Train Your Brain.
Change Your Game.

Last night I attended a fascinating seminar with Jamie Edwards from Trained Brain. On the surface, it was a session about golf psychology. In reality, it was about leadership, performance, decision making, pressure, confidence, identity, and how we think when things matter most.

And the more Jamie spoke, the more obvious it became that golf is often just a mirror for the rest of life.

That line stayed with me all evening. We spend huge amounts of time developing technical skills, processes, qualifications, experience, systems, and knowledge. But very little time developing the thing driving all of it: our thinking.

What struck me was how transferable the lessons were into business and leadership. Because the same patterns appear everywhere.

Performance Is Remembering

One of the strongest ideas from the session was this:

You have already experienced confidence, clarity, calmness, flow, and good decision making. The challenge is not inventing a new version of yourself. The challenge is remembering the feeling, mindset, and approach that existed when you performed well.

Too often in business and sport we chase reinvention — new methodologies, new systems, new techniques, new hacks — when sometimes the answer is simply reconnecting with the version of yourself that already performs at a high level.

Neutral Thinking Beats Forced Positivity

This was probably the most thought-provoking part of the evening. Jamie challenged the entire idea of "just be positive." His argument was simple.

Standing over a six-foot putt saying "I'm definitely going to make this" is not true. But equally, "I'm definitely going to miss this" is also not true. Both create emotional instability because the brain knows certainty does not exist.

Instead, he introduced the concept of neutral thinking — just three words:

That tiny shift changes everything. Instead of artificial positivity or destructive negativity, you create calm. And calm leads to clarity. His framework was beautifully simple:

That applies far beyond golf. In leadership, sales, and business, some of the best decisions are made not from hype or fear — but from calm clarity.

Thinking Box vs Playing Box

Another concept I loved was the separation between the thinking box and the playing box. The idea is simple: decide first, commit second.

Too many golfers stand over the ball still thinking. Too many business leaders walk into meetings still undecided. Too many salespeople enter negotiations uncertain. The best performers make decisions before execution — then commit fully. Because indecision leaks into performance incredibly quickly.

Conversations, Not Chats

One of the most powerful moments of the seminar was Jamie's distinction between chats and conversations.

I see this constantly in business. Many organisations say they want high-performance cultures. But what they really have are polite chats. Not real conversations. Real conversations involve discomfort. But growth lives there.

Golf Is a Mirror

One thing I increasingly believe: golf exposes your thinking patterns faster than almost anything else. How you respond to bad shots, pressure, momentum swings, mistakes, and decision-making moments often tells you a great deal about how you operate elsewhere.

The golfers who stay calm, objective, and present under pressure often lead similarly in business. Both are games of decision making, emotional control, adaptability, consistency, and recovery. Not perfection.

Small Shifts. Big Impact.

Jamie repeatedly returned to one theme: small shifts. Not dramatic transformation. Not motivational theatre. Not overnight success.

That feels incredibly relevant right now in business too. Everyone is looking for massive change, huge disruption, instant transformation. But sustainable improvement is usually quieter than that.