have to learn to remove 6 shots from your score? Where would you have to put your attention while you are practicing? How much time would need to be created so that you can develop your awareness enough to make such an improvement? And how could you practice so that the awareness that was developed is something that stays with you forever?

Or what if you want to play with more joy, creativity and freedom. First you will have to identify what is interfering with it.  What is stopping you from having fun? Being creative? Playing with freedom? 
Now you have a direction, a path you can begin to travel and one that is so interesting you can't help but explore what's possible.

Or let's say you have never played the game in your life and have been curious but hesitant to try it. What's holding you back? What vision of the future (generally a past based experience or belief like "I am no good at sports," or "I will be terrible and everyone will laugh at me.")is keeping you from discovering what's possible? Is it possible to create a different vision of the future? One that fuels your present actions(the difference between making an important phone call or never dialing the number)and gets you what you really want?

Hope that gives you something to check out and again, Happy New Year and may your resolutions be inspiring enough that you wake up so excited you can't wait to get going!

~Brandon
Golf with Freedom Lesson Center
www.GolfwithFreedom.Net