Imagine this: it’s a beautiful day and the sun is out, there is a slight breeze, the birds are singing and the grass is soft and springy underfoot. It is especially nice in right field where the coach has put you. He’s a real nice guy, that coach is. He is always encouraging everyone and cheering everyone on, you really like him. You really like being a part of the team, everyone is nice to you but sometimes baseball can be really boring. You stand out in the field and there are so many interesting things to look at. It’s hard to pay attention to who hits the ball and where it’s going to land. You really like the other teams’ jerseys, blue and white look really good together. Look at that bird there sitting on the fence, it has a worm in its beak. Hey look, a ladybug landed on your shirt! That must mean good luck.
I had the opportunity to coach one of these “daisy pickers” a few years ago. Dylan showed up for every practice, every game. Although he was enthusiastic about the game, there were many times when he wasn’t really paying attention TO the game. That’s why he manned right field. On one occasion, it was the final game of the semi-finals and the game was tied. We needed to get one more out so we could get up to bat. The air was electric; the boys knew that a slot in the state tournament was at stake. Our pitcher threw the ball and the batter made contact. The ball soared over the infield and deep into right field. Everyone on the team held their collective breaths as the ball sailed in slow motion towards Dylan. Will he catch it? Will he even notice the ball coming towards him? Then just at the right time, Dylan looked up, held up his mitt and as if the mitt was magnetized, the ball plopped into the center of his mitt. Mayhem erupted on the field as the rest of the team ran towards him to cheer him on. With that play, we were able to get on bat and win the game and advance to the tournament.
Why am I telling you this story? Because the most important thing that Dylan did that day was he was there. He wasn’t the star of the team, I’m not even sure he completely understood the game, but showed up. Life works that way too. Ofttimes, we cheat ourselves out of a great opportunity because of the fear of not being successful. We are afraid that we might look foolish and appear like we don’t know what we’re doing.
For example, let’s say you want to start a business but your logo doesn’t look quite right, or maybe your website doesn’t look quite as polished as you want it to be. You want everything to look just right, so you postpone the launching of your business. The result is that no one knows about your business because there is technically no business to know about.
Contrast that with someone else who wants to start a business. Let’s say that she doesn’t quite like the way her website looks as well. But she launches her business anyway and it starts getting traffic. As her business continues to become more known, she adjusts and improves her website as her brand name continues to grow. Her business is well on its way to becoming successful.
Remember, if you show up, then something good will eventually happen. If you don’t show up, nothing will happen.
Another time when I was coaching baseball, one of the boys got hit by a ball while he was up to bat. It really hurt and he left the game crying. He went to sit with his parents. After a while, I went over to him to see if he wanted to go back into the game. Both his parents and I tried to coax him back into the game but he really didn’t want to, because he was afraid of being hurt again. Then I presented him with the idea of just going up to bat without swinging at the ball. He agreed to give it a try. He went up to plate and just stood there with the bat at his side, letting the balls fly by him. They walked him and he was able to make it to first base and eventually scoring a run. Something good happened just because he was there.
If you want something to happen, you need to be present. Don’t quit on the game of life, you just need to get up and go! Things aren’t always perfect, but that shouldn’t stop you from going ahead. Just DO something, anything, and something good will eventually happen. Even if you stop to pick a few daisies from time to time.
Sometimes You Just Have to Show Up
