The Competitor’s Brain

There have been a lot of fan favorites over the years, where people say "I'd buy a ticket to watch them play."

Well, would you buy a ticket to watch yourself play? 

What can you do to make yourself be the kind of player that people want to see? What kind of attributes can you portray? 

Slumps are not forever, and neither is perfection. If you start off slow, you're one hit away from a hot streak. 

There's a great book from the late 80s by George Will called Men At Work. In it, Hershiser is asked whether he goes to the mound in the first inning planning to pitch a complete game. ‘A perfect game,’ he replies. ‘If they get a hit, then I am throwing a one-hitter. If they get a walk, it’s my last walk. I deal with perfection to the point that it is logical to conceive it. History is history, the future is perfect.’

Deal with perfection to the point that it is logical to conceive it. 

This comes via Brian Cain and Dr. Rob Gilbert, but it's the first chapter of former St. Louis Cardinal Frank Bettger's book How I Raised Myself from Failure to Success in Selling. Short answer: enthusiasm. Being passive and unenthusiastic does not open doors for you. Being enthusiastic does.

10 minutes of me enthusiastically reading Bettger. 

If you want a professional, here's Cain. 

As always, I welcome all feedback... Thanks!!!

This week is April break in Bedford. It means our players can just be baseball players. Sure, there may be other commitments to family and friends, and other leisure time... but for the most part, they're ballplayers who don't have to worry about school or other intrusions. 

When was the last time you limited yourself to just one main focus? 

P.S. I am jealous of these kids. 

The average person gets hundreds of notifications a day. They interrupt us at all times: when we're conversing with people we care about, when we're trying to do deep work, when we're sleeping.

Improve your productivity. Turn off your notifications to everything except the stuff it's worth breaking stride for. 

Seneca the Younger defines "euthymia" as "believing in yourself and trusting that you are on the right path, and not being in doubt by following the myriad footpaths of those wandering in every direction."

It can be hard when you see other people doing things you want to do, getting rewards you feel like you should receive.

Finding that place of euthymia is challenging and requires a degree of comfort in your own process and path. 

When you're trying to master a skill, it can be frustrating. It can also be frustrating when you let the expectations of others as well as external motivations creep in. Here's a great story about Novak Djokovic and finding the joy in playing his sport, remembering why he started playing to begin with. 

We all really love working on the things we're good at. But often the way to success and getting what you want is working on the things you're NOT good at. The lessons you learn along the way, coupled with a new skill, can be what you need to propel you to greatness. 

It's also the title of a great book by Ryan Holiday. 

When suboptimal things happen to you, how do you react? Next time, say "good." Navy Seal Jocko Willink (I think his name was officially changed to that about 10 years ago - it's impossible to refer to him as only "Jocko Willink") has an excellent perspective on what to do when it hits the fan. Here it is on YouTube.

This is an episode where I wonder where this saying even came from, but then I dig a little deeper into what it actually means, and why it's not even about milk... I didn't drink much milk as a kid, anyway.