My brother Bruce loves baseball. I mean… he REALLY loves baseball. A vacation for him is to visit the Yankees spring training season in Florida and watch them practice every day.

For me, I’d rather watch paint dry. As a kid, I hated little league, even though I was supposed to love it. All kids love little league, right?!

As much as I hate baseball, what I really love is my brother’s passionfor baseball. It’s truly inspiring.

Over the years, Bruce has shared with me much wisdom about successful baseball players.

As a hitter, striking out 75-85% of the time is pretty much normal. And accepted. And at the same time it’s worth a few million-dollar contract.

What kind of business runs like that? That’s crazy talk! And, yet, that is their reality.

As an entrepreneurial business owner, I have it made up in my head that 110% success is the goal. At all times. OMG. I’m going for 110% success to make a living and baseball players are making millions by striking out 85% of the time. WTF? Am I in the wrong business?

Well, I know I’m not. And what’s fun about this story is how easily you can apply a hitter’s success rate to your own business success.

A hitter swings and misses in order to get the occasional homerun. Heck, at times he even strikes out completely. In your business, you must go to bat in a “day/game” as much as possible.

And besides being a hitter, at the same time it’s important to focus on being an outfielder.

As a kid I played left field a lot and I would always pray that no one would hit the ball to me. I was terrified that I would miss the ball, and so I wouldinevitably miss the ball.

Now take that metaphorical message to your business. If you’re not confident of your ability, not sure that you can attract clients, not sure that you have a clear message… well, here’s the truth, you won’t attract anything. It’s kind of like dropping the ball. Or not having the chance to catch any balls at all.

To quote Tommy Lasorda: “There are three types of baseball players: those who make it happen, those who watch it happen, and those who wonder what happens.”

Which are you?

I invite you to think like a baseball player with the work you wish to take to the next level.  As a hitter, strike out way more. As a player in the field, hope that many more balls come your way so that you get to practice catching them or not, and be okay with not catching them all.

More to come-
Rick

PS > If you are truly serious about going to the next level with your good work in the world, you must check out our September event – Produce You: The Event.