My alarm woke me up twice this past weekend at 1:20 a.m. That’s an awfully early time to be waking up on purpose but I wanted to watch the opening sessions of the 2023 Ryder Cup from Rome. With Italy being 6 hours ahead of the Eastern Time Zone, if I wanted to watch the best golfers in the world tee off for a 7:35 a.m. tee time at the Marco Simone Golf & Country Club it was going to mean waking up before the local bartenders here even made “last call.”
Team Europe won the biennial matches this year, in large part to their incredible start in that first session of Foursomes competition (also known as “Alternate Shot”) on Friday morning. For the first time in Ryder Cup history, the host team swept the first four matches that day to take a commanding 4-0 lead. They rode that great start to a dominant first two days and an eventual Ryder Cup-clinching 16 &1/2 to 11 & 1/2 score.
The European team led by Jon Rahm and Rory McIlroy were simply more prepared, focused, and better than the US team. They showed up on the first tee and were ready to go. They had their game plan ready to execute. They took the early lead in more than 70% of the matches played.
Their “good start” basically finished the US team’s chance each day…and throughout the event.
A good beginning makes a good ending
Italian Proverb
Are you focused on getting off to a “good start” in all that you do?
How does your day begin? Do you meditate or exercise? Is it filled with prayer? A powerful message of inspiration or a podcast to educate or encourage you?
Do you have a “to-do list” written out or a digital outline of your day? Or are you randomly making it up as you go each day?
Is the first thing you do each day to instinctively grab your mobile device and scroll aimlessly through social media? Do you turn on the news, allowing current headlines and negative thoughts into your thought cycle?
How about when you get to the office? When you start a Buyer Counseling Session, what’s your opening statement? At a listing presentation with a potential Seller, how are you making a great first impression and gaining control from the start?
Start Now
There are lots of moments throughout each day where have the opportunity to start something new. It could be something that requires action or it could be something that simply requires a thought.
Why not make it a good one?
