Let the Ball Go Foul
The other night I was watching my Cleveland Indians play the Cincinnati Reds. It was a close game – tied at 1 for most of it. The Reds had a runner on base and one of their hitters was trying to bunt him over. He bunted the ball and it looked like it was going to be the perfect bunt, about a quarter of the way between home and third. But it was moving fast – it wasn’t one of those bunts that just magically dies in the grass. Our third baseman, Jack Hannahan, started running towards the ball because he knew he’d have to make an amazingly fast play, but at the last minute he pulled himself back. The ball went foul. Barely. His patience and restraint helped out the team, preventing a play that could have resulted in a wild throw or something else that would have been a big problem in such a close game.
In life, we’re a lot like the third baseman. We’re waiting for balls to be hit towards us at lightning speed and we are programmed to run towards it and take care of it as fast as possible. That way we can move on to the next thing, right?
But what if we pulled back a minute and waited to see if the problem would resolve itself? What if we analyzed the situation and said, “Hey, there’s a chance this one might not have to be dealt with right away or maybe even at all!”
Now of course there are some situations where waiting could cause a pretty serious problem. If someone is unconscious, you don’t want to wait to see if they’ll regain consciousness on their own, right?
But I’ll bet if you think about it you could probably come up with some situations where you ran towards the ball and played it before seeing if it might go foul. Maybe you jumped into solve a problem that really could have been solved by someone else. Maybe you started to do something that you could have easily delegated to another person. Maybe you got angry at a person before learning all of the facts.
How can you prevent yourself from that gut instinct to run towards the ball? To me, it seems like it would take a lot of time invested in reprogramming your brain. Our third baseman was clearly programmed to analyze the play and react very quickly based on the information he received, even if that “reaction” was a decision not to act. For awhile, you’ll need to catch yourself consciously running towards the ball. You’ll need to say, “Wait, is there a different way to react to this?” You’ll need to make yourself stop and think where you might have simple “done” before.
What is a recent situation where you may have played a ball that was on its way to foul territory? How do you think you could have changed your reaction for the better?
I’d love to hear from you.
Image Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/theseanster93/1152356149/ via Creative Commons
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Margie,
The way you mixed that baseball play with the lesson you shared about success and Life, is extraordinary. Thank you so much for the time you invested in sharing it with all of us!
I just wanted to share a personal experience that I had recently. After dedicating 4 years of my Life to create something great for a company I was included in a layoff. One month later they called me back to cover a colleague that had a child. Then they let me go again. It wasn’t the fact that they let me go again that bothered me (they didn’t hide the fact that I was returning only for one more month). It was the way they did it… without giving me the chance to get feedback along the journey and at the end saying negative things about my performance…
My first instinct was to catch that fast ball! Talk with them and show them that the perception they have of me is wrong.
But then I realized that the reason I was reacting that way was because of my EGO.
However, that wasn’t my response because I always try to be aware of what my EGO wants and decide what’s the best thing to do. I can’t say that I’m perfect and that I don’t make mistakes. I do, but I was strive to be the better version of me that I can become. Discipline counts.
So, what did I do? I let that ball pass.
I knew that what they did wasn’t personal. They just did what they needed to do to get what they want. That’s who they are.
What benefit would it be, for everyone involved, if I tried to turn their perception about me around? More than words, if my behavior for the past 4 years didn’t give them the true picture of who I am… nothing will.
The root problem of this is that most managers don’t even know who works with them. In fact, they believe that people work TO them instead of WITH them…
Anyway, I don’t need anyone’s permission or recognition to know who I am, what I stand for and my value. My self-worth isn’t attached to the power and status of my position; the number of digits of my bank account; and most certainly not attached to the opinions of others.
I know whose I am.
And above all else, what gives me peace of mind is to know that the Master Referee of Life is perfect and fair and will judge well if the ball was in or out!
Thank you Margie for making me think about this important subject and learn more about me, and in the process, more about you!
@bcoelho2000 Thank you so much for sharing your story – comments like these are what make what I do worthwhile!
Many times, “letting the ball go foul” means just what you said – analyzing where another person might be coming from and trying to step into their shoes. If we are ready to feel attacked or offended, we’ll feel attacked or offended. But if we can take that pause and evaluate what REALLY is going on, it helps us see where the other person is coming from. That may not take all of the sting out, certainly, but I do think it can help.
Margie:
I do not think that I shall ever again be able to watch TweetDeck without thinking “Will that tweet go foul? Should I react fast or let it go? What if I ‘throw’ into a viral right-field and cost the brand a run or two?” Always enjoy your posts.
@BKneuer Oh dear. Well sorry to make your life more complicated 😀 Thanks Mr. Man!
I think a caveat to incorporate into this wonderful direction is: sometimes you’ll allow the ball to go foul… and it won’t. It’ll stay fair. You’ll have erred in your judgement. The end result? The next batter comes to the plate, and we start all over again.
You may sometimes err in your judgement of a given situation or set of circumstances. You may will something to go one way, and it stays the way you desperately don’t want it to stay. You will have made a mistake.
What will you do next? Wallow in the mistake being made, or brush it off and wait for the next batter to start it all over again?
@sumnermusolf Absolutely! That’s a great point. It could just as easily have ended up that the ball stayed fair, and our third baseman would have looked like he was a slacker, just standing there. Had it gone down that way, he would have just moved on to the next play and maybe beat himself up a little later.
Sometimes we hope things will work themselves out and we go too far into that direction and it becomes avoidance, right? So we need to make sure we keep a realistic perspective on things. That’s a lot of thinking that needs to happen in a five-second period 🙂
And Johnny Damon was backing him up in left field………..or was that Matt?
Sometimes the tendency is to be decisive and quick on the decisions; taking a deep breath first, could be better advice.
@bdorman264 Sometimes I think Matt Damon would do a better job 😀
There is a lot of encouragement to be quick and decisive these days. I think this could be the explanation for a lot of decisions that result in negative or unexpected results. I mean, that can’t just be a coincidence, right?