Control is Paramount

"Some may have thought it was essential to know how to curve a ball before anything else. Experience, to my mind, teaches to the contrary. Any young player who has good control will become a successful curve pitcher long before the pitcher who is endeavoring to master both curves and control at the same time. The curve is merely an accessory to control." - Cy Young, Hall of Fame pitcher

Control. The ability to exercise restraining or directing influence over. A necessary skill. To control one's own temper, emotions, speech, tonal inflection, mannerisms. We all have situations that we face, obstacles in life, challenges we encounter...that when we look back we wish we had acted differently. The ability to know the appropriate behavior at that time and to act accordingly, that is the control you seek. Force yourself to breathe, control your breathing first, your heart rate, let the anxiousness of the moment wash over you and through you. Let the storm subside so you do not react. Reaction is a lack of control. When you have mastered this, then act accordingly. Think about what you would think later, and do it then. Control yourself and respond. Wait. Breathe. Relax. Calm.

Are you a loser?

"Above anything else, I hate to lose." Jackie Robinson

Seems that all winners have a common trait, an intense hatred of losing. I love it. Some people these days seem not to care. We teach our children to not be sore losers. We teach them to accept failure too easily. Schools these days eliminate certain activities because some poor child's self esteem may be damaged because he lost. Well that is life, You win some, you lose some. But the losing, the experience of it, helps strengthen your character, and most often will instill a drive in your heart. A motivation to not let that happen again. I believe we are robbing our kis of the experiences that will make them great. By not allowing winnning and losing, we continue to foster the mediocrity.

Here is to you all you losers out there, may you use the it to your advantage. Learn something to avoid losing again!

Impact.

"A life is not important except in the impact it has on other lives." Jackie Robinson

Success can be yours, if you focus on your customer, your partner, THEIR success, not yours.

"Caring about others, running the risk of feeling, and leaving an impact on people, brings happiness." Harold Kushner

Caring is the word. If you are able to demonstrate "The Care Factor" no matter the risk, the rewards will follow. The impact on others will come to you. If you care enough to take a chance.

Ethical Business Questions....

July 5 1947 - Larry Doby of the Cleveland Indians becomes the first black to play in the American League. So sad it took that long.


Lou Gehrig said right many years earlier: "There is no room in baseball for discrimination. It is our national pastime and a game for all."

I will do business with most anyone, and there are some customers out there who just rub you the wrong way. But as they say, their money is still good. But racism, well, that is another story. I have a hard time stomaching any racist comments from anyone and find it near impossible to do business with them. Does doubling their price make it better or acceptable? What would Jackie Robinson say?

"He led America by example. He reminded our people of what was right and he reminded them of what was wrong. I think it can be safely said today that Jackie Robinson made the United States a better nation." - American League President Gene Budig

I am guessing he would disagree with me.

Today is your lucky day.

"Fans, for the past two weeks you have been reading about a bad break I got. Yet today, I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the earth. I have been in ballparks for seventeen years and I have never received anything but kindness and encouragement from you fans. Look at these grand men. Which of you wouldn't consider it the highlight of his career just to associate with them for even one day? Sure I'm lucky. Who wouldn't have considered it an honor to have known Jacob Ruppert? Also, the builder of baseball's greatest empire, Ed Barrows? To have spent six years with that wonderful little fellow, Miller Huggins? Then to have spent the next nine years with that outstanding leader, that smart student of psychology, the best manager in baseball today, Joe McCarthy? Sure, I'm lucky. When the New York Giants, a team you would give your right arm to beat and vice versa, sends you a gift, that's something. When everybody down to the groundskeeper and those boys in white coats remember you with trophies, that's something. When you have a father and mother work all their lives so that you can have an education and build your body, it's a blessing. When you have a wife who has been a tower of strength and shown more courage than you dreamed existed, that's the finest I know. I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the Earth. And I might have been given a bad break, but I've got an awful lot to live for." - July 4, 1939 at Yankee Stadium on Lou Gehrig Appreciation Day

One of the best men ever. If only we could all live life the way he did.

How flexible are you?

"Pitchers, like poets, are born not made." Cy Young, Hall of Fame Pitcher.

Cy Young played from 1890 to 1911, totalling a record 511 Wins in an amazing Hall of Fame career. He also holds the record for the most losses in a career with 316.

Longevity and consistency, keys to success in any industry, business or relationship. He examplified the ability to adapt, change and progress as his industry evolved around him. As the most successful pitcher of all time, he straddled the bridge between the old era and the new era of baseball. When he first played, balls were being thrown underhand, fouls were not counted as strikes, the pitchers mound location was different and he did not even wear a glove until his sixth season!

How do you adjust your style, your approach, your techniques? Are you flexible in your delivery, are you able to modify your mannerisms, your voice inflection, your speed of speech? Are you able to recognize the need for such changes, or do you blunder on ahead with the same everything all the time?

Effort & Empathy - What does it get you?

"I want to be remembered as a ballplayer who gave all he had to give." Roberto Clemente - Pittsburgh Pirates outfielder, 1972.

Roberto Clemente collected his 3000th hit of his career on t he last game of the 1972 season. He was killed in a plane crash the following New Years Eve when transporting emergency supplies to earthquake victims in Nicaragua.

I have recently witnessed death first hand of people who were in the middle of their extraordinary lives, helping others, building families, and then to be taken suddenly. I wonder how mmany of us give all that we can, to our spouses, children, co-workers, customers...all the people in our lives that we meet on a day to day basis. Are we good to them? Or are we just good enough to get what we want out the relationship? Do we help them and offer our support, our assistance, our empathy? Do we care enough to show them that we care about them as people? Do we care to know enough about their problems so that we can help, or just listen? Or are we all too focused on ourselves to possibly give to others.

I think most of us know the answers, and somehow we keep forgetting the questions.