The love of baseball is real with this girl. My team is doing fairly well. They are leading the West and 5th in the American League and 10th overall (at the time of this writing). Right now they are being consistent. Their hitting and fielding are where it is at. Their pitching, well, I like the Texas Rangers, what can I say. Sure I would like to see them with a few more wins under their belt, but for now, I am happy with their consistency. So what in the world does America’s favorite past-time have to do with productivity? Well, everything. There is even a book, then a movie about how teams with consistent players can outperform teams with just a few stars. If you can’t get on base, you can’t win games.
On Base Consistency
Just to be fair I feel it is important to disclose that I am not a baseball expert, just a lover of the game; I am not a mathematician but I will be taking a graduate level statistics class in the fall. The simple fact is there are only three ways to get on base (outside of the designated runner). All three ways require one thing — stepping up to the plate. First, you can hit the ball, second you can get walked, and finally you can get hit by a pitch (OUCH!).
So the most important thing we can do is begin with the end in mind. This creates consistency because we are constantly moving forward. Dreaming about or even talking about ideas gets us nowhere. We have to set goals and begin. A batter’s goal is to score, but before they can reach that goal they must get on base. What it boils down to is we must put our goals into action and be consistent as we move forward through each step.
Consistency at Bat
We will never succeed if we are inconsistent. I’m not referring to perfection. No one bats a thousand; in fact, scientifically speaking it should be impossible to hit a 90 mile an hour fast ball at all. In baseball, it is about the batter’s ability to adapt to each pitcher they face. In life, it is about consistently trying. Will we succeed ? No, haven’t you seen my Motivation from Thomas Edison? Based on the info in the video above, even million dollar baseball players have a 30% success rate, on average. What I am talking about is the ability to adapt and overcome so that we can move closer to our goals. It is about making the determination of what is and isn’t working and instead of getting stuck, we move forward. Baseball players who get stuck in their heads at the plate strike out. If we don’t want to strike out with our goals we adapt and keep the end in mind.
Consistency Over Statistics
Sluggers are exciting, Jose Canseco and Mark McGuire were once the “Bash Brothers” of the Oakland A’s, It is hard for Slugger’s to be consistent. There is a 40/40 Club in baseball. 40 home runs and 40 stolen bases in a single season. There are 4 players in that club. There is another elite group of baseball players; those who have beaten the previous home run record: Babe Ruth (60 in 1921), Roger Maris (61 in 1961), Mark McGuire (70 in 1998), and Barry Bonds (73 in 2001). There are not many people in this club either (8 in all dating back to 1876). Consistency at such high levels is difficult. This is why the money ball theory had so much credence. Instead of looking for home run kings, it was decided that consistently getting on base was more important.
This is why so many start-up companies fail, the founders are inconsistent in their efforts. The efforts typically fall to a very small number of people and they give up when things get difficult. Or, they aim too high too quickly and have too many misses. Let’s take it down a level,inconsistency is why people, in general, don’t achieve their goals. People get caught up in statistics and become too short sited. By focusing on the end goal and consistently moving forward one step at a time in our efforts toward the goal we beat the statistics.
Why is this?
Our goal isn’t the home run, it is simply to get on base (set the goal and take action) by being consistent at bat (learning to adapt and overcome as we move towards our goals).
Are you excited to move through your goals this summer? Don’t forget to signup for my Free Goal Achieving Email Course that I am doing this summer. It isn’t just about having SMART goals but also how to have consistency in moving forward in those goals until you score.
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