Happy Sunday Everyone:
We had 4 baseball games yesterday between Jack and Thomas. Thomas didn’t do so well, 3 strike outs, a pop up, and two walks. I love him to no end but he can get slightly emotional. He comes off the field almost in tears, literally, talking about how unfair the ump was, the kid on the mound was supposed to be 12 but he had a mustache, must have been 15, they were throwing 75 mph etc.. What do you say? Hug him and tell everything is going to be okay? Give him the excuses he deserves? I don’t think that would help him, do you? This is where being my kid would suck…where I turn everything into a life lesson…the eyes roll, here it comes,…ready for impact….they’re both trying to act interested…I’m fairly certain this is what they’re both thinking as we talk this through over a cheeseburger….hopefully they’ll remember someday what all of this actually means.
What I said yesterday, and I believe to be true, is baseball, like sales, can be considered a game of failure, and is. It’s been said many times if you’re in the pros and you get a hit 3 of 10 times throughout your career, you’ll end. up in the hall of fame. My point to him, deal with it, and move on. Get better. Learn from it. Stop making excuses. Adjust. Get your head straight.
Correlation between baseball, sales/business, and life.
1. Get your head straight-How do I hit a ball if I’m thinking I can’t hit the ball? How do I win a sale if I’m thinking and believing “I won’t win this sale?”. Accept the fact that challenging times are not easy to get through but getting through them is that much more gratifying and developmental than getting through something easy. I tried to explain to Thomas, a kid, with a mustache, throwing 75, is in fact scary, but if you’re going to be in the batter’s box with him, accept the fact that you might get hit. Being scared and jumping around like a bouncing bean isn’t going to prevent you from getting hit but its 100% guaranteed to prevent you from hitting the ball, which is your job while you’re there, and BTW, if you do get hit, you go to first….which is a win. Similar to sales-if you’ve been hit 20 times, you’re less scared of being hit because it doesn’t hurt quite as bad as you had originally thought. The more you get hit, and accept it, the more you stand your ground, you stay level headed, you increase the odds of your success. Getting hit in baseball is the same as rejection in sales. It’s part of the game and it will happen, accept it, and move on.
2. Move on-get better. Jack (14) has a kid on his team, wears his emotions on his sleeve but makes a ton of errors. Originally, I appreciated his emotions, his heart, his care for the game…now he annoys me. You’ll probably think I’m an ass but 20 games into the season, when he makes an error, throws his glove over his face, and walks around like he’s dying, I just want to yell “stop crying and get better”. If you’re failing, learn from your failure, adjust, and get better. What is making you fail? stop doing it, and get better. Is it more complicated than that? If you find yourself complaining to someone about something more than once, you’re annoying that person, stop it. First time is on me, 2nd time is on you. Your words mean nothing if your actions aren’t doing something to get better. Don’t be the emotional Martyr, just get better, actions always speak louder than words.
3. Learn from it and adjust. Take inventory what is working and what is not working. If you’re pulling your head as you swing, chances of hitting the ball is close to zero. If you identify that’s your issue, work on that issue, resolve it, and start hitting the ball. I read a great article a friend forwarded from. a big time CEO, he makes everything simple. One of his thoughts was this “if you want to make money, identify the areas in your business that lose you money, and stop doing them”. Is it more complicated than that? Another one of his points was to not have people on his team who make things too complicated. Identify areas that you need to do more of, less of, or stop, adjust accordingly, and move on.
Putting this into words was actually really helpful for me on things I need to work on, things I need to stop complaining about, and areas where I need to make my own adjustments. Less words, more actions.
Have a great week.