SPARK Insights™ Issue #0043

At the 2023 AI Summit, I stood up and named two intentions.
I wanted to spend more time on the golf course.
I wanted to spend more time with my wife.

Simple. Honest. Clear.

I didn’t map out a perfect plan. I named the desire and why it mattered. And life filled in the details.

Since then, I’ve played more than 250 rounds of golf.

And since becoming the head golf coach at my alma mater, I’ve been on a course every day since August 11 — and will be until the first week of October. When my team isn’t out there, Arlene and I ride, play, and enjoy the game together. August has been more pleasant than we can remember. Being outside daily has my body feeling better and my spirit lighter.

Here’s the part that surprised me: it has felt easy.

Not easy like “no work.” I have sixteen athletes, not eight. Practices, matches, rides, gear, and logistics are very real. Yet the work flows. Coaching in this new arena gives me energy. I even shared about it on our local city channel, connecting forty years of coaching to this season on the course.

Recently, while working with my own coach, something surfaced from a tangent that I did not expect but needed to see. I have carried a quiet belief that things which come easy cannot be trusted. If it feels effortless, it must have little value.

And then there is this story:

Last fall I played 18 with an entrepreneur. We talked business, family, and the real stuff that rides inside both. No pitch. No offer. We played, observed, asked better questions, and the conversation did the work. On the last hole he said, “This is awesome. What is it like to work with you?” He invited himself in.

That moment felt like cheating to the old program in my head. It felt like grace to the new story I am choosing. Sales as service. Presence as proof. Alignment as the engine.

Here is the paradox I am learning to trust:

• Ease does not mean you aren’t working. It means the work is aligned.

• Ease does not mean you haven’t earned it. It means you are finally receiving it.

• Ease does not mean lazy. It means you are living in rhythm with who you are.

Now let’s make this personal.

Take a breath and get honest:

• Where do you quietly distrust ease?

• Where do you dismiss what comes naturally because it doesn’t feel “hard enough”?

• What story are you telling about the value of effort versus the gift of alignment?

A gentle challenge for this week

1. Name one desire in clear words.

2. Name why it matters to you or the people you serve.

3. Let life fill in the details and notice where ease tries to enter.

4. When it does, receive it instead of questioning it.

If you’re willing, hit reply with one line that begins:
“I am letting this be easy: ______.”
I read every response.

P.S. If you see me on the course with the team, or riding with Arlene later in the day, know this: intention plus presence created the space. Life filled in the details. My job now is to receive it.

— Coach Reg