When Life Sends You a Curveball


Baseball was one of my favorite sports growing up and one of the most fun parts of the game was hitting. There was nothing like the feeling of standing at the plate, waiting for the pitcher to throw you his best stuff, and sending the ball right back up through the middle for a base it; a classic athletic duel. I won my share of these duels and that's what made it so much fun.

The fastball was my favorite pitch to hit; power against power. I counted on the fact that most pitchers wanted to get ahead of the batter with a strike or two before they started throwing their fancy stuff. Because the fastball was the easiest pitch to control, I counted on them throwing a few fastballs first. And when they did I pounced on them.

Getting a couple of base hits in a game always made me fell like I was on top of the world. I remember hanging around after a game in high school when one of the opposing players came up to me and said, "I bet if you were pitched fast balls all the time, you would bat 1,000. I was thinking, "What a compliment; an opposing player acknowledging me for a job well done."

However, I wish now that I had listened more intently to what he said. He was giving me a clue that I had better lean how to hit the curve ball, because that was the only pitch I was going to get from here on out.

I never did learn how to hit the curve ball very well. The fastball is was always my favorite pitch.

This lesson has value for me in my professional life. I've always been a straightforward kind of guy. I can deal with difficult problems as long as they're coming at me head on. However, throw me a curve ball and it's one, two, three and I'm out. Fortunately, life is not over after an occasional strikeout. Unless you're ready to put away the bat and ball, there is always another "at bat."

So, what am I doing now? I'm learning how to hit life's curve balls.
Posted by Wes Forman at 6/30/2007 8:20 AM
Categories: Practical Lessons In Leadership
 

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