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Enhancing On Preparation, Goal Setting, And Playoff Baseball For All
Every year in late September the excitement builds for baseball fans around the country. The pennant race is coming to a close, and with only a few games left, it’s hard to tell if your favorite team will be in the playoffs or not. I am a firm believer that playoff baseball is the best entertainment in sports today. Between seeing a new pitcher every night, and the anticipation placed on every pitch, you can feel the excitement in air.
The extra hours in the gym, all the conditioning, and the relentless hours perfecting mechanics all play a factor in a players longevity and success at the end of the year. It is very simple, those who walk the walk come out on top, and those who have merely coasted along fall to the way side.
Along with thousands of other college players, I played just over 100 baseball games every year. Between an intense regular season and grueling summer season, any player will tell you that a well needed rest is due come the end of the year. Now, stepping back as a fan, I am even more amazed at the commitment these players make year after year after year. The millions of dollars in salary definitely helps their cause, but do not under estimate the physical and mental discipline it requires to perform consistently at that level.
Achieving and maintaining success at that high of level for that long is more than just talent, it is a lifestyle commitment. One step in the wrong direction mentally or physically, and rest assured you season is coming to a close long before the baseball season is over. The type of success they achieve is a product of their daily mental and physical habits. Professionals know that every action they make will consequently have one of two results, create a good habit or create a bad habit. If you are not careful, you can coast through every day decisions and miss opportunities to better yourself and your skills. Every day decisions affect you mood, your energy level, and how productive you are. If you make bad decisions off the baseball field, they are sure carry over on the field.
Saying that, you do not have to work on you batting mechanics or pitching skills every day. Sometimes a successful day involves a day of rest and stepping away from baseball to rest your mind and your body. Choose a game plan and find a routine that makes you the most productive and advances your skills the quickest.
If your not asking your self the question, “is this going to make me better or worse?” at least 10 times a day, your not challenging yourself to be better. Many people coast through there daily decisions without ever stoping to think. It is a bit cliche, but it’s true, hold yourself to a higher standard. While other people are eating pizza, eat a salad, while other people leave early, stay late. These constant additions of added effort will give you an advantage at the end of the day.
Professional baseball players have these daily performance plans down pat. From the time they get up from the time they go to bed their mindset is to improve their skills and give themselves the best opportunity to succeed. However, if you are a young athlete still struggling to find his way, you can be easily distracted by trying to balance all parts of your life.
Quiet simply, the make you lazy. Short-cuts ensure mediocrity or worse! In order to be game ready and perform at a high level over the course of an entire baseball season, players must make a decision to be better minute after minute.
If you want to be a better baseball player, become a better person. Take the time to do things right, and see things through off the field, and I guarantee your on field performance will rise. All of sudden those extra repetitions in your batting training session or that extra effort you but into your baseball drills won’t seem like such a bother or a waste of time. You get out of your baseball training what you put in!
By having a broader perspective, you give you mind and body more tools to effectively solve problems. Batting roadblocks are more easily solved when you have 4 or 5 different ways to solve the problem. Without that fourth or fifth perspective, who knows how long you would struggle in the batters box before your performance begins rise.
If you are reading this and you are thinking this all sounds great, but where do I start? Begin with your goals. What do you really want to accomplish in your upcoming practice, game, season? How would you like play? How you feel if you were to perform that way?
Write down every question, and every answer you come up with! Simply thinking about it will not help. You will quickly forget the most important questions and say I know what I want. Truth be told, you probably don’t! Through the day to day hustle of every day life, it doesn’t take much to throw us off course! Take a solid hour or two to explore every hard question that can be asked and supply at least 3 to 6 answers for each. When you answer the same question 6 times you really begin to see the root as to why you asked the question in the first place.
Now that you have answered those questions write down what you can do today to make that happen? The last piece of the puzzle is keep asking yourself questions, and writing actionable steps to accomplish the solution. Make good choices a habit, not a choice! This is the only way to pitch on short rest, hit in the clutch, and keep you performance consistent day after day! A series of successful days equals a successful week, a series of successful weeks equals a successful year, and a series of successful years equals a successful career!
Before you tackle the frustration of improving your baseball batting, join us at our website. You can also view my baseball batting training video lessons on our YouTube channel.
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