Video transcript:
If we want to take our baseball careers as far as we possibly can and we have to be on a mission. Your mission is made up of your reasons for playing the game and wanting to play it at a high level. It provides us with purpose, direction and intensity. It reminds us why we’re competing in such a difficult game when we’re faced with challenges. Without a mission, we’re really just going through the motions and we break when the game is at its toughest.
When figuring out your mission you can ask yourself three questions. First: What do I enjoy most about the game? It’s important to remember that we’re playing a game and that if we don’t enjoy it to some degree, we probably shouldn’t be doing it. So take some time to think about what you love most about baseball. Maybe it’s that you love the complexity of it. Maybe it’s that you love playing with your teammates. Maybe you can’t even explain why you love it so much, you just know that you have a ton of fun playing. Whatever your reason is, remind yourself of it often. It will keep you grounded when the game challenges you most.
Second question: What type of player do I want to be? What do I want to be known for? And I’m not talking about stats or wins or awards. I’m talking about the things that we can control. So, being a disciplined hitter, being a bulldog on the mound, a hustler, a great teammate. Whatever standards you hold for yourself, make sure that you lean into those everyday on the field and in training. This takes no talent and we can always control them. When we focus on being the player that we want to be, we put ourselves in the best position to get results on the field.
Third question: What do we want to accomplish in this game? How far do we want it to take us? While our main focus should be on the daily controllable actions that give us the best chance to perform at a high level, we should absolutely be setting big goals for ourselves. We want our goals to be specific and measurable and difficult to get attainable. Setting goals provides us with motivation, and it allows us to see just how far we’ve come throughout our baseball journey.
When you can answer these three questions you have a mission for today, tomorrow and the rest of your career.