--- title: "The Bagger Vance Advantage" description: "A talk for the do-it-yourselfer about the cost of going in blind." author: "Rahim Rasul" type: "Podcast episode" series: "Halftime Talks" episode: 189 published: "2020-08-26" duration: "15 min" theme: "Work and mentors" tags: "mentorship, guidance, do it yourself, golf, wise elder" audio: "https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/rahimrasul/HTT187_BaggerVanceAdvantage.mp3?dest-id=175061" url: "https://iloveprocess.com/halftime/the-bagger-vance-advantage/" site: "I Love Process" --- # The Bagger Vance Advantage _A talk for the do-it-yourselfer about the cost of going in blind._ **The question:** Who in our lives are acting as that insightful voice of reason? Listen: https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/rahimrasul/HTT187_BaggerVanceAdvantage.mp3?dest-id=175061 ## Before you listen Going beyond the lone wolf approach means embracing the advantage of those more experienced, who can navigate the terrain with you. This talk is about surrounding ourselves with resources that give us an inside track. I am a do-it-yourselfer. I see something and think I could do it, and there is a cost to going in blind. A good caddy carries the clubs and also knows the weather, the greens and the slopes, because they have played the course before. That insight lowers the golfer's cognitive load. In the movie, Will Smith's Bagger Vance comes out of the mist to caddy for Matt Damon's character, a wise guide in the line of Krishna and Obi Wan Kenobi. Listen for the challenge near the end: align yourself with those who have walked this path, so you don't spend your life solving what already has a library of insights. Doing it yourself brings rich experiences. The question is whether you get as far along as you deserve to be. ## From the talk > Nobody cares how you got here. They care how you perform. > > You are not on an island. While you are unique, the challenges that you face are not new. > > Not only can he read the course, but he can read and communicate what you need to hear in the way you may need to hear it. ## Sit with this - Will you be as far along as you deserve to be? - How do you negotiate this discomfort and come out better as a result of it? ## Transcript Welcome to another episode of Halftime Talks. My name is Rahim Rasul, and you're listening to the podcast where we recognize that in the middle of your game of life, whether you're up by 10 or down by 20, we all need halftime talks to uplift us, inspire us and challenge us to bring that level of performance that you and I know it's gonna take to win the game. Let's get up. Let's get down. Roll with the horrible sound. Let's skip this. So here we are at the beginning of another episode. And if you know us, you know we always begin with appreciation, because it helps us center and you know it sets this into motion. And in today's appreciation, what I want to appreciate is witnessing the growth. Yes, that is an ELSI album title, but looking at us now and how we respond to things in ways that in the past may have thrown us off of our track, thrown us off the rails, spiraled into a ditch. We now have the countenance, we now have the alignment. We now have the ability not to react as much as respond accordingly. That's not to say that we don't get hit with the everyday lives or that the negativity does not find us anymore. We respond differently. We see our growth. We've been there before, and we now know we're capable of shining no matter what, and that is my appreciation. So in this episode of halftime talks, it is another example of what I love to do, it is to put a spin on something we've heard before, and hopefully, preferably, do these words and through this episode, allow you to hear it differently, allow it to sink in and wedge somewhere into your mind. And if you've read the title of this episode, it is the Bagger Vance advantage. It began a couple years ago, I wrote the idea of caddy mentality down and hmm, to my discredit, I forgot what I meant when I wrote it. And over time, I've looked at that word again until it penetrated the way that it was there when I originally thought of it. So in this episode, what we are going to explore is going beyond self and embracing more. And obviously we're going to go into more detail. That was very generic. I tried to not give away the premise, but that's what it is. So thank you guys, the new people, my veterans, the community of thankers and the community of people who want to not just prosper but be a little bit better. So without further ado, let us get into this episode and bring you. What is it? The bagger vents advantage. You. I'm not sure how many people are like me, and when I say like me, the characteristics which I'm describing is this, do it yourselfer. I have a mind that's able to wrap itself and deconstruct processes, and I see something and arrogantly in the back of my mind, I think I could do it. I processes, and I see something and arrogantly in the back of my mind, I think I could do it. I think I could do anything, and nothing is wrong with that, but there's a cost to doing everything. There's a cost to going in blind a lot of times. First you have to map the domain. You have to understand the domain and the rules of that domain. And if you're going in blind without necessarily a map, then it's on you. It's incumbent upon you. Nobody cares how you got there. Nobody cares about where you've come from or what you've solved up to this point. They care about how you perform. And countless situations, being a solopreneur, being a freelancer, being a photographer, nobody cares how you got here. They care how you perform throughout all disciplines, the factor which separates natural talent and skill and elite. Performance is the availability of resources, and we know these resources come in all forms, be it finance, be it instruction manual, being it just an individual who's able to tell you what issues matter, therefore reducing your cognitive load and allowing you to focus in on performance, a resource and a relationship that I want to explore to bring this episode alive is the idea of the relationship between the golfer and the Caddy. I'm not gonna get too technical in a golf I'm really not a super fan of golf, but I have observed the relationship between the two, and understand that this can definitely drive home a point. The caddy typically performs a duty of carrying the clubs, of cleaning the balls, holding the flag it goes deeper. Caddies understand weather conditions. Understands the effect that the breeze or the type of day it is in terms of weather, will have on performance. They understand the greens of a certain course. They understand the slopes, the inclines and the declines and the and the pitfalls and what to avoid. They've played that course over and over again, so they have an inside track. They know what to expect. Even if it's your first time there with all of your ability and talent, the inside track can lead to a competitive advantage, the same golfer could go in there, blind, do it yourself. Have a friend as a caddy who's just carrying around the irons. The amount of decision making that is necessary to compete at a high level, from that perspective, goes up. The cognitive load goes up. The solvent goes up. The good caddy understands he's been there before. They have reps, and they've done it a few times where they understand the slopes, the embankments, the hills, the traps, what to avoid, and just that insight can accelerate performance. This episode is called the Bagger Vance. Advantage, if you're familiar with the movie, Will Smith plays a character who comes out of the mysterious mist and is a caddy to Matt Damon's character. This movie, The Bhagavan is loosely based upon Hindu mythology, where the warrior Arjuna, refuses to fight, and the deity Krishna appears as Bhagavan to help him follow his path as the warrior and the hero that he was meant to be. This is imperative throughout mythology, throughout history, throughout our expression of the hero's journey, the wise elder, or the wise insightful person, joins us on the journey in Star Wars, you have Obi Wan Kenobi, and in This movie, bag of Vance, it was Bagger Vance. So it is important to understand that while we possess the talent, the insight and the ability, do are we able to perform when it counts? And sometimes you need that wise person to help you down the back nine. And in golf, we see it. Sometimes. We see the conversations between the golfer and his caddy. We see the golfer crouch down, looking at the slope, getting insights about how the ball will likely travel and depending on your path, be it a entrepreneur, one a freelance, one, someone who wants to affect the economy by business creation or contributed to it through Being a rock solid employee, we need our bag of answers. We need our mentors. We need somebody who's been on this road, who've seen people fall into pitfalls, and can provide some insights and resources that will enable us to bring that level of performance. Performance that allows us to win the game. We tend to be so caught up in our ego of what we're capable of doing that we neglect our ability to hear the wisdom and the insights of those who have walked down these roads, those who have been at the crossroads between the challenges that we currently face, those who have seen it before, who have who have endured the flame of discomfort and are on the other side with a level of insight that can benefit those who are currently encountering those situations, those who can provide the tips and the tricks to maneuver and negotiate a situation, be that in a professional setting. How do you go from where I am to where I want to be? How do you negotiate this discomfort and come out better as a result of it than if you would just try to escape the challenge never to have learned a lesson? And so the Bagger Vance advantage is about embracing the perspectives of those wise individuals to help us maneuver and negotiate the course, the course of life, and while the caddy helps negotiate the golf course. Who in our lives are acting as that insightful voice of reason, Voice of insight and voice of wisdom, which allow us to saturate that black and white image into a full, vivid, colorful representation of the possibility that we know which exists within us. And I would challenge you, as you look at the road ahead, as you evaluate who and where you want to be, that it is imperative that you align yourself with those who have walked this path. You are not on an island. While you are unique, the challenges that you face are not new. It is very arrogant to think that you're the first one, and sometimes with innovation and technology cool, I get it, but the challenge is to bring that talent to the world, that talent to the moment that skill allow it to become refined. And in order to do that, it's imperative that you align yourself with the right resources. The last thing you want to do is spend your whole life solving something that has already had a library of insights collected around utilize it. That's what life was here for them, for utilize the insights that came before you and and now you can sit on that leading edge and innovate. And obviously you'll have a lot more rich experiences doing it yourself. But will you be as far along as you deserve to be that is the advantage of the bag of ants. Not only can he read the course, but he can read and communicate what you need to hear in the way you may need to hear it. So this has been another episode of Halftime Talks. My name is Rahim Rasul, and thank you guys for listening. I hope this episode has been not only just beneficial to you, but twisting, spinning, a perspective on an idea that you may have heard before, and you hear it in a new way. I look forward to sharing further gems with you. Show up, tune up. Show up every week. We do and make sure you go to iTunes. Subscribe, rate and review. Leave us a review. Let us know what you think. Let us know what you'd like to see in the future. Share with a friend. The more who know, the more we grow. Subscribe, rate and review all that good stuff, and until next time, go forth. Seek joy, peace.