You may know that my house neighbors a golf course. Last Saturday, I noticed a foursome on the first green. I usually don’t pay very close attention, but for some reason, I watched this group putt. I don’t know how many strokes it took these golfers to make the green, but they were all there when I arrived. Each one of them missed their first putt. I walked away wondering why anyone would voluntarily play the game. As I thought about it, I remembered that they were probably going to play 17 more holes. What a way to waste a beautiful Saturday!

So, why is a non-golfer writing about golf? I don’t know whether any of those guys parred that hole or not. I don’t know how any of them wound up for the day, but they probably did play the full round. Whatever number of strokes it took to put the little ball in the hole on the first, they went to the second tee and started the process again. Whether above, below or at par on the second, they tee-d off on the third. And so on. So that by the end of the day, they’d played 18 holes, some at par, some just below, some way above, eagles, birdies, hole in ones. The lesson…..they finish the course.

How many of us don’t? If you make your first sales call of the day and your drive ends up out of bounds, do you go home? Does it make a difference if your first sales call of the day is a hole in one? Might you make the second one? Golfers go out trying to break 100, 90, 80, par FOR THE ROUND! They’re gonna play all the holes!

So, the message today, is:

Play the whole round……Make all your calls.
Par each hole……Give each call your best effort.
Play the 19th……Huddle to debrief and strategize the next work day.