My on the lane identity was very selfish. It was all about win, win, win – me, me, me.

Since I was five years old, I’ve dedicated my entire life to bowling. I worked towards it tirelessly, spending a lot of time on the lanes, making sure I always found the right resources and coaches.

Over the decades as Diandra Asbaty, on the lanes as a professional world champion bowler, I’ve accomplished a lot of amazing things. I have won a lot of tournaments. I have won many titles. I have won countless prizes.

I have always put a lot of emphasis and a lot of hours into just my follow through, the direction that I want my ball to go on the lanes. I’ve become known for it. From an on the lanes perspective, the follow through is one of the most important elements in the game of bowling. I aim at a board on the lane, and if I don’t follow through towards it, the ball is not going to go in the right direction. It’s not going to do the right thing. I want it to be straight, not bent or disconnected.

For so many of my years as a bowler, my sightline was very focused. I was aiming not just at the boards but at being the best bowler in the world. Focusing nearly all of my attention on my follow through, standing on that approach, making all that happen, that’s where I lived my magic.

But I’ve changed. My focus isn’t selfish anymore. 

Follow through in life is also just as important as in bowling. And I’m transitioning into a different point in my life now. The magic for me isn’t only on the lanes anymore. Now, the magic is being able to focus my sights beyond the lanes and reach people through sharing.

Actually, it is where I am focusing all my energy now, and where I’m excited to help you, with my Beyond the Lanes programs, my newsletter and here through my website.

This next chapter of my life, and this open version of my identity, is way more important than anything I’ve ever done before. Now, I get to nurture other people and teach them and show them what is possible.

This is me opening up to you like I’ve never done before.

There were so many layers to my journey that I want to share with you to help you show up as the best, most authentic version of yourself. And I am so excited to share all of these lessons that I’ve learned in my career — the good lessons, the bad lessons, the hard lessons, the fun lessons. All of it. My hope is that you will be able to take that lesson, learn from it and then possibly share it forward to someone else.

When you see anybody great at what they do, you usually only see the best parts of them. You see them on TV.  You read about them online. You think to yourself they just must be really good at what they do. But you don’t see the journey. You don’t see their heartbreak. You don’t realize that they have a story. And that there are so many layers to that story, so many moments behind what you were able to see.  

People see me as Diandra Asbaty, world champion.  They see what I’ve done on the lanes. And that’s natural. That’s where the focus has always been. There was no way for anyone to see my journey off the lane, the work that I put into myself, the goal setting, the mental game preparation, the surrounding myself with the right people, my tapping into my intuition…as well as the losses and upset.  All of these things beyond the lanes truly made me into the Diandra everyone sees. I truly didn’t get to be a world champion without all of those lessons from that journey beyond the lanes.

Just as people on the outside couldn’t see what I was going through to reach my achievements, I also didn’t realize everything that I was learning along the way. In those moments, I was too close to it all. What you do in life, and what you commit your life to, provides you with so many more lessons than you can possibly see when you’re in the moment. Now as I take the time to reflect back on my journey, I am able to pull out all of those on the lane lessons that shaped me as a human. It’s so clear to me that bowling made me a better person.

Seeing everything from an outside perspective, I’ve been able to make that connection between life on and off the lanes. And I truly believe that I’ve learned some of life’s most important lessons through bowling. That is so empowering but I think most people miss that connection because they don’t see the entire story.

I’m looking forward to taking you deeper, helping you use your own experiences as learning opportunities as well as seeing the connections between how you live your life on and off the lanes. As well, if you want to be a better bowler on the lanes, sometimes you just need to take an inventory and an audit of yourself beyond the lanes. What kind of person are you, where is your head?  Do you know how to be a good teammate? Do you know how to problem solve? Do you have self-awareness? Are you showing up authentically? Are you positive? Are you surrounding yourself with the right people? Are you setting goals? Do you have core values and how you can use them?

I like to use follow through as an example of an important life skill. You can connect the idea of having a strong follow through on the lanes to having one beyond the lanes. It weaves throughout your life. It’s not just in one area of your life. It really demonstrates who you are as a person. You’ll be a better bowler and a better, happier person when you make that connection. You can ask yourself, are you one that merely talks the talk, or are you going to walk the walk? Are you going to say what you’re going to do? And are you going to do what you say? Are you showing up and standing strong for yourself, and for those that count on you in your life? I have always placed a great value on follow through, and have appreciated it in others as well.

So, who’s coming with me?

Comment below and let me know what Follow Through means to you.