Outside the Box

Baseball as an “industry” can start sounding like an echo chamber.  Coaches and “gurus” say the same things back and forth, maybe with a little different wording, and each one slightly louder than the next, until they’re essentially screaming the same message back at each other.  In all of this noise the message gets lost, and players can get confused.

To gain some clarity and perspective, try stepping outside the echo chamber and look into disciplines that seemingly have nothing to do with baseball.  You will find fresh voices, speaking at a normal volume about their craft, and they almost always offer lessons you can directly apply to your game: mental focus, leadership skills, awareness and mindfulness, physical training, stress management, decision-making, balance and movement, and the list goes on…

Some of the most important lessons I’ve learned about baseball came from way outside the game.  An expert from another field just may be holding the key that opens up the next level of your game, so why not take a look at what they have to say?

A short list of some of my favorite books to get started:

— The Tao of Jeet Kune Do, by Bruce Lee

— The Inner Game of Tennis, by Timothy Gallwey

— The Talent Code, by Daniel Coyle

— Blink, by Malcolm Gladwell