Scottie Scheffler won The Open Championship this past weekend—his fourth major title. Only three other golfers have won four majors before the age of 30.

Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus, and Tiger Woods.

The last time someone won their first four majors by three strokes or more was in 1909. Before The Masters even existed.

But Scottie wasn’t thinking about the historic implications of his win.

“You just don’t know what’s going to happen. So it doesn’t ever really feel like the tournament’s won sometimes until the ball is in the hole. Golf is a funny game. You’ve got to stay focused for the entire tournament.”

Scottie was focused on the next shot.

He has an otherworldly ability to pick now.

He doesn’t get lost in what the leaderboard says, or what the moment could mean or what’s coming on the next hole. He doesn’t spiral into what-if scenarios or try to force an outcome.

He looks at the ball. Where is it? What’s the lie?

In the fairway? In the deep rough? In a pot bunker?

All the practice, all the knowledge, coming down to one shot. This one.

He does the one thing that matters: he takes the best swing he can, for this moment, from this lie, for this shot.

He picks now.

And then he does it again. Shot after shot.

At the end of four days, he’s a champion. Or he’s not.

That’s how you lead.

Not by trying to solve everything at once. Not by waiting until you’re sure. Not by rehearsing a thousand futures.

But by picking the next right thing in front of you. The next swing. The next move.

Do that—over and over again—and your life will change.

Be like Scottie Scheffler.

Pick now.

Ever been stuck asking, “What do I do next?”

If you’re a founder or CEO, chances are you’ve asked that more than once—usually when you’re already knee-deep in complexity, growth pressures, or uncertainty.

It can feel big, and overwhelming.

Here’s the truth I share with leaders all the time:

You Already Know

You already know what you need to do. You might be afraid, but you know.

The real question is: How do you know that you know?

There’s a moment I call the Pick Now moment—that space where clarity pierces through the panic and the noise. When you just pick, without overanalyzing, without having to know if and how things are going to work out.

It’s quiet, and it doesn’t come from fear. It feels calm. Patient. You’re not frantically scanning 27 possible next steps. You’re breathing. You’re listening.

Here’s how to find it:

• Get quiet. Let the voices in your head slow down.
• Notice the relief. That gentle inner “aha” of what the next step is, Oh… I need to talk to them. Or rest. Or decide.
• Breathe. Try my 4×4 breath: deep belly inhale for four seconds, let it out, let the tension pour out through your feet like water into a drain. Do that four times. More if you can.

You won’t get stone tablets or a divine 10-step plan. But you will know the next thing. And when you choose from that space—grounded, not reactive—you shift everything.

There’s wisdom in your body. It knows.

So: Take a breath. Feel what’s true.

And then… Pick Now. And feel the relief in knowing you are now in motion and ready to learn what’s next.

Everything you want is on the other side of a Pick Now moment.

Want To Go Deeper?

Reach out.

If you are at a true crossroads, you might be a fit for my two day event for Founders in Denver, October 20-21.

Let me know if you would like to learn more.

Think of a great leader.

Steve Jobs? Had it.

Michael Jordan? Had it.

Elon Musk? Has it. (Perhaps to a fault.)

What is the “it” that I am talking about, the secret sauce?

Is it team building? No.

Is it strategic thinking? No.

Is it visionary ideas? No.

What I am talking about is simple, and, if done repeatedly and well, can lead to all those other things.

A bias for action.

Why a Bias for Action is a Prerequisite to Powerful Leadership

Have you ever been part of a team that was coming up with the strategic plan for the year? Or a financial forecast?

Were you energized?

My experiences with this, both at large organizations and small, was that they were soul-sucking. Everyone suffered through a seemingly required (and certainly dreadful) process until the team got to a lowest-common denominator plan that no one was excited about, nor paid much attention to after they left the conference room.

The teams that were exciting to be a part of were the teams that tried things. The teams that put out things into the real world and then adapted.

They were led by people who were willing to do the same.

The Three Things That Action Brings

Data. Putting out a piece of content or a prototype or even a product with a price gets you immediate feedback. So does trying a new move in a game or a new line in a concert.

Did it work? What did you like? What didn’t you like?

No arguments about what might happen and what might not. Discussions about what actually did work.

Permission to take risk. If YOU take action, even if and especially if you fail, you give permission to everyone else to do the same. And when you take risk, especially if that risk is managed appropriately, at some point you tend to get results.

Speed. There is no faster way to see if something is going to work than to try it. And if it doesn’t work, you get a really good sense of what needs to change. And you change it and try again (see permission to take risk above).

Why Don’t You Take Action?

If you’re like me, you’ve spent a lot of years not taking action, not taking risks, not doing the one thing that really lights you up.

During those years, decades even, there was only one thing that was getting in my way.

Fear.

Fear might show up as a lot of different things–

Strategizing.

Planning.

Being practical.

Waiting for the “right time.”

Avoiding “failure” (while avoiding success as well).

But what’s on the other side of that fear?

Everything you say you want. And probably much much more.

For you, for your team, for your company.

What’s One Small Action You Can Take Today?

Get moving, and it gets easier.

Do one thing a day for 30 days and see where you are.

I bet it will amaze you.

Now do that for the rest of your life. And see not only what you do, but more important, how you feel.

Experience with this? Let me know in the comments.

“I can’t wait to have a day off so I can get some work done.”

I get it.

There is so much to do. So many decisions to make, fires to fight.

And when your people have a day off it means you might finally have some space to make some decisions.

Don’t do it.

The Day Off Trap

You are believing an illusion—the idea that there is a finite amount of work and that if you only had enough time you could do it all.

That if you just use this day off you can “get ahead of things.”

That at some point, things will be less busy.

When was the last time this happened? Between companies? (Maybe?)

Every choice you make creates at least one more choice.

If you want space you have to make space.

If you want things to be less crazy, YOU have to be less crazy.

What Busy Actually Means

Life is just a series of choices arriving in the present moment.

We CREATE it, though, as a master plan that we can (in the words of one of my founder clients) “game theory” through several steps in advance.

But if you really watch, this is what is happening.

A choice appears. You make it. Time passes. Another choice appears. You make it.

All the time in between, processing or figuring things out or planning or strategizing?

Wasted time and energy.

Time and energy that you could be using to step back. To recover. To see the next choice that presents itself.

A Real Day Off!

That is what a REAL day off looks like. A break from all the ruminating (or at least some of it).

Time connecting with family and friends (and not sneaking looks at your phone).

Laughing. Feeling just a little bit less stress for a little bit of time.

You might even find you like it.

Enjoy this holiday weekend. As much as you are able to let yourself. And I promise your world will look different next week.

If you’d like more of that, reach out. I have some ideas for you.