The Difference Between Making a Mistake
and Being Bad at Your Job

William was watching golf in the summer of 2026. The British Open was on, the Scottish Open the week before, and during the coverage they showed a clip of Rory McIlroy that stopped William cold.

For those who don’t follow golf, Rory McIlroy is one of only a handful of players to ever win all four majors. A 40 time winner around the world. One of the best players of his generation with hundreds of millions in career earnings and endorsements. At the prime of his career.

Rory stood in the middle of the fairway, about 100 to 150 yards from the pin. A distance where a tour player is expected to put it within five or ten yards virtually every time. He hits the ball, the tracker follows it up and to the left, way left, and Rory looks up and says exactly what he is thinking.

“God, I’m so bad at golf.”

William laughed.

Because Rory McIlroy is not bad at golf.

He hit a bad shot.

And there’s a huge difference between those two interpretations.

The Mistake We All Make

In the moment after something goes wrong, the mind has a habit of leaping from the specific to the general. From “I made a bad decision” to “I am bad at this.” From “that didn’t work” to “I don’t know what I’m doing.” From one bad shot to a sweeping verdict on your ability and your judgment.

It’s a natural response.

But it’s almost always wrong.

Rory McIlroy has hit thousands of shots in his career. The vast majority of them have been exceptional. One shot that drifted left on a Tuesday in Scotland does not change that record. It’s one data point in a career full of them, and it doesn’t deserve the weight he gave it.

The same is true for business owners, professionals, and leaders at every level.

What the Best in the World Do After They Miss

Here’s what makes elite performers different. Not that they never hit bad shots. They do, regularly, visibly, and sometimes at the worst possible moments. What makes them different is what they do next.

They go to the next hole. They reset, refocus, and hit the next shot. They don’t carry the bad shot with them into the next decision, the next conversation, or the next opportunity. They acknowledge it, learn what they can from it, and move on.

That sounds simple, but it’s not easy.

That’s the difference between a bad shot and a bad round, between a mistake and a pattern, between a rough moment and a crisis of confidence that starts affecting your performance across the board.

What This Means for Your Business

You’re going to make bad decisions. You’re going to do things you immediately regret. You’re going to have moments where something goes wrong and you know in real time that you made the wrong call.

That doesn’t make you bad at what you do. It makes you human. And the sooner you can separate the bad shot from the broader verdict on your ability, the faster you can get back to doing what you actually do well.

Next time something goes sideways, remember Rory McIlroy standing in that fairway. One of the best golfers alive. One bad shot. One moment of frustration.

And then on to the next hole.

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Golf. What a great sport. It humbles all of us. And one of the, one of the ways that I know that it humbles all of us is the fact that I was watching golf this weekend, and this, you know, it’s the middle of summer here. You can tell I’ve got sleeves rolled up. I’m already starting to sweat. I’ve been outside, I think, for 30 seconds.

But so the PGA Tour is overseas, right? So this is the British Open week this week. Last week was the Scottish Open. And they showed a clip of Rory McIlroy, and for those of you that aren’t familiar with, uh, Rory McIlroy, he’s one of a handful of players that’s won all four majors. Um, he is, uh, probably won 40 times around the [00:01:00] world, uh, has been in and out as the number one player in golf.

Obviously, that’s Scottie Scheffler right now. But anyways, they showed a clip of Rory, and he’s standing in the middle of the fairway, probably 100, 150 yards out, a, a place where you would expect a tour player to knock it within five or 10 yards every time. And Rory hits this ball, and you know that they got the trackers on everything these days, and so you just see it going up and up and up, and then all of a sudden it just starts going left.

And left isn’t where it’s supposed to be going, right? It’s supposed to be going straight. And so you just hear Rory say, “God, I’m so bad at golf.”

And here he is. He’s basically number two player in the world, one of only a handful of players that’s ever won, you know, all four majors, a 40-time winner, hundreds of millions if not billions of dollars in career earnings and endorsements and everything else, [00:02:00] at the prime of his life, and he hits the shot and says he’s so bad at golf.

That’s awesome. And it just made me realize, like how often do we think we’re so bad at what we do? And the reality is, is Rory McIlroy is not so bad at golf. Uh, he hit a bad shot, and it’s the same thing with us, right? So, you know, kinda keep that in mind on a day-to-day basis. Yeah, you’re gonna do dumb things.

I know for sure I’m gonna do dumb things. We’re gonna make bad decisions. We’re gonna do things that we shouldn’t have done. But it doesn’t make you bad at what you do. Uh, it just means that you’ve gotta go to the next hole and hit a better shot next time, right? So again, remember you, in fact, are probably bad at golf.

I know I am. But you’re probably not bad at what you do

ORIGINAL MEDIA SOURCE(S):

William Bissett: One Bad Shot Doesn’t Make You a Bad Player | Portus Perspectives

Originally Recorded on July 22, 2026

Portus Perspectives: Episode 36

By /Published On: October 8, 2026/