Life and Baseball is a Game of Inches
Congratulations to the Major League Baseball World Series Champions, the New York Yankees! Champions of 27 World Series! Wow!!
I have been a fan and student of the game of baseball since I was four years old. I have been fortunate to play for some outstanding coaches, and played with some great players. These days I have the unbelievable joy of coaching my sons and their friends in Little League baseball.
There are a many things that standout to me in baseball that have been great life lessons for me. I am listing a few for you as you play in your own world series each day in business and life. You are already in the major leagues of life and you are your own MVP(most valuable player) every day.
- Baseball/life is a game of inches whether you are running bases, fielding a ball, or covering the plate with a pitch or your bat. Manage those inches in advance, be efficient, get the first inch advantage.
- Baseball/life is a game where success is not an all time thing. You can make the Hall of Fame by being a successful hitter 4 out 10 at bats. Sometimes you have to keep fouling off pitches, but by all means, make sure you step up to the plate to take your swings.
- The more successful hitters in baseball/life visualize the pitch they are going to hit and where they will hit it, before they step into the batter’s box. They know what to expect.
- Becoming an expert at the little things, the fundamentals of the game is what makes the difference between the good players and the great ones. The great players make the routine plays.
- Practice is for working hard, testing your limits, pushing yourself so that the game time is easy and fun. You have to love to practice as much as you love the game.
- To be a great winner, you have to be able to lose with class, compliment your opponent, and prepare for the next meeting so you can learn from your defeat.
These lessons are powerful. There are many more that I have taken as notes in my life. May you use these lessons to achieve your status of MVP today.
Great post. Well said and it makes the lessons very easy to understand. Keep up the good work.
I am stiving to be an MVP, and understand with hard work and determination I can achieve goals even if they begin as obstacles.
I truly enjoyed reading the post!
Great post Trent. I agree with all of the lessons you mentioned. Another one is to have a good coach. All successful pitchers and hitters will tell you that they have a coach that will analyze their swing or delivery that they do not always notice and then will go on to help correct it. By the way Trent, thanks for noticing that I needed to get my elbow more so that my slider would have more movement on it.
Trent,
Success is in the details and the details are where the inches can add up! The part I always had trouble with in baseball and still do in business is the visualization process. I am working on that!
Thanks!
Trent,
I enjoyed the blog post. The baseball analogy is right up my alley. We also need to remember, you don’t always have to swing for the fences, if you get enough base hits you will eventually reach your goals.