Franciscan Media: All In, Let Go

In a recent episode of Dana Carvey and David Spade’s popular Fly on the Wall podcast, their guest, Jerry Seinfeld, discussed how he has worked with a sports psychologist to help quiet the negative voice in his head during standup routines. Golf, tennis, and comedy, Seinfeld says, are three avenues where that negative voice is loudest, probably because of the incredibly personal nature of these pursuits.

This is one of the great benefits of sport in our society. It can provide a pathway for developing mental and emotional strategies for navigating the negative voice. Many of the athletes we will watch in the Olympics this summer have learned how to quiet their own negative voice and excel in the face of it.

I have coached high school golf in Charlotte for almost a decade. Golf brings to the surface one’s relationship with performance and results—so often the origin of that negative voice for each of us. Golf is a sport in which one’s performance is plastered on the scoreboard for all to see. In golf, like a standup routine, it’s all up to you. You’re on the stage. When you bomb (which is an inevitable part of the process, by the way), it can feel like you’re suffering alone. Maybe you’re not a golfer, but my guess is that you have something in your life that takes on the same personal dimensions.

Finish reading my Spirituality & Sport piece on the Franciscan Spirit blog here.