Something I learned through a recent podcast by Darren Hardy is that the size of the home plate in baseball is the same, regardless of the level of baseball being played. Whether playing tee ball, little league, triple-A, or professional baseball, it is the same size: 17 inches.
What's the message? Why is this important?
No matter the size or skill of the person, the size of the plate doesn't change. Hmmmm...
Darren Hardy made a point of saying during the podcast, that the expectation of getting a strike, the accuracy of getting the ball over the plate, the expectation doesn't change. It is consistent regardless of what level of baseball you are playing.
Yet, in daily life today, we often expand or contract our expectations to make ourselves feel better and/or to make others feel good.
When I was a kid, you only got a trophy if you won. Today, everyone gets a trophy. We now want to make everyone a winner, rather than setting the expectation and having them earn it.
What I found myself pondering was how I model this in my own life. I set my "non-negotiables" for my day/life and often find myself expanding or contracting those non-negotiables based on how I am "feeling," rather than living within the guidelines I originally established. I find myself compromising, versus living to my previous commitment, which I made to myself.
In the book The Compound Effect by Darren Hardy, it makes the point that if you keep doing the little things, sticking to your non-negotiables, the success starts to compound upon itself, and next thing you know, you are in the pro's and no longer playing little league ball. But, it is only by committing to living within the boundaries of home plate do
I find that success.
How often in your life are you asking for home plate to be expanded? How often are you inconsistent in what you are expecting of yourself and others?
Are you more worried about making yourself or others comfortable or in accomplishing the goal and learning to be a pro?
Are you willing to stay within the boundaries of home plate and allow the consistency to compound and end up hitting a home run or do you want to cross home plate by being "walked?"
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