Whether it is sitting in the bleachers of a rookie baseball game, teeing up on the first hole, walking into a presentation, or being the new kid in the office, we all have a tendency to want to “knock it out of the park." The pressure we put on ourselves to be perfect and to be seen as the shining star often ends with a strike-out, a golf ball twenty feet away in the weeds, or in some cases, just a lot of words with no storyline. Our desire to impress others often causes us to sacrifice patience and can hinder us from progressing and succeeding naturally.
My post this week is case in point. I sat in front of my computer for hours and tried to write some literary masterpiece in 300 words or less and all I came up with was a bunch of blog titles and absolutely no content. The truth is I needed to ease up on my swing or in this case, myself. I was going for a homerun when all I really needed was a base hit. And it was in that moment that I got the much needed clarity. Maybe we all struggle a bit in various parts of life with wanting to quickly show people our value… that we are worth the investment… that they haven’t made a mistake by choosing us.
I don’t watch a lot of sports but it only takes a few minutes of ESPN, listening to the commentators talk about how someone isn’t performing equally as amazing as their salary or not worthy of their position in the draft, to see how society has become very impatient with allowing people to develop and grow. But then again, most of us aren’t sitting on multi-million dollar contracts. We won’t be making headlines anytime soon, and most likely don’t have a group of fans waiting outside our home or office when we walk out the door. And this, in my opinion, is a blessing.
My goal is to ease up on the swing a bit, take some coaching, ask more questions, and be a little more patient in the process, even if it feels like the pressure is on.
Hey Leslie,
Glad you like it – thanks for reading!
Posted by: Susan Schneider | July 08, 2011 at 08:32 AM
Thoughtful content; "hit" a home run with me.
Thanks for sharing.
Leslie
Posted by: Leslie Batsford | July 06, 2011 at 06:52 PM
Thanks for your insight, Jon. Good points on using this to grow in our emotional intelligence and you are right... we have no idea what ball might be coming!
Posted by: Susan Schneider | July 06, 2011 at 09:19 AM
Using the sports analogy.... It's hard to take a strike. Often we learn from watching it go by.
Patiently watching, learning and listening is all a part of the Assessment phase of good emotional intelligence. Next we jump in with Commitment and apply our practiced efforts for Execution (ACE).
Sometimes we are not sure if it's a fast ball or a change up coming at us. Just swinging hard all of the time won't cut it.
Posted by: Jon | July 06, 2011 at 08:59 AM