I was one over after the first three holes. Everything was going right. I was beating my husband and brother-in-law, which never happens.

Then on a par 5 I hit the ball in the water, shanked a chip, and took an 8. I hate this game.

The next hole was a par 3. I stuck the green, just missed my birdie putt, and happily took a par.

Same round. Same person swinging the club. Two completely different experiences, one hole apart.

I have been a member at this club for years, and if I am honest, I have not gotten out there nearly as much since Zara was born. But this round got me thinking about something bigger than golf.

Life is a lot like that back nine.

Some days you are in the zone. You are in flow, you are crushing it, and there is a version of you that feels unstoppable, like there is nothing you cannot do. And then other days, you cannot get yourself to do the thing you know you need to do. The work project sits there. The workout gets pushed to tomorrow. The chore waits another day. You are not lazy and you are not broken. You are just on a different hole.

Here is what I did after that 8. I shook it off. I told myself the game of golf is hard sometimes, just like the game of life is hard sometimes. And then I walked to the next tee and made par.

That is the whole practice, really. You cannot let one bad hole check you out of the round. You brush yourself off, you get back up, and you keep playing.

I feel this exact rhythm as an entrepreneur. Some weeks I am moving so fast I get things done ten times quicker than I expected. Other weeks I have to physically talk myself into starting the next thing. I am in one of those weeks right now, if I am being honest with you.

I took the entire month of July off. Really off. Present with my family, unplugged from the business, no guilt about it. This week I am back in my office, working on a brand new keynote, writing this note to you. If you have not seen the new website yet, go take a look. There is more coming soon. (karabundedunn.com). 

And here is the funny part. The hard piece right now is not the big idea. I know what I want to say. The hard part is the refining, the small adjustments, the tweaking a sentence for the fifth time. It is the kind of work that should feel efficient and instead takes twice as long as I think it will. That is its own kind of mind trick, and motivation will not solve it, because motivation is fleeting. It shows up for the birdie putt and disappears somewhere around the water hazard.

What actually gets me through is structure. Zara starts school again next week, and honestly, getting out of the loose rhythm of summer is going to help me as much as it helps her.

So if you are stuck in your own version of a bad hole right now, trying to get something done and trying to do it in a way that still feels like you, here is what I would tell you. Do not wait for motivation to show up. Put the thing on your calendar. Treat it like an appointment with yourself, the same way you would treat a meeting you cannot cancel.

You will feel so much better once it is done than you ever felt waiting around to feel like doing it.

The round is not over after one bad hole. Go play the next one.

Kara