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Success Demands Failure (Rory)

For Impact Ideas | | Tom Suddes

I’m on the way to Ireland for 4 days of intense training. I’ve been ‘prepping’ all week. Excited to be with 180 people on Monday’s initial session.

Ireland triggered the gest of this SUCCESS TO MAN’S FAILURE! Even if you hate golf, you had to notice that Northern Ireland’s Rory McIlory’s amazing accomplishments during the US Open Championship.

There was a great article in USA Today by Steve Dimeglio that talked about this young man and what he accomplished. There were a number of things that I thought were very applicable to all SUCCESS TO MAN’S FAILURE. Rory McIlory has led 3 of the last 4 major golf championships. In the Master’s in Augusta, he had a 4 shot, 54 hole lead and then imploded with a final round of 80.

There was a huge media attack after this. McIlroy shared with his agent this comment: “Honestly, I don’t know what all the fuss is about. At the end of the day, it’s just a golf tournament and I’m 21.” What a great attitude.

More importantly, all of the commentators in this article basically agreed that without that ‘failure at the end of the Master’s’ he would have not gone on to win the US Open and set 6 or 7 different records! (Lowest score in an Open, only player to be at 13, 14, 15, 16 and 17 under par, etc.!)

Note: “Tapping into this failure (at Augusta), McIlroy came to the Open with a chip on his shoulder and a new found attitude. More aggressive. Never thinking about playing defensively. Played each hole without thinking ahead.”

“I had a CLEAR PICTURE in mind of what I needed to do and where my FOCUS needed to be when I got myself in that position again.”

Finally, he said, “To be able to finish it off the way I did just tells me that I learned from it (my experience at Augusta) and I’ve moved on. Now I’ve got this and I can go ahead and concentrate on getting some more.”

The change in attitude produced amazing results.

Special Note: What I really love about this young man from Northern Ireland is his willingness to listen and seek counsel from the major champions of the game.

We can all learn from that.