Intention Vs. Attention

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My friend, Gary Nicol, a well-known golf instructor, and his business partner, Dr. Karl Morris, wrote a fantastic 3-book series aimed at helping people on their journey to becoming the best possible version of themselves as a golfer.

Most golf instructional books focus on the technical aspects of the golf swing. Instead, Gary and Karl’s book series aims to help golfers better understand their relationship with the game itself, the internal voice that they bring with them on to the course, the questions they need to ask themselves to be able to play the game to the best of their ability, and where they place their attention when going through the process of hitting each shot. It is a very mindful approach to the game of golf.

One of the themes they explore in their books is the idea of 'Intention versus Attention'. Gary and Karl believe that without a crystal clear intention, we have no start or finish line. And that once we have clarity of intention, we now have somewhere to place our attention.

Although they unpack this idea as it relates to the game of golf, Gary and I have often spoken about how this theme transcends the game of golf and applies to everything we do in life. We actually spoke about this in a podcast we recorded last week while I was in Scotland (to be released soon). 

As you think about Gary and Karl’s work and how it applies to life in general, it is helpful to reflect on these questions:

To what extent do you feel you set intentions in your daily life?
How clear are these intentions?
To what extent are you able place all of your attention on these intentions?
​What gets in the way of your attention? 

Reflecting on the degree to which we focus our attention on the intentions we create will allow us to build the skill of focus. And with increased focus comes improved performance. Something to think about as you approach each day. 

Thanks for reading.