INITIATIVE
Initiative means having the courage to make decisions and take action. Simple as that.
But whenever you use your initiative, make a decision or take action, you risk failure. Fear of failure is the #1 thing that blocks Initiative. If you are afraid to fail, then you will never to do the things that you are capable of doing. If you have properly prepared and put forth a full effort, then there is no shame if you fail. There is nothing to fear in failure if you are prepared and work hard. But, this fear of failure is what often prevents us from taking action, from using our Initiative.
A baseball player who fears failure and lacks initiative is in big trouble. He will be overly cautious and tentative. Baseball is a reaction sport, your mind needs to be focused and your muscles need to be loose and relaxed. You need to instantly react to situations. You can’t be focused and loose if you fear failure. Great baseball players have lots of initiative and do not fear failure.
If you have prepared as much as you can and give full effort, then you have nothing to fear. Preparation and Effort allow you to use Initiative, to act without fear of failure. This is 100% true both on the field and off the field. In the classroom, in jobs, whatever you do in life. Nothing happens until you take initiative!!
ALERTNESS
Now, let’s talk about ALERTNESS.You have all heard people say “do the little things right” – from baseball coaches, basketball coaches, football coaches. It is a great compliment for a baseball player if a coach says that “he does the little things right”. Success and greatness in baseball and life comes to people who do the little things right, whether that is blocking a ball in the dirt, throwing strike 1, hitting the cutoff man or taking the extra base.
All those little things add up to success. That is what pursuing excellence is all about. Paying attention, and excelling in all things – big and small.
It’s true in school too – how many of you guys frequently miss easy questions on tests? You knew the answer, you understand the concept – but you just make a stupid little mistake and miss a question. All of you guys that received B+ or C+ on your report card, I can almost guarantee you that, if you had done more of the little things right, you could have raised your grade to an A or a B. Little things matter a whole lot – they make the difference. But, to recognize and take action on the little things, we need to be aware of them. We need to have Alertness. We need to be aware of and observe the little things. This is Alertness.
Here are some examples – the 3 points of the wall drill on EVERY swing, proper head position on every throw, perfect footwork on groundballs, a 4 seam grip on every throw. We have spent the last 4 weeks working on these “little things”. We are trying to teach you to pay attention to these little things, to be alert.
These little things separate winners from losers – in baseball and in life. When you are alert, you will start seeing things before they happen. You will develop intuition and be able to act. But, to do this, you need to be Alert. If you are Alert, you can take action. You can use your Initiative. That is why Alertness and Initiative go together.
Alertness Exercise: How many F’s in this sentence???
FINISHED FILES ARE THE RESULT OF YEARS OF SCIENTIFIC STUDY COMBINED WITH THE EXPERIENCE OF MANY YEARS.
Please watch this video:
https://youtu.be/97QtDMhqEKk
