Well you are either reading this because you think that this is a story about baseball or you are not reading this because you think that this a story about baseball. Well you’re right!
Famous baseball player Roy Campanella is known for the above quote and how appropriately it fits in with my theme today about being not just a leader, not just a good leader, but the desire to be a GREAT Leader by removing your limitations and desire to enjoy the journey. You see, the ability of a little boy to get excited about being able to go out and play baseball speaks volumes. The attitude. The desire. The limitless. The satisfaction that comes forth is 2nd to none. It is that same mentality that drives the statement…I have to go to work versus I get to go to work. I have to be a leader versus I get to be a leader.
All too often, we see people in positions portraying that they “have arrived” and thus they no longer need to work to improve themselves. Or that they will begin to train for the position once they get the position. So let me bring this back to my original statement of needing to have a lot of little boy in you. You see, that getting to do something, anything in life requires the ability to dream and to have a dream and to be a dreamer and not place limitations on yourself. And when you can do that, you clearly realize that there are “No Limits” to what you do and can accomplish not just on any given day but each and every day.
Do you know what’s limiting you? Do you come with a fresh supply of energy each and every day? Are your creativity and production levels where they should be? Do you have the discipline and Intentionality to stay the course and reach the finish line by crossing over that Line of Intention? Are you prepared to risk and get out of your comfort zone? Are you willing to get in the picture and out of the frame? Bottom line here is are you prepared to keep growing? Socrates said a long time ago to “Know thyself”
So I ask you…what are you passionate about? Are you passionate about you? Awareness and Change go hand in hand. Change doesn’t always have to be drastic to be effective but change is necessary for you to reach your capacity. So I further ask you…do you know what is limiting you? How often I have heard the story of the ole timer who was busy catching fish and for some reason was throwing the bigger fish back in. When asked why he was keeping the smaller ones and throwing back the bigger ones, his reply was that his frying pan was only 9 inches wide. Now that’s what I call limitation mindset!
I would venture to say that you probably want more out of life than what you are currently experiencing (remember the dream). Maybe your success rate is not completely where you think it should be (yet). Or maybe, just maybe you have given up on what you really are capable of. But one thing is certain and that is that Your Capacity isn’t Set. Don’t underrate or undersell yourself. And please don’t let age or the lack thereof impact what you are capable of. The time has come to stop managing yourself at the level that you are at and think outside the box especially when you are the box. But there is a catch to this. You might even say that it is a “Catch 22”. All lasting growth requires awareness. But if you lack awareness, you won’t know that you are unaware which indeed causes a blind spot. In other words, you don’t know what you don’t know which causes you to not see that with which you cannot see.
But there is hope. There is a way to improve upon this and that is to develop your self-awareness. It will require you to dream and realize that there is more out there awaiting you. That there are no walls to bind you. That you are just 3 feet away from any given new success and even the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. So I will conclude by re-stating my opening line…if you want to play baseball “you’ve gotta have a lot of little boy in you.” So go on…get out there and Play Ball as if each and every game that you play were just like the first one that you ever played for with the development of your self-awareness the sky is no longer the limit.