How Will You Respond to the Balls Being Hit Your Way?

Last winter I received an email about coaching my daughter’s 10-year-olds fastpitch softball team. I was one of three parents who got the request to step up and be the “head” coach. Since one of the other parents was new to our town and the other was new to coaching, I jumped in to take on the responsibility. Having coached 8- and 9-year-olds the past two years, I assumed I’d be the most experienced with the game.

That assumption was wrong.

It turns out, one of the other parents had played Division I college softball, and the other was a former Major League Baseball pitcher.

This post could be about not making assumptions about other people before you learn about them, but it’s not. It’s about what these two parents taught the girls last summer that I would not have thought to teach them—and how the lesson applies to you and me in many parts of our lives.

Attack or Hesitate

10-year-olds have a tendency to remain in one place and field the ball when it comes to them. If it doesn’t come to them, well, it’s a relief that someone else will hopefully handle the play. After all, you don’t want to get in someone else’s way or overextend your ability.

To address this tendency, coach Eric, the former professional pitcher, would repeatedly shout to all the girls in the field:

“Will you attack or hesitate?”

And they’d all shout back what he taught them: “Attack!”

He’d then yell back to the fielders: “Correct! Hesitation could cost us the out. Always attack!”

His coaching addressed that specific tendency to shrink back or avoid challenges due to fear, passivity, and avoidance.

In my last post , I discussed hard challenges you and I might face. The question is, when we face a difficult task, will we attack or hesitate?

Let me say that I’m not advocating that we attack people. Also, attacking hard things isn’t always the best move. Sometimes it’s best to let things go or let them work themselves out.

Though here’s the important lesson I learned from my other two coaches:

If you have an opportunity to make a play, even if it’s hard or risky, go after it!

It might be tempting to wait for things to get easier, for someone else to take care of it, or for you to be more “ready.” But all that waiting might be costly hesitation.

Could you:

• Take action despite the demands on your time?
• Pursue an opportunity despite the risk of rejection?
• Try an innovative approach despite the risk?
• Learn or improve a skill despite the effort it will take?
• Speak up despite the risk of being rejected?
• Take a stand despite the possibility that you’re wrong?
• Repair a relationship despite the hit to your ego?
• Make a change despite the discomfort?

Each of these begins with an active verb. Whether you’re biased toward action or not, you can decide to attack.

What difficult balls are being hit your way right now at work or in your personal life?

Will you attack or will you hesitate?

If you want to play like a big leaguer, you’ll go after it, even if it’s hard and scary!

Patterns are Inevitable. Growth is Optional. Check out my award-winning book Four Patterns of Healthy People to become more aware of the healthy and unhealthy patterns in your thoughts, relationships, ego, and daily operations.

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About the Author. Matt Norman coaches and advises executives on how to build great people and culture. He is President & CEO of Norman & Associates, which offers custom coaching and consulting in the areas of talent strategy, personal effectiveness, planning, and goal alignment. Norman & Associates also provides Dale Carnegie cohort-style action learning programs to help people improve how they communicate, lead, influence, and work together.

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