Good shot, bad shot.

Here's a lesson from golf that is applicable everywhere in life: "Play for a good shot. A good shot must be rewarded."

It seems obvious, but many people forget this simple dictum with the fear of hitting a bad shot.

The truth really is that you should never play for a bad shot. Play for a good one. Why? Because if you pull it off, there is nothing like the satisfaction of watching the ball go where you intended it to (if you played for it), or the pain of watching it go where you aimed but did not intend to (if you did not).

The trouble is that most people play assuming that they are going to swing badly, and do everything based on that faulty assumption.

For example, if you think your ball keeps moving from left to right even when you aim straight, you would start aiming left, so that when you swing badly (and the ball indeed moves from left to right), you end up straight. The problem with this thinking is that if you do indeed manage a brilliant swing, as all of us do from time to time, and the ball indeed goes straight, you end up on the left even though you hit a good shot!

As in golf, so in life.

Having reached an age where one assumes one has been through a lot, one tends to keep playing for the bad swing. One distrusts people, presumes bad luck, expects failure, and lives one's life from a negative perspective. But once in a while, when people turn out to be beautiful, good luck blesses you, and success comes knocking, you are found wanting because your foundation was built on negativity.

I know. For non-golfers, this may be a bit difficult, even complicated, to understand. But forget golf. Just take this advice: "Always play for a good shot," and you will see life is much more beautiful than you care to imagine.