Skills

Moe Berg died  today in 1972. Do you know who he was?

Quite possibly the smartest man to ever put on a baseball uniform, he was rumored to speak 7 diofferent languages. He also served as a spy during WWII.

"Moe (Berg), I don't care how many of them college degrees you got. They ain't learned you to hit that curveball no better than me." - White Sox Catcher Buck Crouse in Baseball Digest

 

Interesting to see what skills translate where. Valuable as a baseball player to the federal government to spy, and just good enough to play baseball. What an interesting skill set....the quintessential "Good field, no hit."

Be yourself

"Connie Marrero had a windup that looked like a cross between a windmill gone berserk and a mallard duck trying to fly backwards." - Felipe Alou

Everyone is an individual. Don't let anyone try to change who you are. Your style is yours, stick with the genuine you and you will be more effective.

Do you love what you do?

"I'd walk through hell in a gasoline suit to play baseball." Pete Rose

Say what you will about Pete Rose, he has many faults and his troubles have kept him out of the Baseball Hall of Fame. But the man loved to play baseball. Few, if any, have ever loved to play the game as hard as he did. Through good days and bad, good teams and bad, the ups and downs of the seasons must have worn on him. But he always played the same way. Every hit counted. Every ground ball he ran as hard as he could to first base.

Do you play your game the same way?

Taking Chances...

"If he's played in that many games without an error, he isn’t going after the hard ones. The fellow who never makes a mistake is the fellow who never does anything." Tigers Manager Hugh Jennings upon being told a minor-league prospect had played 87 straight errorless games.

So what chances do you take? Go out on a limb? Play it safe? Talk about subjects or ask questions that make you uncomfortable? Do you dive into your customers budgets without fear? Are you afraid to go places in the conversation? Do you not make a call because you don't want to deal with the rejection? Or is it because you are unsure of yourself and what to say, so you don't put yourself out there for any risk?

Remember, if someone is not buying from you, they are not suddenly likely to buy from you if you don't call them. Being silent means being overlooked. Don’t blend into the woodwork of all the other vendors. Take a risk, put yourself out there, say some statement that may cause a sudden reaction, push their buttons, test the waters, try some new different shocking approach if you can’t get anywhere with someone.

You won't know until you try. Do you have the balls?

Vision...one eye or two

"Lord, help this poor son-of-a-bitch (Umpire Ed Hurley). I got two good eyes. Give him one of mine." - Red Murray, died today, 12/4/1958.

What we see, what other people see. Not always the same is it?

How many times at a baseball game do you hear the crowd moaning and groaning over a strike or ball called, while they are sitting roughly 200 feet away compared to the man who made the call? Perspective, distance, vantage point. It affects our ability to see clearly, to judge a position.

Sometimes though, when too close, we see what we want to see, what we assume we should see. Like the umpire who emphatically calls the runner out, despite the fact that the tag was never applied, or the foot slid in under. The ball beat the runner though, so he should be out, no matter what the truth or the instant replay shows, that is the way the umpire sees it.

In our lives, do you see the similarities? In your actions? In others? In decisions you may make daily?

Simplify. Simplify. Simplify.

"Our life is frittered away by detail. Simplify, simplify, simplify! I say, let your affairs be as two or three, and not a hundred or a thousand; instead of a million count half a dozen, and keep your accounts on your thumb-nail." Thoreau, Henry David

I wonder how many people have ever heard this. How many have wished it, even without knowing it. The ideal of simplifying our lives seems a dream in today's age. With life, kids, spouses, work, Twitter, LinkedIn, blogging, email, texting, Facebook, various other social medias and technological "advances" that are supposed to make our lives easier, multiple accounts for this that and the other....

"See the ball, hit the ball." Pete Rose

Some people have a knack, a way with words, the ability to boil an act or process down to it's simplest terms. And to make people understand.

"I would have written that shorter, but I didn't have the time." Mark Twain

The simplest form of expression is a smile. The simplest delivery of your message will put the smile on your customer's face. No need to make any conversation complex or confusing, no advantage in being long winded. Deliver the important message and sit back and wait for the response. Watch the smiles.

Anticipation...and VISUALIZATION

"People ask me what I do in winter when there's no baseball. I'll tell you what I do. I stare out the window and wait for spring." - Rogers Hornsby

How do you spend your time? Daydreaming? Thinking about what you will do better the next time, picture your next call, your next weeks worth of work?

Visualization. Rehearsing situations mentally. Imagery. Mental preparation. Prepare yourself with mental exercises for all possible challenges to be faced. Your inner eye to see the future, prepare for the upcoming events, rehearse your actions. Your ability to internally role play through hundreds of conversational tangents, and how you will address each.

Athletes do it. Salespeople do it. For presentations. For difficult calls. For day to day routines, for setting yourself up for success. Imagine your perfect response, your most likely avenue for your desired outcome. Over and over again, the images of your activities played in your mind, repeated to hone the skills you wish to have.

Set a routine, daily, to prepare yourself for what you will be doing and visualize your success. The words you will use. the clothes you will wear. Every detail imagine it to be exactly how you want it to be. Prepare yourself for the different reactions, the different questions, the comments you may or may not hear. If you have heard them all once in your mind, you will not be shocked when they come but instead you will be prepared.

Mental. Visualize. Imagine. Rehearse. Prepare. Repeat.