For the full article please go to: Pro Baseball Insider.com
Are sports important for personal development?
Here are 10 things this amazing game of baseball teaches us and, in my opinion, makes us better people:
1. Working as a team – While this may be the most obvious, it’s also one of the most important lessons I’ve learned from baseball.
The quicker you can mesh the strengths of others with yours, the better the overall end product will be.
Working as a team is reflected in relationships, marriages, sports, and particularly in business and life after sports. Leveraging individual strengths into a cohesive group where everyone works together toward accomplishing the same goal is much more beneficial and rewarding than having a group of individually minded players.
2. Strong work ethic - Work ethic is the foundation for anything in life.
You will find yourself in rewarding situations more often if you work hard and apply yourself regardless of outcome.
A strong work ethic comes from a deep down desire and drive within yourself to improve. This type of mindset is contagious and is very much recognized and appreciated by teammates and coaches.
3. Dealing with pressure - Often it’s the decisions we make under pressure that define who we are professionally and sometimes personally.
The pressure we place on ourselves to perform during a baseball game is not all that different than the stresses and pressure we may face every day in the real world. (I am not trying to compare a 0-21 slump to how you are going to make enough money to pay the rent).
But I do believe the lessons we learn from the pressures we deal with in baseball helps us to learn how to manage our emotions and improve our focus on whatever the immediate task at hand might be.
For example, when you are at the plate, you have to keep your mind on your hitting approach, and not be distracted by thoughts of what will happen if you don’t get a hit right then. Or if your mind wanders after hours of playing in the field without any action, inevitably it will be that moment that a laser line drive comes your way. In life, losing your focus or buckling under pressure creates different problems.
Pressure at work can affect your performance at work or at home, or a distracted moment at the wheel can lead to tragic consequences. This is why learning to deal with pressure in ways not controlled by your emotions or feelings is a valuable life skill.
For the full article please go to: Pro Baseball Insider.com
Post written by Doug Bernier (TX Rangers); Edited by John Ellsworth
