Step Up to the Plate

Baseball is a very interesting sport because the best players fail approximately 70% of the time. Typically in baseball, a batting average of .300 is seen as a top achievement. Players who hit .300 over the course of their career generally are remembered as perennial All-Stars and oftentimes find themselves in the Hall of Fame. A .300 average in baseball means you get a hit 3 out of 10 times, 30 out of 100 times, or 90 out of 300 times. The contrary means they fail to get a hit 7 out of 10 times, 70 out of 100 times, and 210 out of 300 times. I am aware there are more than 2 outcomes in baseball and other meaningful statistics to determine a player’s worth but at a core basis, a .300 hitter is seen as a really good player. The 2022 season had the 5th lowest batting average in baseball history since the year 1872— with a league average of just .243. Players who play baseball recognize they are increasingly more likely to not get hit a hit than they are, but they continue to step up to the plate.

I use the baseball analogy to set the scene for how I believe goals and pursuits should be structured. They should be designed in a way where failure is a very real possibility. A goal easily obtainable is a waste of time. That may be a harsh statement but I can qualify it with perspective. I do not mean the action needed to achieve the goal is a waste of time. I mean setting a goal you know you can achieve is a waste of time. In setting a goal you know you can achieve, there is no fear of failure. On days where the weather is not nice, or you are tired, or feeling not motivated, you are more inclined to take the day off because you know you will still achieve your goal. If a goal is instead set up with failure as a real risk, the days where you want to be lazy have the ability to morph into days where you go through the motions but ultimately get the work done. Goals need to be hard or else you get complacent. Step up to the plate and face the challenge.

Goals should also be designed in ways encouraging you to keep coming back again, even after failing. This is an easier concept to grasp in my opinion. Assuming our goals are hard, we have already accepted failure as a real possibility and have grown to realize failure is merely a stepping block for our inevitable success. With these frameworks in mind, what you pursue should be activities, experiences, or subject matters you genuinely enjoy. If you continue to fail and do not like what you are failing, it kills the desire to continue. In finding goals that mold to your intrinsic desires, you are more easily able to accept failure, learn from it, and continue with your next attempt. Baseball players continue to step to the plate because they love the sport. Find what makes you continue stepping up to the plate.