“Every day you miss playing or practicing is one day longer it takes to be good.” – Ben Hogan
Right. And then I’ll be somebody.
While this quote is meant to motivate and inspire, it’s a trap for me when it comes to sports. I manage to regularly practice whatever sport I’m most interested in at the moment (currently racquetball) with no trouble at all.
It’s not clear to me how much the pleasure of the activity motivates me vs. my ego — the desire to be acknowledged as “somebody who’s good.” I know it’s not one or the other, but it seems like the latter still has considerably more influence, especially when I’m actually playing a match and about to strike the ball.
Maybe I’ll try practice hitting the ball and NOT watching where it goes, concentrating solely on the pleasure of the act of hitting as I keep my eyes on it.