There are some great stories and lessons coming out of the
recent Red Sox win of the World Series. Full
disclosure - I’m a long time Red Sox fan which is why I’m listening and reading
about the team. But I’m also someone who
teaches success strategies and there are plenty here for all of us.
I heard a former
player say today that when they come up to the plate to bat, they’re to put all
the other times they failed that day behind them. It’s a new opportunity and that one at bat
might be the one that wins the game.
That happened throughout the playoff series with a variety of players
who had not at any hits at all. If they
had given up, if they had thought of themselves as failures, they would not
have gotten the hits they got that ultimately won that game. Goes back to my ‘pearl’ theory – that we’re
only given this moment and we should treat it like the pearl it is. It doesn’t matter what you did yesterday,
last week, last year – as long as the things you didn’t do well taught you
something. Move on – who knows what
incredibly experience is right ahead.
We often think we have to be perfect in everything. A good batter is over .300 which means they
hit 3 out of every 10 times they’re at the plate. Yet we’re so hard on ourselves when we make a
mistake or mess something up. Of course
if you only pick your kids up 3 out of 10 times, that’s a problem but you
understand the story.
I find this to be true when I’m going through a down
time. It seems like it will never
end. Then it does - because that’s how
life evolves - some of my best times follow.
That was definitely true for the Red Sox who had a pitiful year last
year. But as they say now – from worst
to first! You don’t have to be a ball
player to experience that.
The other point today was about team. That former player was asked what he’d
remember about the 2013 Red Sox years later.
They weren’t a bunch of big stars like the 2004 Red Sox – they were a
true team that cared about the game (their job), their own place in it and each
other. When some were down, the others
stepped up. And they never quit – on themselves,
with each other, with the city of Boston who needed the lift, and with the rest
of their fans. Some great lessons
indeed.
