Don't Look at the Tree š£ļø
How a disc golf lesson helped me get better results and have more fun in work and life (audio; 2:20)
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āDonāt look at the treeā: How a disc golf lesson helped me become more agile in work and life
Many years ago, my now-late husband Dan was patiently teaching me his beloved sport of disc golf. We were playing on a nice wooded course. Tree shade is a great benefit for staying cool in the NC summer heat! The downside, though, is having trees between the tees and the baskets.
And my disc throws kept hitting trees.Ā Completing my first hole took a LONG time. For me as a new learner, this was frustrating. And hitting trees over and over was not great for the old-but-still-good discs he'd given me to play with (probably not great for the trees, either). šĀ
On noticing this, Dan quickly coached me with 5 words of wise advice: Donāt look at the tree.
His explanation was simple: If you look AT the tree, and your aim is decent, you WILL hit the tree!
The solution? Pick a focal point on one side of the tree, focus on it, and then throw.Ā
Picking something other than a tree to look at in a wooded area was harder than it may sound. But Dan was right. I still hit some more trees during that round (my newbie aim was inconsistent), but far fewer per hole. My scores got better, the holes went faster, I didnāt ding up my discs so much from tree collisions, and we had a lot more fun š
This lesson has helped me beyond disc golf, in work and in everyday life. We all want to ābe agileā - and true agile values finishing fast, working at a sustainable pace, and having fun! Itās so easy to over-focus on the very obstacles we want to avoid, though. So we donāt see clearly where we DO want to go, our aim is off, and our drives run right into the dreaded obstacles! Which leaves us frustrated, slowed down, causing damage, coping with now-dinged tools, and not having much fun.Ā
Learning to recognize the trees in our way is good. I find that I enjoy work and life more by also learning how to look away and around the trees when shooting my shots š
I love it! āDonāt look at the trees!ā