START CULTIVATING YOUR FATE

Posted by Josh Spence

Baseball is such a beautiful game that has taught me many lessons (some of which I am still in the processes of conquering). These lessons give us instantaneous feedback where we can adapt, adjust and continue. At times these lessons are clouded by emotion and therefore take longer processing into the information we need to achieve success. There’s nothing wrong with having those ‘said’ emotions, as long as we understand them and their purpose.

   In 2015 I had the opportunity the hear Moisés Alou speak. At his conclusion Alou left us with an interesting perspective. He said “Being a Major Leaguer is a choice, it’s a choice in the decisions we make each day”. This quote is something that resonated deeply with me as I feel this is the big separator between young baseballers and their future goals. Although the results of our decisions are not always tangible, they still make up the character of who you are. What seems small and insignificant, may expand the perspective of what one has been thinking about you already (for better or worse).

   With everything in life there needs to be balance, as you get older your ‘balance’ in life evolves. Unless you have exceptional talent, you’re going to be left behind if you’re not aware of this. As responsibilities increase and time becomes more valuable, how can we start creating the path in life we dream too have? I believe the answer is hidden in these two factors, Developing your routine and Becoming an honest self-evaluator. Your routine is YOUR routine, yes we may have help developing it but never be self-conscious about what you need to do and have a purpose why you tweak it. Everyone is different and though there are ‘core principles’ used in all areas of life, I like to believe there’s always an exception to the rule out there. Your routine is a program that allows you to accomplish set tasks to prepare you for your endeavor. Your routine is the foundation of what you’re trying to create, how stable do you want your foundation to be? Being an honest self-evaluator is easier said than done as when you are in the middle of the action, you don’t get a full perspective of what happened or emotion can cloud how we recall the event. If we cannot honestly evaluate ourselves, it’s going to be difficult implementing strategies into our routine too convert failure into success.

   Nobody enjoys failure but it is a necessary component of growth and development. If you cannot achieve this mentality, you’re going to have a hard time not only with Baseball but in other areas of your life. Being an honest evaluator in tough times isn’t about ‘beating yourself up’, it’s about identifying what went wrong and implementing processes into your routine to change the results next time. If you can execute the steps (the processes) you increase the likelihood of achieving the intended result.

if you can show intent in these four areas, you will start creating the landscape to cultivate your fate. It is never too early to start chasing your goals and dreams. Great players don't become over night, they're BUILT over time. What are you building today?

Choices: What ones are you making today?
Routine: Do you have one?
Honest Self-Evaluation: Can I leave emotion out of how I evaluated myself?
Failure: Do I let others affect how I process failure?