Closed/open
I’m told that the hardest part of being a teaching golf pro isn’t helping adult golfers develop a good swing.
It’s getting them to stop using a bad one.
Our position feels so fragile, we hold on very tightly.
Competence, status and connection are fleeting yet hard-won. We can often feel like an impostor and one way to find peace of mind is to fortify the foundation of what we believe got us here.
And so we close up.
Alas, it’s almost impossible to pick up something when your hand is in a tight fist.
This is why emotional enrollment is the key to learning. No toddler learned to walk by insisting, again and again, that crawling was good enough. Or by trying to walk by simply crawling harder.
Teachers (leaders/organizers/coaches) have two jobs. The first is to earn enrollment, the second is to teach.
If the student is unwilling to become open, afraid to let go of what they’re holding on to, then better is going to be elusive.
Resistance is wily. It will come up with a thousand reasons to remain closed, narratives about entitlement, security or cultural dynamics. Whatever it takes to stay still. Extinguish one and another will replace it.
Let’s get real or let’s not play.