The Forest and the Trees

When you’re hiking through the wilderness, what do you see: the forest or the trees?

To find your way, you need to know the forest: your location, the direction you want to go, and the distance you must travel.  But if you’re just staring at a map as you walk, you’re going to run into a lot of trees along the way.

To avoid the trees, you may need to divert from the straight-line path to your destination.  But if you’re just turning to avoid trees and ignoring the map, you can easily get lost, and start walking in circles.

Developing as a ballplayer can feel like trekking through a forest.

To develop your skills, you need to see the big picture: your current ability, your overall goal, the the investment required to reach that goal.  But if you’re thinking about your overall progress during the game, you’re going to miss the most important thing in this moment: the ball.

To respond effectively to the ball in real time, you may have to make adjustments that aren’t part of your overall plan just to win in that moment.  But if you tinker with your mechanics after every pitch instead of maintaining your core principles, you can easily lose sight of your development plan, and you’ll end up “starting over” a lot.

It’s not about the forest OR the trees—it’s the forest AND the trees. 

The ability to shift perspectives between big-picture awareness and immediate focus allows for safe and efficient navigation, and applying the appropriate type of attention for execution and evaluation has the same effect for successful skill development.

Know your development plan, so you don’t get lost in the forest.

Focus on this pitch, so you don’t run into a tree.