Not a huge fan of Tiger myself but my buddy Eric passed this along. I really dug what he said at about 11 minutes in:
SVP: “You have 64 wins on the PGA Tour, a fortune in the bank, how do you fight the human nature that says ‘I’m going to hit the snooze button today, I’m gonna take my foot off the gas, I’m just gonna coast for a while.’ Where does the hunger inside of you come from?”
Tiger: “I don’t know how you can think any other way”.
SVP: “There’s no….what would allow you to be satisfied?”
Tiger: “Hmm - win more.”
SVP: “So the 64th is…it feels as good, as fulfilling, as the 1st, the 2nd, the 33rd?”
Tiger: “God yes. Oh yeah”.
SVP: “So there’s no point when you can sort of put the feet up on a Tuesday afternoon and say ‘Today I’m not going to the gym’.?
Tiger: “No. Because the next…that’s…I look at life as: the greatest thing about tomorrow is that I will be better than I am today. And that’s the way I’ve always lived my life. So I have no understanding why people do hit the snooze button because you have a chance to become a better person, become - for me - a better athlete…all the different things you can do to become better for tomorrow. Why wouldn’t you take advantage of that?”
Whatever does not destroy me makes me stronger
— Friedrich Nietzsche
Aruba is beautiful. Let’s just get that out of the way in the case there were any questions. I had dinner on the beach, flew into beautiful 85 degree weather, and got a lot of time to reflect on what has happened in my life.
First, let me say that 30 feels a lot like 25. It is a milestone but only from a cerebral level, not from a physical level. You don’t begin to grow grey hairs out of your nose in the moment you hit your birthday. You do though get to reflect on all the things in your life that either passed by or were fully experienced. I have to say that while sitting at dinner a calm overcame me. My twenties were all about identity and my thirties are starting to look at really investing in exploring the difference in myself and others.
I sat on the plane and put down my top three highlights so far in life, I thought I would share them unedited:
1. Having the first adult conversation with my mom and dad: It was in this moment December 2007 that I realized we are all just trying to be and do the best we possible can. My parents are no exception (and neither am I).
2. Loving and being loved: I have created life-long friendships that have provided some of the most amazing experiences in my life. Through romantic love I am able to filter what I do and do not want- I am forever grateful that at 29 I can see what I would or would not put up with in my relationship. I owe every person I have dated or loved a thank you for that one. Without you I would never have experienced “the dance” and been prepared for what lies ahead.
3. Learning more about me- In my twenties I would say I was insecure (hell even now I would say that exists on some level). I can safely say that most of that went away at 25 and since then I have been cleaning up the mess of understanding who and what I am and why I do what I do. It is a journey of a couple thousand miles and I have most likely traveled 20 miles of it. I may never reach the end, or find the solution (if there is even one), but I can say for sure that self-discovery is the most important thing I can do for myself and what I have discovered has been pretty great. Integrity is what seems to be a variable throughout some experiences (either mine or others) and now in my 30’s I am excited to blaze the path with authenticity.
So that’s a wrap up of being 30. Thank you to everyone who sent me a text, email or left a message- the amount of love was moving. I am keeping a semi radio silent approach to this holiday (with some blog posts) and will return all the messages when I get back. Much love.
