Golf

I played Topgolf last weekend and, surprisingly, didn’t entirely suck at hitting the ball. (The food and other amenities at the Topgolf facility didn't suck either. Pretty good actually!) Granted, Topgolf isn’t exactly golf, but it was a nice way to spend time with a golfer guest and enjoy an evening with family. 

Since picking up a club again, after the handful of times I attempted to spend time with my father at the driving range, I’ve decided to note the similarities between golf and Bar Method. When I was regularly attending Bar Method classes I would often consider the similarities (but not verbalize them). Michael Murphy in his book Golf in the Kingdom, which I didn’t read, is quoted in the E-Myth Revisited with saying:

And I say to ye all, good friends, that as ye grow in golf, ye come to see the things ye learn there in every other place. The grace that comes from such a discipline, the extra feel in the hands, the extra strength and knowin’, all those special powers ye’ve felt from time to time, begin to enter our lives. 

That’s exactly the way I felt about Bar Method… (I miss my classes.)

Given the quote, and after playing Topgolf, the topic of conversation shifted to how one can tell a lot about a person’s personality by playing golf with them. My interest was piqued. Personality + Activity = Prediction… that’s my “Lady Jam!” (PP2 quote.) I immediately took mental stock of my personality assessments and started applying them to the activity. This process, lo and behold, was the same process that I went through when writing cover letters. 

Here’s what happened: Back in June when I started considering full-time work, I wrote one of the best cover letters of my life. It was after a StrengthsFinder review with Tom Donaldson and completing my Fascination Advantage Advisor certification. (StrengthsFinder and Fascination Advantage are often viewed as competitors. This is a misconception. They are actually complements.) Both assessments are built off of one’s strengths, but whereas StrengthsFinder highlights your innate strengths: what you do best, Fascination Advantage highlights how you do what you do and assists with the language you need to write/talk about yourself. 

When you’re looking at a job description you need to read the description with a filter to understand if your best self is going to show up in the role. When I read job descriptions I literally had five different color highlighters and went to town with the description leveraging my StrengthFinder themes. Once I determined that the role fit, I further considered an application/cover letter/resume to tell the company that I was their ideal candidate! It was one thing to know for myself, but it was another thing to leverage my Fascination Advantage anthem and tell someone else about it. 

But, back to golf and predicting your personality when playing. StrengthsFinder will help you to determine what playing would be like for you: are you competitive, stubborn, willing to be and get better, stuck in your ways, super conversational with the caddy or players, etc. etc. But your Fascination Advantage archetype will put language to how others would describe you while playing… if you do decide to play

And yes, how I am perceived while in a Bar Method class is very similar to how I would show up on the golf course, therefore I will not be playing a game of golf anytime soon… that is if I want to build relationships.