“Watch out for the water on the right.”  It’s the oldest trick in the book: you are standing on the tee and your match result is close.  After stepping away from the ball and giving you an appropriately ‘dirty’ look and then step back to the ball to hit a shot.  The result…

Whatever the result you have planted the seed of possibility in the mind of your opponent about the water.  Usually the ball finishes in exactly the spot suggested or in an entirely different direction in an attempt to avoid the water.

This is a classic case of trying to ‘not think’ about something.  When you engage with a thought, you turn on your mental filters to notice that thing.  It is as though you are drawn towards it mentally and emotionally and in the case of the golfer, literally.

This is one reason why goal setting works so well.  You create the intention of attaining or completing something, create a scoreboard to notice if you are moving in the right direction and then monitor and adjust your progress until you attain your goal.

The same thing occurs with worries and problems.  The more time you give them, the more emotional attachment you make to them, the more likely you are to draw them to you.  Don’t give them any air at all!

Focus instead on where you want to be, what you want to achieve and how you are going to get there.  Not only is this more productive, but the outcome will be vastly different, more exciting and fulfilling.

As Mark Twain said “I am an old man and have known a great many troubles, but most of them never happened.”