The Pain That Inspires

No, this blog is not about Tiger Woods or golf. However, his recent performance and the timing of my last post have necessitated a short follow-up on Tiger's mental toughness. After four days of golf it came down to a sudden death on the 19th hole. Rocco Mediate, his competition, could have finished him off with a long putt on the 18th whole, but he missed and Tiger sunk his 15 foot putt to force a sudden death which proved too much for Rocco. Tiger proved his resilience and his mental toughness in this Open that might be the most exciting of his career because of his physical condition and the way it went down to the wire.

Tiger's recent knee surgery left him in a lot of pain that could be seen from time to time on his face after he swung. But he managed to perform under pressure and to not let the pain get to him. This is one of the most impressive demonstrations of mental toughness. There is nothing more distracting than physical pain, but somehow some of the greatest moments in sports have been when athletes overcame pain to deliver incredible performances. I'll never forget Michael Jordan's 38 point game five in the 1997 finals. Jordan was bedridden with the flu and somehow managed to play one of his best games ever which eventually led to another title.

More recently Paul Pierce delivered a similar performance in game 1 of the NBA Finals when he went down with a knee injury that appeared to be the end of his season. However, later that same quarter he came back and inspired and led his team to a comeback victory outscoring Kobe Bryant and rejuvenating the Boston fans.

We all love the stories of people overcoming pain. Our favorite movies are often stories of people who achieved the impossible by overcoming the trials and difficult circumstances they faced. Why do these stories and performances warrant so much attention and admiration? Because they give us hope. Life is tough, and nobody has it easy regardless of background, social class, or education. Every one of us will face something that we think we can't handle sooner or later if we haven't already, and deep down we doubt our ability to overcome. These stories and examples give us hope that we can do it to. So Tiger, thanks for the example because seeing you put up with the pain and deliver down the stretch was inspiring.

Mental Toughness

No matter what it is we are trying to achieve in our individual lives, competition stands in our way. From as far back as I can remember competition was part of my life. As a child I wanted to be the best soccer player on the team, then I wanted to win first place in the spelling bee, after that I wanted to get a 4.0 GPA, then I wanted to start on the Varsity team, then I wanted to get the scholarship, etc, etc, etc... The list never ends. Now I want to present myself better than the competition and get into Harvard. Tomorrow I will want to be the most impressive candidate interviewed and get the job. Some of us thrive on competition and some of us hate it, but regardless we all have to deal with it.

I saw the new Tiger Woods Nike commercial this morning and I haven't been able to stop thinking about mental toughness since then.

http://www.nike.com/nikegolf/index.htm?takeoverDirect=usOpenVideo_takeover&cp=usgf_061008

The commercial shows clips of Earl Woods, Tiger's dad, coaching him as a child and it is narrated by Earl Wood's. His key phrase in the video is, "Tiger, I promise you, that you'll never meet another person as mentally tough as you in your entire life. And he hasn't. And he never will." Something about those words got me thinking about how important mental toughness is. I think some of us are born with more of it than others, but I also believe it is something we must develop in ourselves. Earl talked about how he purposely distracted Tiger in order to train him to be mentally tough, and I think we all need that kind of training in order to become mentally tough. But in the moment Tiger didn't like the training much. His dad said he would grit his teeth and glare at him, but was it worth it? I 'm sure Tiger would say yes.

I am tempted by the easy road just as much as anyone else, I think it's natural. But I try to force myself to dig in and devote the time and effort it takes to develop mental toughness, and I think it will be worth it.

(My June 16th post is a follow-up on this post. This is the link to that post: http://levibelnap.blogspot.com/2008/06/pain-that-inspires.html)