Today’s ballplayer has grown up in a world of conformity. If they don’t conform to the rules of the travel program, they won’t play. If they don’t conform to the training techniques of the high school coach, they won’t play. If they don’t conform to the ways of #hittingtwitter, they feel like they may be left out and left behind.
I’m not suggesting to turn the tables upside down on baseball society. What I’m saying is that to be great, think about being original. Being natural. Being genuine. To experience being great at anything, you have to follow your own unique path to success.
You are in control of your own destiny. Being unique and learning how it translates into your everyday life is the essence of your journey. It’s the key to your success both on and off the field.
Be An Original
At times we catch ourselves trying to conform and follow, rather than be original and lead. Society applauds those who conform.
From a young age, we are pressured to conform to what our school systems and coaches want us to do. Some of what we are taught at a young age are good practices and philosophies that last us a lifetime, but they also leave us with little wiggle room to think and develop on our own. There are fewer opportunities for imagination and creativity.
Many live for the external validations from our parents, coaches, teachers or peers. We compete in hopes that we receive validation from our coach. We live our life through the lens of someone else rather than being fitted for our own unique pair of glasses. We are externally programmed and driven and don’t know how to play the singular game.
Being Unique Is A Singles Game
What are you doing personally that will allow you to experience life and the game of baseball at its fullest?
You are 100% in competition against yourself. The biggest advocate of your life is you. Your biggest enemy is you as well. If you aren’t able to come to peace with who you are and find out WHY you do what you do, you rob yourself of the chance to live life through your own unique lens.
We don’t need external validation. We don’t need external progress. What we need is personal growth. We need to learn how we can be the best version of ourselves. We need to create then tell our own story, and not just the story someone else tells us. This is why I advocate that hitting is a conversation.
We only get one chance at the game of baseball and life, so how we take advantage of our short amount of time on this Earth will determine our outcomes.
The game of baseball is an individual sport within a team concept. In order for numbers 1-9 in the lineup to succeed as a team, each individual has to be the best version of themselves. Too many players worry about what the guy in front of them or behind them are doing and miss out on the opportunity to focus on the most important person in the lineup–themselves! If everyone on the team truly believes they are being the best version of themselves in that moment, then the end result is a team that is unbreakable from top to bottom. In other words, in order for the team to succeed each individual player needs to be selfish.
Creating Your Scorecard For Success
People will try and poke holes in your career on and off the field. People are always looking to find something about you in order to add to or subtract from their scorecard. Too many people waste time and effort trying to convince others how to think, act, play the way they do. They are scared by different. They are scared by originality. They don’t know how to react to someone being genuine. They discard the idea of being authentic because it threatens the very existence of their conformity.
We are constantly told to play a multiplayer competitive game, both in baseball and in life. But what if we were to remove ourselves from the masses and start playing the singular game?
When it seems like everyone else is keeping score and evaluating your every move, just remember that the only scorecard that really matters in life is the one you keep for yourself. Everyone will have their opinions and they are entitled to that. But they are just that – opinions. When you put your head on the pillow at night, be at peace knowing the game of life you’re playing doesn’t fit into everyone’s playbook.
Understand that life and baseball are played from the inside out.
All the real scorecards are internal.
Love,
KW
For more than a decade, Kevin Wilson has been one of the most respected hitting coaches in the game. He works behind the scenes as a private hitting consultant to some of the best hitters in Major League Baseball. In 2013, Kevin was the hitting coach for the USA Baseball 18U National Team. Team USA beat Japan for the Gold medal at the IBAF World Cup in Taichung, Taiwan.
He is the author of the Amazon #1 Best Seller The #GoodBatting Book and co-hosts a podcast, KWB Radio, that showcases unique conversations with the pros. If you want Kevin to speak at your next event or if you want take advantage of his popular 2-day KWB Experience for players and coaches, contact Kevin today!
Follow Kevin on twitter @KWBaseball and visit his website KWBaseball.com