I played my first round of golf at the age of 12 but it wasn’t until I turned 13 when I caught the “bug” and wanted play more often.
When summertime rolled around that year my brother and I bought a junior golf membership to the local golf club so we could play during summer break.
When the summer started my score for 18 holes was in the low 100s, between 100-115, depending on the day. For context, a great round of golf was shooting a score in the low 70s. I had a long way to go!
Fast forward 2 1/2 months and I had played golf almost everyday, most of the time completing 2 full rounds (36 holes) in a day. I was shooting in the high 80s. Almost 20 shots better than just a few months prior.
I had received no golf instruction. I just played. I learned along the way.
Shot after shot. Round after round. Week after week. I started to hit the ball incrementally better. My misses weren’t as off line as they once were. My putting became more precise. And what seemed like all at once, I was scoring much better.
But it wasn’t all at once.
We think learning is a revolving door but it’s actually a spiral staircase.
From day to day we feel we aren’t getting better. We contemplate when we are going to see improvement and stress out over how long it’s taking.
But we are improving. It’s hard to see when it’s right in front of us.
We forget that as adults. We expect perfection or question why we are even doing it.
We get frustrated when it’s not “working” and we quit before we ever “see” improvement. But, we’ve improved. We were much better than yesterday.
We just haven’t had enough yesterday’s stack up in a row.
When we do, improvement becomes more visible. There’s a clear line drawn from who we were then to who we are now.
But make no mistake about it. We were always improving.
We didn’t make a broad jump from inadequate to proficient. We crawled through the mud, inch by inch, until we were at the next checkpoint.
So don’t beat yourself if you’re not good today. It’s quite alright. Just know you’re on the journey to improvement. And the more yesterdays you have stacked behind you the closer that realization will become.
The question isn’t “Will I get better tomorrow?” but “Have I put in the time today?”
And then keep piling up the days.
Eventually the results will speak for themselves.