I have just gotten back to my home town of Melbourne after a 6 week tour of the US, which was an amazing trip for many different reasons.
After we settled in LA for a few days to relax, we drove to Las Vegas in preperation for a month of the Vegas lights, where my wife, Jackie, plays a gruelling schedule during the World Series of Poker. Jackie has been a Poker Pro for the past 2.5yrs, chasing the tournament scene all over the world. No different really than an elite athlete chasing their goals and dreams of becoming one of the best players in the world. After a few days settling in Vegas, I flew to Connecticut for thr PGA Tours Hartford Open where I was there to work with a client of mine, Bryden Macpherson who had received a sponsor's exemption. I had the priviledge of caddying for Bryden at the US Masters earlier in the year and Hartfrod would give me a great opportunity to see how his game had progressed since. It was great to see how much his game had improved, but also great to see there are so many areas of improvement from a preperation and mental performance point of view that we can begin to build over the next few months.
Bryden missed the cut that week by 2 but showed a lot of game and improvement and I am sure he will be on the PGA Tour contending in the near future. I flew back to Vegas on the Saturday where my wife had begun playing the $3K No Limit Hold Em Ev at the WSOP. This event is a great event, as it had over 1300 players who were all considered the best player in the world. Obviously having $750,000 on offer for first is always a good incentive to play your best and enter these tough field events. Well over the following 2 days, Jackie took us all on a crazy ride finishing Day 3 2nd in chips with 30m players to come back. Jackstar as she is known in the Poker world, played great all Day 4 where she ended up making the Final Table and navigating her way to the last 2 players left. This is called Heads Up play in poker and she begun Heads Up a with a slight chip disadvantage but it didnt take her long to gather a healthy chip lead and dominate play with some great momentum. Play was supposed to finish after the 10th level of play for the day, but both players wanted to continue for 1 more hour, which was great for us seeing Jackstar had all the momentum. Players decided to take a 2min toilet break where one of the Guys friends got in his ear and told him to come back tomorrow. Obviously a very smart move on his behalf as he was struggling to win any pots and getting very low on chips. When there is a difference of nearly $300,000 in 1st & 2nd, you will do anything you can to get an edge. Unfortunately for Jackie, Day 4 didnt go so well for her and she ended up finishing 2nd, which was an amazing effort as well as the $460,000USD for coming 2nd, but players want to win more than anything in the world and Jackstar in NO different.
Jackstar High 5s her rail after knocking out 3rd place player! Heads Up for the Title!
I couldnt help but think about Jackie yesterday as I was watching Adam Scott finish 2nd in the British Open Championship. He had play amazing golf for 68 holes of the 72 hole championship and just let things slide a little over the past 4 holes. I feel it was a combination of 1 poor shot each hole that led to 4 bogeys and losing the tournament by a shot, but there were a lot of great things that came out of this for Scotty, even of he isnt aware of it just yet!!
What I mean by the title Life is about having a RESET button is sometimes life and your profession doesnt always go the way you want. Things can change dramatically at the drop of a hat, being able to press a RESET button start again from where you are RIGHT NOW, is a major key to being able to move forward in an empowering state of mind.
While I was away in the US for the 6 weeks, I had to press my own RESET button, which was extremely challenging but one I knew I had to prerss otherwsie I could have found myself in a very disempowering state. As some of you may know, 10yrs ago I had back surgery that had threatened to put me in a wheel chair and walk with a stick, so while in Vgeas I was enjoying my training and playing some golf in the Veags sun. Pretty happy and content with how my life and body was going to be honest, when a freakish accident happened that changed it all. I was out playing golf with a mate and we both took our eye of the cart path, when suddenly the cart in front had come to a complete stop. Unfortunately for us, we had just reached maximum speed. We hit the cart in front at full speed and at the time, my back felt fine for the next 10 mins, I came to the realisation 15mins after that my back indeed was going to be in a little trouble. Something that was confirmed 3 days later when I relaised I had a prolapsed disc again. I basically couldnt move too well at all, walking was incredibly painful and sitting wasnt a whole lot better. This was when I decided to hit the RESET button. I was living on such a high after seeing my wife have an amazing result, being in the Vegas sun and playing golf with a mate who I love to banter with and just being on a little break. Once I pressed the RESET button, my mind clicked into a totally different frame, now taking it easy and going completely into rehab mode. Resting with a little light walking, but certainly nothing like I had been a few days early hitting the Gym hard.
But what are you going to do? This was a freak accident that you could say was our fault for not watching where we were going, and yeh that is true, but I also think it definately was a freak accident that no one was too blame.
Going from seeing the GYM everyday, to seeing the Nurses Room:(
The RESET button was such an amazing tool for me to turn too as it helped me focus on the present, my current situation. Not what it was a few days ago, or what it could have or should have been, but what it TRULY is RIGHT NOW. This enalbed me to focus on what I needed to do completely committed and focused on that, something my mind couldnt do if it was stuck in the past or could have or should have beens.
This is something Jackie did really well after her 2nd place finish, as she was brutally devastated to come so close to winning, after taking a few days off, she decided to leave all analyse until after the series, as she still had the Main Event to play. The ME is the most gruelling event of the year, with approx 6600 players entering at $10,000 to try and win the 1st prize of over $8,000,000. Jackstar played great for 5 days of the main event before busting out in 284th spot, inside the top 5% of the field for a $39,500 pay day. Without her RESET button, she wouldnt have been able to keep her focus and emotional control for the gruelling 5 days of play.
Hearing Adam Scott talk after his round but also the way he walked off the 18th green with his head held high, I believe he will win a Major in the next few years and will continue to become one of the Top 5-10 players in the world! He showed and spoke in a way that gave us all a little insight into his mind, and even though he didnt finish it off yesterday, what he showed me what is in his mind is something I like, and I like it A LOT!!
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