I recently watched an interview of one of the most famous golfers in the history of the game, Lee Trevino.
He was on the show Feherty that airs on the Golf Channel.
As I watched him, you can tell he loved everything about his life and career.
Lee grew up in Dallas, TX of Mexican ancestry.
Lee never knew his Dad who left him when he was a little boy.
He started working at the age of five in the cotton fields.
His focus was working from sun up to sun down and making enough money to help his family survive from day to day.
"The Merry Mex" or "Supermex", nicknames given to him during his career, began playing as a young man when a family member gave him a few golf balls and a golf club.
He snuck on to local golf clubs and began to practice.
He earned his living as a young man, as did I, caddying at the country clubs.
Lee's swing is iconic and a bit unorthodox.
It's an outside in swing which puts the ball on a left to right trajectory.
He deliberately created it to get rid of a chronic right to left ball flight which in golf they call a hook.
He knew his weakness and turned it into a positive.
Since Lee didn't have a television set while growing up, he never knew of the big names such as Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer.
Well that all changed quickly.
In fact, in his second year on tour, Trevino won the 1968 U.
S.
Open in a playoff against Jack, the Golden Bear, Nicklaus.
Lee won six majors in his career and Jack finished second to Lee four times.
In fact over the course of his career he won 89 times including six majors' championships.
Lee knows he didn't have the greatest swing.
In fact Bob Goalby, another pro, told him he wouldn't last.
So what was Trevino's magic sauce? He had passion for the game.
He loved everything about it from the practicing, to playing, camaraderie with players and fans, etc.
Every waking and sleeping moment was focused on his love, the game of golf.
So how about YOU? Do you love the game you're playing? Is there a passion for what you do? Are you a business executive that's stressed to the max? What would make your game fun again? Is your team performing at their highest level? In all my years of coaching conversations, I can instantly tell if someone is passionate about what they're doing or they're simply going through the motions.
If you don't care about what you're doing your constituents know it, your partners know it, and your clients know it.
People want to be around others that are excited about life and their profession.
So hit the pause button this week and ask yourself what's really important here.