Tiger Woods withdrew from the PGA Championship on Sunday, the first time ever in his career. This was only his second major tournament since returning from a 15-month hiatus after his car accident that severely injured his leg. Woods has had many injuries in his career, including his well known battles with his back that required spinal fusion surgery. He has played through the pain before but has never withdrawn from a tournament. In this blog post, we will discuss Tiger Woods’ decision to withdraw from the PGA Championship, and what lessons we can learn from it.
First and foremost, Tiger Woods is a human being, not a machine. He is susceptible to injury and pain just like the rest of us. Despite his superhuman achievements on the golf course, he is still mortal. And that’s okay. What we can learn from Tiger Woods is that it’s important to know your limits. Just because you can push through the pain, doesn’t mean you should. In fact, sometimes it’s best to just walk away.
There will be other tournaments for Tiger Woods to play in. In fact, many think that The 150th Open at St Andrews would be more important than any other from a historic point of view. But ultimately, his health is more important than any trophy or prize money. He is already one of the greatest golfers of all time and has nothing to prove to anyone else except himself. And that’s something we should all keep in mind, whether we’re professional athletes or not. Sometimes, it’s just not worth it to push ourselves beyond our limits.
Executives have been pushing themselves well beyond their limits for too long now. The common excuse is that by working harder now, they will create more time later in life to slow down and enjoy things. The reality is that it rarely happens. They end up sacrificing their health and well-being in the present for a future that may never come. The reason why it never comes is because being busy becomes a habit and habits are hard to break without a high level of intentionality.
There’s absolutely nothing wrong with working hard or working long hours when you have a specific project to complete within strict deadlines. However, it should not be your norm. It should not be regarded as business-as-usual to be busy all the time.
We can all learn from Tiger Woods’ example and make the decision to quit when we know it’s not sustainable and when we are feeling the pain. It’s sometimes hard to quit when there’s a lot at stake in the present but it’s not hard when you consider what’s at stake in the future.
What do you think? What does quitting well mean to you? Can you spot the symptoms to be aware of? Do you know how to quit to protect your future self? Love to hear your comments below.