The Art of Competition

A Digital Zine of Sports, Hero Worship and Poetry.

Home on the Range

I’ve been able to take a few days off in a row. Something that doesn’t happen very often in my gig at Wieden+Kennedy. It’s a 24/7 business, that is growing increasingly complex with the amount of digital tools at our disposal. It makes for a very exciting, ‘Always On’ work life, but it’s always great to step away from that world for a bit to get some perspective.

Perspective for me these past few days has been looking out at yard markers on a driving range in rural Japan.

I’ve had no concern in the world other than making sure my head stays perfectly still through my swing and making sure I get proper extension in my back swing.

It’s back to my meat and potatoes. Putting all of my concentration on getting better at a sport.

I always need to get better at something. My job is challenging and provides me with many areas to constantly push and improve upon. But there is nothing more satisfying than feeling the immediate improvements that you can feel when you self correct yourself on a field of play and experience the instant turnaround that leads to immediate improvement.

Slice the ball on one drive and realize that you didn’t rotate your hips properly through the impact zone. Think about only that as you take your next swing and watch your next drive head 250 yards, dead center.

A little moment of perfection. Sports are filled with these.

Moments of perfection in life are harder to pinpoint. Sports are definitive in their feedback to you. Did the ball go in the hole or not? Did the other team score more points than you or not.

Wins and losses are black and white. That is a beautiful thing about competing in sports. It can be against someone, or purely challenging your own limits. That’s what I’ve been doing the past few days at the driving range.

I walk away from the range each day with my internal success meter reading a few notches higher than when I woke up. My time was productive and worthwhile because I got better and I was aware of that.

As we drove away from the range I reflected on the things I would do next time to improve even more. As we made a series of right angle turns through the checkered rice-field farm lands I thought about improving my club speed through the ball. I thought about more distance. I measured the whole world in terms of yards. That barn was 350 yards away. It would be a par 4. That ramen shop next to us at the stopped light would be a 15 yard approach shot that I would take a quarter swing with my pitching wedge. I’d try to get good loft so the ball would rise high and drop down on the green with minimal roll.

Sports make you see the world differently. And they make you see yourself differently too.

Now, I have to go get ready to play some basketball.

These are some great days off.

  1. theartofcompetition posted this