Bob Rotella > Quotes

“A golfer has to learn to enjoy the process of striving to improve. That process, not the end result, enriches life.”
― Bob Rotella, Golf is Not a Game of Perfect

“Exceptional people, I have found, either start out being optimistic or learn to be optimistic because they realize that they can’t get what they want in life without being optimistic.”
― Bob Rotella, How Champions Think: In Sports and in Life

“People by and large become what they think about themselves.”
― Bob Rotella, Golf is Not a Game of Perfect

“I understand that safety and security are nice to have. But safety and security can become more important to an individual than being exceptional and doing fantastic things over the course of a life. When that happens often enough in a society, the society begins to die. It gives up its leadership role in the world. Accepting the importance and necessity of competition keeps”
― Bob Rotella, How Champions Think: In Sports and in Life

“You cannot hit a golf ball consistently well if you think about the mechanics of your swing as you play.”
― Bob Rotella, Golf is Not a Game of Perfect

“The smaller the target, the sharper the athlete’s focus, the better his concentration, and the better the results.”
― Bob Rotella, Golf is Not a Game of Perfect

“Exceptional people really do come to believe that the journey is more important than the destination.”
― Bob Rotella, How Champions Think: In Sports and in Life

“I think having faith and believing that things are ultimately in God’s hands is very close to trusting your ability in sports such as golf. When a golfer is in the right frame of mind, he’s confident that he can produce the shot he sees with his mind’s eye. He trusts that the skills he has ingrained through practice are going to work for him if he just lets them and doesn’t try to guide or steer the ball. But at the same time, part of his thinking is acceptance of whatever happens to the golf ball once he hits it. He knows that because he’s a human being, not every shot will come off the way he intends it. He knows that because golf can be a capricious game, his ball is sometimes going to take a weird hop into the woods. He knows he can only do his best and wait to see what the outcome is.”
― Bob Rotella, How Champions Think: In Sports and in Life

“attitude would always win out over ability.”
― Bob Rotella, Golf is Not a Game of Perfect

“We each have the power to construct our own self-image and that the self-image we construct will very likely determine what we become in life.”
― Bob Rotella, How Champions Think: In Sports and in Life

“We can choose to believe in ourselves, and thus to strive, to risk, to persevere, and to achieve. Or we can choose to cling to security and mediocrity. We can choose to set no limits on ourselves, to set high goals and dream big dreams. We can use those dreams to fuel our spirits with passion.”
― Bob Rotella, How Champions Think: In Sports and in Life

“A golfer can’t force results to happen. He can only do everything possible to give those results a chance to happen. As Tom Watson once put it, to become a really good golfer, you have to learn how to wait. But you have to learn to wait with confidence.”
― Bob Rotella, Golf is Not a Game of Perfect

“Devise an improvement plan and commit yourself to it. Persevere.”
― Bob Rotella, How Champions Think: In Sports and in Life

“They have confirmed my belief that the ideas people choose to have
about themselves largely determine the quality of the lives they lead. We
can choose to believe in ourselves, and thus to strive, to risk, to perse-
vere, and to achieve. Or we can choose to cling to security and medi-
ocrity. We can choose to set no limits on ourselves, to set high goals and
dream big dreams. We can use those dreams to fuel our spirits with pas-
sion. Or we can become philosophers of the worst kind, inventing ways
to rationalize our failures, inventing excuses for mediocrity. We can fall
in love with our own abilities and our own potential, then choose to
maximize those abilities. Or we can decide that we have no special tal-
ents or abilities and try to be happy being safe and comfortable.”
― Bob Rotella, How Champions Think: In Sports and in Life

“Great performers share a way of thinking, a set of attitudes and attributes like optimism, confidence, persistence, and strong will. They all want to push themselves to see how great they can become. These attributes and attitudes cause champions to work harder and smarter than other people as they prepare for competition. They help them stay focused under pressure and to produce their best performances when the stakes are highest.”
― Bob Rotella, How Champions Think: In Sports and in Life

“What’s important is not avoiding adversity, but how an individual responds to it. You have to develop a mental hardiness that responds to setbacks with energy and confidence.”
― Bob Rotella, How Champions Think: In Sports and in Life

“We prepared properly and performed well, and it just didn’t go right,” then there’s nothing to regret. You just have to be determined to get ’em the next time.”
― Bob Rotella, How Champions Think: In Sports and in Life

“Optimism doesn't guarantee any results, but it improves your chances”
― Bob Rotella, How Champions Think: In Sports and in Life

“It means that you never give up. You never give in to doubt, fear, or fatigue.”
― Bob Rotella, How Champions Think: In Sports and in Life

“A touring pro who sticks with the same coach gains clarity and stability in his golf game. A player who flits from coach to coach often winds up confused.”
― Bob Rotella, How Champions Think: In Sports and in Life

“What’s the decision going to be? You get to write your life story, will you be heroic or just someone trying to get by? Will you be the star or someone sitting at the end of the bench.”
― Bob Rotella, How Champions Think: In Sports and in Life

“He needed to be willing to take risks. He needed to commit himself to going with his first instincts. That first instinct is the product of the subconscious brain, and he had honed his subconscious perception over thousands of practice shots and rounds of golf.”
― Bob Rotella, How Champions Think: In Sports and in Life

“An exceptional person expects at least occasionally he will lose.

Learn from the situation and refuse to take it personally.”
― Bob Rotella, How Champions Think: In Sports and in Life

“He respected his own talent, and he set about working very hard to develop it. He had dreams, and he wanted to see how good he could get.”
― Bob Rotella, How Champions Think: In Sports and in Life

“If he wanted to be great, he would find the time and energy. The actual number of shots I suggested was not as important as the idea that Lebron would set a practice goal for himself, commit to achieving it everyday , and wait patiently for results. Patience was essential.”
― Bob Rotella, How Champions Think: In Sports and in Life

“Exceptional people are resilient. Resilient people react to failure by finding something they can cling to, some hope for the future.”
― Bob Rotella, How Champions Think: In Sports and in Life

“I counsel people to laugh at what other people perceive as failures. I tell them not to care if other people think their goals are crazy.”
― Bob Rotella, How Champions Think: In Sports and in Life

“A champion understands that it’s fine to savor an experience when it’s positive, to remember it, to celebrate it.”
― Bob Rotella, How Champions Think: In Sports and in Life

“They have confirmed my belief that the ideas people choose to have about themselves largely determine the quality of the lives they lead. We can choose to believe in ourselves, and thus to strive, to risk, to persevere, and to achieve.”
― Bob Rotella, How Champions Think: In Sports and in Life

“I tell them to recruit kids whose coaches report that they had tremendous work ethics. They lifted weights on their own during the off-season. They showed up early for practice, stayed late, and asked for extra help on their skills. They were leaders who helped push everyone on the team to work harder. And they displayed these traits both when the team did well and when it struggled through adversity. It’s relatively easy to be enthused and hardworking on a team that’s winning. It shows more character to display those same attributes on a team that’s losing. It speaks to a person’s mental toughness, toughness that will be invaluable in dealing with the setbacks and rejections that inevitably come along in a business career.”
― Bob Rotella, How Champions Think: In Sports and in Life