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Put the success formula of a champion into everything that you do, by Brad Kearns.

Book Excerpts

• A Higher Ambition
• Making a committment to the Tiger way
• The Big Picture

Moving Beyond Winning to a Higher Ambition

Tiger is arguably the greatest winner in all of sports, yet contrary to the prevailing mentality in competitive arenas about the proper disposition for success, he is committed to something beyond merely winning: he is committed to the pursuit of personal excellence, in the present moment, and loves the process. Consequently, Tiger's mentality, emotional disposition, self-satisfaction, and happiness transcend his ranking on the leaderboard.

Tiger has exposed his tournament competitors and the rest of us rooting him on in the gallery or on TV as flawed and superficial. We mimic Tiger's trademark fist pump and watch as he mercilessly disposes of the competition, absorbing mainly the macho and overt elements of his legacy. We revel in quotes like the classic served up by Tiger's mother, Tida, in her endearing broken English: "Go after them, kill them. Step on their throats and don't let your opponent up. When you're finished, now it's sportsmanship."

However, behind the wizard's curtain, Tiger is viewing his competitive endeavors from a more complex perspective. Yes, the object of the game is to win, but the value and the meaning are found in the process, not in the mere holding of the trophy. Thinking about the trophy during the journey is a lethal distraction, as many of Tiger's less-evolved opponents have discovered painfully. Extending your focus outward--worrying about opponents or what the world thinks of you--is also a distraction. Tiger steps on plenty of throats, albeit inadvertently, while trying to get a good stance to hit his shots. His enlightened competitive fire focuses on the process of peak performance, and it is directed entirely inward. In contrast, the prevailing psycho-emotional disposition of the modern competitor that we have been socialized to adopt in pursuit of success is to obsess on external variables and determine our self-worth according to results.

This is a critical distinction to understand and implement from Tiger's example. Because Tiger relishes the journey and the struggle, his competitors serve as key contributors to inspire and challenge him to peak performance--the "bring it on" competitive disposition. Those who are stuck in the traditional adversarial, results-obsessed competitive mentality are unknowingly set up by Tiger time and time again. Instead of preserving an inner focus, they allow themselves to become intimidated by his raucous gallery, his steely competitive presence, his shots of superior length and power, and numerous other potential "Tigermania" distracters.

Making a Committment to the Tiger Way

Making a commitment to a new way means you make a decision, set a goal and do whatever it takes to succeed. To most of us this means shooting a number, crossing a finish line, closing a deal, graduating college or losing ten pounds. Commitments like these are fluff compared to a commitment to a way of life. When you commit to a process instead of an end result, that’s when you can experience what it’s like to walk the path of a champion. It is then that you might find yourself sitting in the clubhouse after your nice day enjoying nature, camaraderie, competition and the focused pursuit of athletic excellence, and, “lo and behold” (as Tiger said about his 63 at the 2007 PGA Championship, explaining that his goal was to put himself in good position heading into the weekend rounds), the numbers on the scorecard just might show 39+39=78.          

To assist your breakthrough, watch and reflect on Tiger Woods on a deeper level than merely gaping at his huge drives and fist bumping other spectators when the putts fall. Appreciate the gift of perspective that he gives routinely – like the idea that his first professional prize check of $2,544 for 60th place in Milwaukee was more meaningful to him at age 21 than the $60 million windfall he landed from corporate America. Or when the interviewer at a Buick Invitational promotional event in January, 2006 asked, “Tiger, how do you follow up on a year where you win six times, including two majors, and made $10 million for the first time in your career?”; and Tiger answered, “I certainly have some things I’d like to work on, putting, chipping, with my swing and bunker play and everything. Basically it’s trying to get my backswing level better, a little more consistent, which will help my downswing so I can react on the way down. I just need to touch up on those things and try and get them more refined as the year goes along and put myself in contention more often than I did last year. If I can do that, then obviously from there try and get some W’s.”

Next question: “Tiger, can you comment on your segue from ten million clams and big trophies to a level backswing?” Zzzzz, Zzzzz. Gee, I wonder why his comments didn’t make it on SportsCenter that night? I guess it’s more interesting to learn about illegal dog fighting rings, petulant trade demands and contract disputes, positive doping tests or a football team using videotape to steal opponents’ play signals. I wonder why the media will castigate Tiger for skipping a tournament when he his physically and mentally exhausted after winning a major championship? In an August 2007 Golf.com article titled, “Tiger Comes First” Jim Gorant ridiculed Tiger for sitting out the first of four-in-a-row FedEx Cup playoff tournaments in August/September 2007. He drew unfavorable analogies between Tiger and NFL players (the Super Bowl champs play 19 games in 21 weeks, not counting the “hell of training camp”!) and NASCAR drivers (“if they lose their concentration, they could die” but they still race every week!) and declared, “Given a choice between doing what’s good for the Tour, his fellow players and the sport in general, Woods put his personal interests first.”

No shit. Is there anyone in Tiger’s world – fellow pros, agents, sponsors, media, fans, the PGA Tour organization and tournament organizers – who doesn’t put their personal interests first? How do you think Tiger got to be #1? He didn’t get there by allowing himself to be manipulated by the ultimate example of cold-hearted, vicious exploitation that is the sale and marketing of the modern professional – and even scholastic - athlete. Yo, shout out to all you old-time NFL football players with titanium joints, measly pensions and not a single dime of commish from those hot selling retro jerseys – thanks for the heads up!

Tiger also didn’t get to the top by focusing on winning ten million bucks a year. Rather, he got there by focusing on his personal interests first – things like balance, being a role model for youth and having fun. Tiger’s quest for balance includes keeping his competitive intensity in check enough to skip tournaments when he is exhausted, thereby exhibiting the most powerful competitive disposition ever seen in the history of sports. “My goal has always been the same: To win every event I enter…If I don’t feel that way prior to a tournament I won’t commit”, he said about his FedEx Cup playoff withdrawal. When Tiger says, and lives, the philosophy that “golf is what I do; it’s not who I am” – he models a pleasing alternative to the distressing norm of one-dimensional, high achieving, soulless, selfish achievers/consumers. Finally, Tiger pursues the ultimate self-interest of having fun (“Basically it’s trying to get my backswing level better…There’s always stuff to work on. You never, ever arrive. But it sure is fun trying”), helping us remember our most empowering priority, even when the stakes are high.

The Big Picture

Admittedly, mastering the physical, intellectual and practical skills to be a top competitor is so difficult and compelling that it’s easy to become preoccupied in this narrow dimension. Those quiet moments where you might ponder mumbo jumbo about crossing a symbolic river quickly get snuffed by the ring tone of your cell phone, another bucket of practice balls dispensing from the machine for you to whack with your demo driver, other massive distractions of the entertainment age and of course the need we all have to constantly feed our egos. Consequently, we’ve distorted and misconstrued competition, character and winning such that we see spectators picking fights in the stands at high school football games; adults screaming emotional critique from the sidelines at kids’ soccer games and seemingly decent, honest, educated professionals fudging numbers on quarterly reports to keep the house of cards standing. If you can put points up on the board or money in your shareholders pockets, all is forgiven and you may continue to storm ahead without regard to the negative impact on society and your own character.

To possess the character of a champion requires a whole different level of existence. Earl and Tida Woods understood this and worked hard to raise a complete and balanced man, so that Tiger could cope and thrive under the most grand and pressurized competitive environment ever seen in sports. “I have a big-picture outlook,” Tiger told David Owen in his Men’s Vogue article. “I am willing to fall, and I understand that it’s OK to fall, but I am going to get back up. I may take a step back, but in the end I am going to take a giant leap forward.” The true champion is a fearless competitor who lays everything on the line just for sport, to explore the boundaries of the human spirit like Bannister intimated.

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