Effort and Attitude

Our Coaching Hour is our monthly hour of solving problems, talking about what we have learned, and hearing about our students’ successes and things they had learned.

On last month’s Coaching Hour, one gentleman talked about what he could control: effort and attitude when on the course.

We have been doing these since November 2001, and it has been the source of many new and exciting ideas. But this night it really hit me that when you are performing, you can’t worry about the outcome. You need to stay process-oriented. That will keep you in the game.

Well, we took a day or two off and went fishing down at our bay house. We went to a newly developed artificial reef close to us and one where we always catch fish. But that day it was not so.

I don’t even think I got a bite a hit or anything. But after losing four jig heads and baits on the rocks, I just sat down to figure out what was going on.

That’s when I thought about the “effort and attitude” phrase and got back into the fishing.

I was going to give it 110 percent to cast the correct way and make the worm look inviting to a trout or redfish and not have a bad attitude and get mad at the whole day. So, I set about to cast and not lose any more plastic worms. I was going to sit back and enjoy the day and not let my attitude get the best of me… because it sure could have.

We even went over to the south shoreline of Matagorda Bay to wade fish. The other three folks were catching some fish, but I couldn’t get even a nibble on my line.

I could have let that make my day a little unhappy, but I refused to let my attitude go south. We had a great day fishing. There was no rain for a change and I enjoyed the day. I persevered through the unpleasantness of not catching anything to not letting it bother or influence how my day was going to end up.

It was a great day and I was proud that I didn’t let the “woe-is-me” attitude interfere with enjoying my time with friends.

The next day I got my revenge. We had a limit of trout in about 30 minutes and then caught and released some more. But I have to tell you, my attitude stayed the same whether I was catching or not. And my effort to continue to cast stayed at that 110 percent all the time.

Control what you can control. Give 110 percent of your effort to whatever you are pursuing and keep up a good attitude…you win!