Patience Putting Probability

Journeyman golfer Shaun Micheel was a surprise 2003 major winner.

I caught him punditing during the 2018 Masters.

When breeze curtailed scoring at Augusta during the second round’s afternoon, he suggested players ought follow his tailor-made hendiatris for such tricky conditions.

A kind of ‘process mantra’ tricolon;

Patience Putting Probability

By coincidence, earlier that day I heard a sports psychologist comment that such mantras should be focused on process and not outcomes (that trusty yet criminally under-rated old chestnut) and be positive, not negative (as in, never “I better not mess this up…”).

The trio could get loosely summarised as; know there’ll be another chance on the next hole so don’t (over)chase anything on this one – keep that putting stroke smooth and relaxed – play the percentage game wherever possible.

Whatever the merits of this particular threeball (and sadly Rory McIlroy‘s stay in the now two-steps deserted him on his final round), there is perhaps a message here for a sales call. One which encounters an unwelcome brisk wind gusting through suddenly rendering your course treacherous.

Problem~Pitch~Propose

Maybe.

Would another letter better these 3 Ps?

Aim~Action~Acceptance

Perhaps.

One point is firmly that when a meeting starts to go awry, the scramble to get back on track can instead cause your plans to spiral even more out of control. What’s your fallback for stemming such decline and staying in the mix?