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often lose confidence when they don’t get immediate results in all areas. I can think of no surer path to self-destruction and deterioration.
    Historically, coaches have talked about having faith, having confidence, or believing in themselves. The only thing required is a little patience and understanding of the lag effect of myelination and skill development. After you understand that good habits will show up eventually, remaining patient becomes easier; in golf, the more you can remain patient, the less likely you are to interrupt your habits and ability to get into flow. For instance, Sean O’Hair and I had been working on teaching him how to play patient golf. Before the 2011 season, he knew that impatience was interrupting his ability to play well. But knowing that something is a problem is often a far stretch from knowing how to fix that problem. Knowing
that
and knowing
how
are cousins rather than siblings.
    Only after a full year of consistently practicing patience with the same discipline that he practiced his wedge game and putting was Sean finally able to say that he played four full days of patient golf. By practicing patience independent of results for a full year, Sean was finally able to accept his shots, maintain his rhythm, keep his focus, see his targets with clarity, and have his brain work with him rather than against him in the pursuit of great golf. The result was a T2 at the 2012 Sony Open in Hawaii, a tournament that Sean described as “unrushed, patient, almost easy.” The most important aspect of that tournament occurred when he started his third round with a double bogey and proceeded to be three over par through five holes. He used those bogeys as an opportunity to remind himself of the importance of staying patient and of not forcing anything in golf. He settled into the rhythm of his routine and made six birdies coming in for an outstanding finish. Although not all of us have it in us to birdie 6 of our last 12 holes, we can still learn a great lesson: Handling your adversity with the calm patience of the Buddha keeps your mind and body in balance, and that balance enables good golf to follow bad scores.

Developing Patience and Trust
    The departure from being a results-oriented golfer to becoming a patient, process-oriented golfer requires more than a quick talk with a mind coach. Because patience applies to all areas of life, becoming a patient human being often requires a full philosophical shift in how we view ourselves, how we view other people, and what our values are when it comes to life itself. My golfers who practice patience not only think about their golf swings and routines but also consider golf in the larger realm of life. My golfers read Gracian, Kierkegaard, Aristotle, and Plato. They consider the fundamental questions in life and the way in which they flow into golf. They meditate on the Greek concepts of eudaemonia and arête—happiness and living an excellent life. In the final assessment, they all conclude that patience truly is a virtue. This philosophical buy-in leads to better golf by enabling the cognitive mechanism required for optimal performance.
    Consider Tiger Woods’ observation on patience. When asked his strategy for closing the gap on the leaders of a tournament, he replied:
As I said, the art here is just letting the round mature, and there’s no need to force it. Just go ahead and just capitalize on certain holes, and just because I’m at 1-under par doesn't mean I need to go force things. As I said, let the round mature. I had plenty of holes left, but the conditions were benign and just go ahead and get it done, and it happened.
    I like to use a Taoist parable with my golfers to help them understand the manner in which our reactions play out over the course of time and why underreacting to situations can often be beneficial. The story speaks to the idea of control, but most important, of letting go:
An old, poor farmer in ancient China worked a small