Think when you are practising, instead of when you've to pull the trigger

Since I started playing golf on 30th January 2021, I've taken four 1:1 lessons. Three of them were for just getting my swing correct. And, through those lessons and practice lessons I've realised that we think too much while taking action. It is ok and good for you to do a slow backswing and hold the club on top to get the feel of it and then do the forward swing. But when I have to actually hit the ball, if I pause even for more than a second on top of back swing, then I'm bound to perform worse, because of analysis paralysis.

The only reason you haven't been taking steps yet is that you're in analysis paralysis or you're scared of what other people are saying.

If you try to evaluate every possible result, it will stop you in your way. It's natural to think things out till the end, but when you stay in the state of thinking, you never take action. It's all right to fail, you're going to get better anyway. This is true with every part of life.

I've realised a few ways to overcome action paralysis.

Get ready to fail and get up

You have to understand that mistakes and losses are part of the method of improving something. Failure may be frustrating, and we want to do it right in the first time, but that's not how we learn. When striving to do it all right in the first time, there's only one thing that's going to mount up, anxiety.

We benefit from the mistakes we make if we try not to make that mistake again. Some people can make the same mistake over and over again and somehow can't benefit from their that. When you find yourself making the same mistake over and over again, stop and think about when and why you made the mistake. Isolate that particular mistake and focus on it, and try to fix it.

Learn from your mistakes and setbacks because that’s how you grow the most… fail forward, never give up. Anything worthwhile takes time, patience, discipline, consistency, and accountability.

Crystallise you goal

The most important part in goal achievement is being clear about the result you’re looking for. The more clear you are about the end result, the more motivated you become to achieve it. But you must take it a step further.

Why do you want to achieve your specific goal & Who will it impact? By getting clear on why you want to achieve your goal, the more driven you’ll be. Be very specific about the why.

For example, if your goal is to make more money then go into detail about how you want to spend that money and how it’s going to make you feel emotionally. To crystalize your goals write them down to make them real.

Try to embody the feeling of you already achieving your goal by visualising yourself achieving it…this will motivate you to take action in that direction.

Ignore the opinions

No matter what you do in this world, someone will have an opinion about it. Just remember that everyone is entitled to have their own opinion and you don’t have to accept someone else’s opinion as your own.

When you start doing things for yourself there is always someone that has something to say about it. Let them have their opinions because imposing opinions on other people is a sign of fear.

If you continue to let the world tell you who you should be and how you should live your life, then eventually you’ll be living a life that isn’t your own. You’ll think, act, and behave in accordance with how society expects you too.

Let people have their opinions and don’t let them interfere with how you live your life, especially if those opinions are negative and pulling you down. The risk-takers and dreams are the people who have made this world a better place.

That's it for this blog post and if you feel that you've something to add to this or you have a different perspective then share it and discuss it on r/StoicHuman or go to the Reddit discussion post for this blog post linked down below.

Stay healthy, Stay safe!

Follow our weekly podcast on Spotify called "Stoic Human Podcast". Also available on other platforms like Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, Overcast, and more. Just search "Stoic Human Podcast".

[Discussion Post] - Think when you are practising, instead of when you've to pull the trigger from r/StoicHuman

That's it for this blog post and if you feel that you've something to add to this or you have a different perspective then share it and discuss it on r/StoicHuman or go to the Reddit discussion post for this blog post linked down below.

Stay healthy, Stay safe!

Follow our weekly podcast on Spotify called "Stoic Human Podcast". Also available on other platforms like Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, Overcast, and more. Just search "Stoic Human Podcast".