You Can't Hit a Home Run with the Bat on Your Shoulder
"I beg you to take a shot."
Image: Gary Vaynerchuk Instagram (@GaryVee) / Click the image to watch the video clip.
Gary Vaynerchuk and my love of baseball inspired this new release.
"You'll never hit a home run if you don't swing the bat."
Like most of baseball, this quote applies to life. Too often we find ourselves hesitating.
Hesitating to ask that guy/girl out.
Hesitating to actually step inside that new gym.
Hesitating to hit "publish" on that blog post.
We spend our entire life hesitating in fear.
Fear of what someone else will think.
Fear of the chance it might not work.
Fear of the unknown.
You can't hit home runs standing fearful at the plate with the bat resting on your shoulder.
Most people get to the end of their life and still have something left in the tank. Their bat stays on their shoulder, watching 1...2...3 strikes whiz right by them. They stand there watching 1...2....3...100 opportunities go right by them. And they do nothing.
All because they fear swinging and missing.
What they fail to realize is that by standing there in fear and refusing to swing the bat, they're actually worse off than if they took a chance, pulled the bat off of their shoulder, and let it rip.
A swinging strike will always trump one looking.
Most people have lived in fear and instead of peace at the end, they're consumed with regret that they never swung a bat. They're exhausted - but not empty.
An athlete never wants to walk off the playing field at the end of a game - much less a career - knowing they still have more in the tank. Each wants to leave spent - having given everything they have in pursuit of everything they want. Head held high, they know they've done everything.
Full effort. Full victory. And no matter what the scoreboard reads, they know they went out swinging hard.
Competitors live the same way they play.
Don't finish life with the bat still resting on your shoulder.