When you think of “exciting” sports, golf probably isn’t generally what comes to mind. However, the last round of The Masters tournament on Sunday was as exciting as sports get. If you missed it, you missed it. It kept you on the edge of your seat until the very last stroke. Spoiler alert…Sergio Garcia won. ????

They say that golf is 90% mental and 10% physical. At times this might be true. However, I think this is an oversimplification of reality. Golf, like anything – and everything – in life, requires four distinct components to be totally successful: Mindset, skill, performance and luck.

MINDSET is belief. It is the ability to believe in the outcome we want, even when no one else believes. It says, “You can do this,” when everyone else says, “You can’t.” Mindset is faith. Faith in yourself, faith in your people, faith in your God, faith in your environment and faith in the equitable and favorable energy of the universe.

SKILLS are what we know, what we’ve learned, what we are capable of doing and what we have available to us to get the job done.

PERFORMANCE is action. Even with the best mindset and skills, if we don’t actually DO the right things, our potential for success withers away.

LUCK is timing. It’s opportunity. It’s the only one of the four components of success that we can’t control. Someone once told me, “Never underestimate the stupidity of your competition.” That’s luck. Things happen. And when they do, it’s usually an opportunity for our mindset, our skills and our performance to win the day.

I love golf because, unlike other sports, you can only compete against yourself. A one inch putt has the same numeric value as a 350 yard drive. You can’t overpower or outsmart your opponent in golf. You can only hit the best shot you can hit, and you can’t hit a great shot without first having the mindset and the skillset to do it. How good or bad the other guy performs is completely out of your control.

So, as you go about your day, just focus on hitting every single ball the best you can. Hit your long balls straight and put your putts in the cup as fast as you can. Sooner or later, the other guy is going to miss a putt, and you will win.