Background
This post is the 3rd post in a series of posts where I plan to relate lessons I have learned growing up playing competitive sports to lessons that can be applied in everyday life. As I have mentioned several times, I believe that sports and life are synchronous in many ways including but not limited to the lessons that could and should be learned and implemented along the way. The lessons learned through sports help instill a multitude of beneficial qualities and skills such as perseverance, time management, work ethic & collaboration. Playing sports growing up has certainly had a significant impact on my work ethic and who I am as a person, and my goal through posts like this is to help relay some of these life lessons to those who may not have been as fortunate as I was to play these games growing up, and/or to better resonate with people that had similar experiences that may not have picked up on the lesson. The inspiration from this post came from a saying that several baseball coaches of mine use to say all the time all the way from 10u travel ball and even into college. This lesson is called ‘Win the Inning’.
Content
As mentioned, from every level of baseball I played from little league to college baseball, ‘Win the Inning’ was a phrase I heard from a multitude of coaches. To ‘win the inning’, you have to score more runs than the other team in that particular inning. The idea is that if you win more innings than the other team, then you have a significantly greater chance of winning the overall game. This mentality aims to help the players focus on what they need to do in that inning and keep them from worrying about the desired final outcome. This phrase is typically used whenever your team is losing in an attempt to keep the players from trying to do too much at once. This mentality is not only useful for helping a baseball team push through and win a game, but it is also extremely applicable to everyday life.
Too often do people get overwhelmed by focusing on the end goal rather than the next step it takes to get there. In a world driven by social media and the constant exposure to success, there is a profound wisdom in shifting our attention from the end goal to the next step. While having a clear end goal is essential for setting direction and motivation, fixating on an end goal is setting yourself up for nothing but anxiety and frustration. One of the primary reasons for emphasizing the next step is that it makes our seemingly impossible goals more manageable. Consider a daunting goal you may have such as running a marathon or building a successful business. These goals may seem overwhelming when viewed as a whole, but breaking them down into smaller, actionable steps transforms them into achievable milestones.
Another reason for focusing on the next step, which is somewhat of a continuation of the previous reason, is that it fosters a sense of accomplishment and helps you build momentum. Completing a task, no matter how minor, triggers the release of dopamine. This positive reinforcement can be a powerful motivator to keep moving forward. It creates a positive feed-back loop, where each completed step fuels the desire to tackle the next one. By contrast, if you fixate on the end goal and measure your success only by reaching that goal, you may become demotivated if your progress isn’t coming along as quick as you’d hope or if there is a minor setback. Don’t look too far ahead. Put one foot in front of the other, build some momentum, then you can pick up the pace.
My favorite reason for emphasizing the importance of focusing on the next step is that it keeps you from trying to do too much. If you are down by 4 runs in the 5th inning and you are up to bat with the bases empty – you can’t win the game with one swing. In that moment, the best thing for you to do is to get on base and get your team some momentum. One run does nothing for you but stringing together a few will. If you have ever played baseball, you know the phrase “home runs are rally killers”. This simple phrase emphasizes the importance of stringing together a bunch of small steps to build momentum. Scoring runs seems a lot more possible when there are runners on base because it feels like someone is so close to scoring… but when the bases are cleared, that 360-foot round trip back to home seems like a mile away. Get some runners on base, gain some momentum, make that trip home seem a lot more attainable.
In life and in sports, there are going to be times that you are down bad and it seems like you are falling behind at a rapid rate and the river that you have to cross looks way too wide to clear in one jump. However, if you stop looking at where you want to be such as the other side of the river and focus on the next step you can take to get there, you will realize that there is a rock nearby that you can step on. And once you get on that rock, you notice there is another nearby rock and another. And once you string together a few nearby rocks, you are on the other side of the river. Stop looking at the other side of the river and focus on finding the nearby rock. Focus on the little things, string together some singles, get some runners on base. Win the inning and the game will take care of itself.
Extra Content
This extra content is mainly for the dawg fans, but also for those who are interested in winning in life. Who better than to reinforce this concept of winning the inning than the Back-to-Back National Champion Football Coach, Coach Kirby Smart! This past week, the UGA football team looked horrible in the first half against South Carolina. They went into halftime down 14-3. During halftime, Kirby Smart gave a halftime speech in which he emphasized the importance of focusing on the next task and not the outcome.
Pay close attention at about ~35 seconds in when CKS starts talking about “winning one moment at a time”. First, he says you have to handle the kick-off return. Then, you have the first play – not the first drive. Their only worry should be about the next play, not the end of the drive or the end of the game… Because they are not outcome-related. Don’t focus on the outcome – worry about winning one more moment. Go Dawgs!
Kirby’s halftime speech last week. Man is greatest to ever do it. | Instagram
