Tiger Woods

Hey all,

18 miles on Saturday. I am pretty proud of myself. I did get lots of time to sit on the couch on Saturday and tried to pick up my book several times but ended up falling asleep out on the porch.

Did you know that my kids started school today? Doesn't that sound crazy? August 11th. Seems really early to me.

Remember the ADA lecture thing I was trying to do? Now that the August 6th deadline came and went for the New Speaker stage, I was wondering why I have not been contacted. So I went to find the website or the phone number and I see that on the flier it says, "The council on the ADA Session will notify individuals of their acceptance by August 6th." OOOOOOhh. I guess I didn't make it.

This is a bit of a setback to my world domination on the lecture circuit, but I must keep going. It seems like all my roads are being blocked. The school won't allow me to come and be associated with them (which I still haven't gotten over), now this, but I am not going to give up that easy.

In past, I just put a packet together full of the articles that I have written, a letter to the meeting director, and a bio. It worked - I was pretty busy for a couple of years. But it is a lot of work. Maybe I should get an agent. Yeah, that's the ticket.

Enough about me... On Monday I was doing a lot of errands in the car and the whole Tiger Woods thing kept coming up. (By the way, one of my errands was to visit the periodontist to get my teeth cleaned. Very good reports. The one area that was a 6 maybe a 7mm is now a 3mm. Not bad. Maybe my periodontist does know what he is doing.)

Okay let me back up and tell everyone that has been living under a rock for a year, Tiger Woods is in big trouble. His life is falling apart. He was caught cheating on his wife, and she is divorcing him. Half his sponsors are firing him. His golf coach left him. Things are not good in the Tiger camp.

But this week the wheels really fell of of the proverbial cart. Tiger has been the #1 golfer in the world for the last 10 years or so, maybe even longer. He played the worst golf of his life this weekend. He came in third from last place. That is out of 81 golfers, he came in 78th place. He was 18 OVER par.

So the talking heads started Monday morning, dissecting his post-golf interviews. Yhey say that all his life stuff is affecting his play on the course. Okay, I get all that. They say golf is all played "between the ears." So he is having some life issues but how do you go from #1 in the world by light years to third from last?

He says he hasn't been able to practice because of the kids. Here are my thoughts on this whole thing... "WELCOME TO THE REAL WORLD TIGER." Come to think about it, most professional athletes are so far from reality it is sickening.

If I hear, "I just have to do what is best for my family," one more time I am going to puke. How about the big time baseball players that just need a rest? The manager takes them out of the lineup to rest. You know what else is tough? Working 52 weeks a year like the rest of the working world. And the rest of the working world does not make $2-25 million a year.

Okay lets go back to Tiger. He is going through a divorce, he has to deal with the kids. This is kind of thing that you and I have to deal with EVERYDAY. Not necessarily divorce but lots of other things that I am sure Tiger doesn't have to deal with. Tiger will never have to worry about anything that costs money. I am not saying that he doesn't have stress, but imagine how much stress we deal with, almost on a daily basis, that has to do with money. Eliminate money issues out of your day and what do you have?

We deal with this stress everyday and we still have to function on a professional level. Our minds have to be in it all the time. A tornado of crap is going on at home and you have to leave it at the door. You and your staff are fighting and you have to leave it behind. You are having computer problems, there is a leak in room 2, the carpet looks like crap in the reception area, a patient wants their money back. You have a big case coming up and the temps are not back from the lab.
You have be right "between the ears" all day, every day. Because, at any moment, if you do screw up, your life is going to change BIG TIME. We can't go out there and pull a third from last score because "the kids were not letting me practice."

We have to be at our best after being up all night with a puking kid. We have to be at our best when the bills are piling up and we don't know which one to pay first. We have to be our best when our spouses are calling us upset about something we did (I love you honey).
Have you ever seen a professional golfer on the cell phone, during a round, arguing with his wife? Do professional golfers get a call during a round from his wife telling him, "The car is broken down. What should I do?" SHANK, DUCK HOOK.

I think that most of us are pretty strong mentally. We have to bring our "A" game regardless of the circumstances. We have learned to deal with stress on the run. We have learned that stress is part of the day. We fly along pretty high, but know someone could come in at anytime and knock us off our little pedestal. Things could be going so well and in comes Mrs. Smallmouth with a broken bridge that you just cemented in 7 months ago. Or the call from the wife about something going on at home. We have to keep it together. We are a pretty mentally tough bunch; we HAVE to be.

So Tiger might be able to throw a tournament, but the everyday dentist can't. Not the everyday, real problems, real stress, kind of worker. Third from last is not acceptable. Top 10 is the only place for this profession. I am proud of you all for being rock solid. So go home and tell the kids you whooped up on Tiger this week.

Have a great Wednesday,
John

Just think, it could be your first day of school.