Hey!

Hope you had a great weekend. Here are three lessons from my work last week that I hope can be helpful for you!

1. "WOOD"

Last week, I was with Tony Finau during his practice round as he prepared for the Grant Thornton Invitational.

Standing on the 18th green, he shared a concept that’s really stuck with me.

In golf, there’s an acronym commonly used by experienced coaches: “WOOD”, which stands for “Works Only One Day.”

Tony explained how easy it is to fall into the trap of fixing your swing or any deficiency in your game, just to get through the here and now. You plug a hole, move the needle for the moment, and while it feels productive, all you’ve really done is apply a short-term fix. However, it’s important to acknowledge that there are moments, especially during competition, when a quick fix is necessary. These quick adjustments can help maintain immediate performance, allowing the athlete to navigate the present challenge successfully. Yet, relying solely on quick fixes can prevent the development of enduring habits and systems that ensure long-term growth.

The better approach, he said, is to build a system with the long game in mind—even if it doesn’t look good today, even if it’s uncomfortable or ugly in the moment, because you know that over time, it will hold up under pressure.

It reminds me of a principle I come back to often:

Love It Now, Hate It Later vs. Hate It Now, Love It Later

• Love It Now, Hate It Later is the Band-Aid approach. It’s WOOD. It works today… but it costs you tomorrow.
• Hate It Now, Love It Later is when you’re working a process that doesn’t give immediate feedback or gratification—but you trust that, over time, it will compound.

When you live in “Works Only One Day,” you never build habits. You never build systems. You’re constantly tweaking, adjusting, and reacting.

The lesson for me and for anyone chasing long-term performance is simple: if you want to build long-term systems, chop the “WOOD” from your problem-solving. Yes, there’s a time to go out and compete with what you have; however, don’t let short-term fixes get in the way of building long-term systems. It may look and feel ugly right now, but if you stick with it, it will be a stable set of skills that you can rely on under pressure in the future.

Try it: to start building these long-term systems, consider adopting simple daily habits. One effective approach could be to dedicate 10 minutes each day to mindful practice of specific skills, focusing on form and consistency rather than immediate performance metrics. Another method is to keep a reflective journal where you assess your daily progress and identify areas for gradual improvement. By incorporating these small yet consistent actions, athletes can begin to translate advice into meaningful, actionable steps towards lasting growth.

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2. Look ahead to be present

Last week, an MLB baseball player and I were talking about the importance of being present, but our conversation brought up an important caveat that often gets overlooked.

This player brought up a great point when he said, "to truly be where your feet are, the first step isn’t presence—it’s direction."

Before we focus on today, we need clarity on where we’re headed. What’s the goal? What mountain are we trying to climb? Because not all activity is productive, and it doesn't matter if you're moving if you're going in the wrong direction.

He shared that early in his career, he prided himself on staying present. Day after day, he focused on the here and now. But the real breakthrough came when he learned to use his mind as a time machine—to step into the future and clearly define what he wanted, why it mattered, and the obstacles he’d face along the way.

Only then did “focus on today” truly work.

When you know where you’re going, you can reverse-engineer your approach and ask a more powerful question: How can I best use my time, energy, and attention today to move in that direction?

Try it: take five minutes and step into the future. Picture a point six months or a year from now and clearly define what “better” looks like for you if things go well. Name the mountain you’re actually trying to climb—what you’re building, becoming, or protecting. Then reverse-engineer back to today and ask, If that’s where I’m going, what’s the one thing I can do right now that truly moves me in that direction? When direction is clear, being present stops being motion and starts becoming progress.

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3. Focus on the finish, not the friction

Some moments will test you as a leader—the moments where you know exactly what needs to be done, but everything inside of you is resisting it. It might be a tough conversation you’ve been putting off, holding a player accountable when you know they won’t like it, or finding the energy to show up when you’re completely drained.

In those moments, it’s easy to focus on how hard it feels right now.

But here’s the reframe: focus on the finish, not the friction.

On many occasions, leaders in professional sports face difficult situations they must lean into. The easy thing to do is to punt it down the road; however, the right thing is the hard thing. However, the best leaders don’t make decisions based on how they feel in the moment; they make decisions based on what's best for the organization as a whole, long-term.

The friction will always be there. The discomfort is unavoidable. But so is the cost of avoiding it. Great leaders lean into what’s hard because they understand that short-term discomfort is the price of long-term impact.

Try it: this week, notice the moments you feel resistance, the task, conversation, or decision you are tempted to avoid. Pause and name it clearly instead of pushing it down the road. Then ask yourself, what will this team, player, or organization need from me long term, not what feels easiest right now? Take one small, concrete action toward the hard thing, even if it is just starting the conversation. At the end of the day, reflect on how it felt to choose the finish over the friction.

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See you next week!

Justin Su'a

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