How Mental Preparation and Brutal Honesty Helped Me Win My 7th Finnish Championship (and Can Help You Too)

(And what that has to do with quality, AI, and solving real problems)

A few weeks ago, I wrote about winning my 6th Finnish Championship in adventure minigolf—and how a simple, analytical approach made the difference.

I didn’t expect to write another post so soon with almost the same title. But here we are: last weekend, I won my 7th Finnish Championship, this time on felt tracks, with an enhanced strategy and a stronger focus on the mental game.

I wasn’t in top form for this course. But just like in quality work, success came down to this:

→ Be brutally honest about the real problem. Then find the tools that truly help.

The same method - but deeper this time

We followed the same strategic principles as before—almost like managing business risks:

• Invested 80% of practice time on tracks with the highest disaster potential

• Developed fail-safe strategies to avoid 6-point mistakes

• Accepted some 1-point risks to stay focused on what really matters

• And yes, went after quick wins when time allowed

But felt tracks—especially in Vöyri—require much more technical consistency. To be honest, this has never been my strongest course. We also hadn’t trained as much as we should’ve since spring, and we were missing competition routine. Not ideal.

So I had to face another layer of challenge: my own mindset, especially during the first round, where I usually collapse under self-made pressure.

Facing my biggest weakness—with AI coaching

To deal with that, I did something new: I opened up to Claude.ai, a large language model like ChatGPT.

I described my situation with total honesty: my challenges, strengths, and that first round with ever frustrating third track that usually starts the breakdown. Especially when I’m not in my best physical shape, small struggles can quickly feel like mountains.

That honesty was crucial. If you base your plans on inaccurate data or wishful thinking, you won’t solve the real problem—not in business, not in sports, not anywhere.

My three mental tools for performance flow

Together with Claude.ai, I created a preparation plan tailored to me. These were my three main mental anchors:

1. Evening prep — mental exercises and yes, even choosing shoes that help me feel grounded.

2. Theme song — Englishman in New York by Sting. His stage presence and rhythm helped shape my posture and mindset.

3. Mindful curiosity — At the start of every track: feel my feet. Get curious. Ask: how does this feel when it works?

It worked.

I had the best first round of my life—compared to how it usually goes. That alone was incredibly inspiring. I had overcome my biggest mental barrier.

But then I crashed again

The second round collapsed after a distraction threw me off. The third round became survival mode. I finished the day still in the lead—but just barely.

And then I did what we often forget to do in business when something goes wrong:

→ I stopped blaming. I started working.

Reflect. Learn. Adjust. - How did I overcome the first day breakdown?

Okey, if you mess something up—if you fail—you try again. You don’t blame anyone, not even yourself. You learn.

So I returned to Claude.ai.

I reflected honestly: what had happened, how I felt, where I got stuck. Together, we worked through the “flow killers” and identified real antidotes.

We came up with a new mental plan. Not just motivational fluff, but a practical system I could use.

Two new mental anchors

I added two physical and mental tools:

• One for entering peak flow state – using the image of Sting’s stage presence to shape my posture

• One for recovering from distraction – a physical anchor: squeezing my earlobe

  
  

These may sound unusual—but they were based on me, my rhythm, my way of thinking. And they worked.

Championship results—with new tools

The system held.

I won the championship—this time by 15 strokes.

What helped most wasn’t just technique. It was truthful reflection, and the courage to try new tools. You don’t get new results by using only old methods.

What does this have to do with your business challenges?

Everything.

Next time you’re facing a tough situation at work—a messy quality issue or a stuck strategic decision—ask yourself:

• Are we being honest about the real problems?

• Are we using the right tools, or just the familiar ones?

• What would happen if we tried a new approach based on truth, not assumptions?

That mindset—truth + tools—can be the difference between another rough round and your best performance yet.

And still I ask myself:

Is my truth the whole truth?