Well, I guess when you don't record podcasts, you lose momentum. In his podcast The Knowledge Project, Shane Parrish interviews Dr. Jim Loehr. (The title of his book I couldn't remember is "Toughness Training for Life."  Regardless, Loehr tells a story about interviewing a bullfighter that illustrates the confidence that is necessary to deal with fear - regardless of whether you're facing a bull, sales meeting, client, test, or at-bat.

There is a fountain at Mudd Hall of Philosophy at USC that says "O stream of life, run you slow or fast, all streams reach the sea at last." If the sea is death or the end, this means that the stream of your life will get there eventually... so what will your stream be like? Meaningful, or meaningless?

I am on a Springsteen kick... sorry. When someone goes to see The Boss, they know that he's going to give them their money's worth. (I saw him last weekend and he played for three hours. He is 74. My feet hurt standing up.) When someone comes to watch you play, are you giving them their money's worth? After all, time is money...

When Bruce Springsteen walked into the office of music executive John Hammond in 1972, he was nobody. He played a mental trick on himself at that point: he figured that if he failed, he was no worse off than if he'd never walked into the office.  Spoiler alert: he crushed it, and consequently, you know who he is.

There have been a lot of fan favorites over the years, where people say "I'd buy a ticket to watch them play." Well, would you buy a ticket to watch yourself play?  What can you do to make yourself be the kind of player that people want to see? What kind of attributes can you portray?

Slumps are not forever, and neither is perfection. If you start off slow, you're one hit away from a hot streak.  There's a great book from the late 80s by George Will called Men At Work. In it, Hershiser is asked whether he goes to the mound in the first inning planning to pitch a complete game. ‘A perfect game,’ he replies. ‘If they get a hit, then I am throwing a one-hitter. If they get a walk, it’s my last walk. I deal with perfection to the point that it is logical to conceive it. History is history, the future is perfect.’ Deal with perfection to the point that it is logical to conceive it.

This comes via Brian Cain and Dr. Rob Gilbert, but it's the first chapter of former St. Louis Cardinal Frank Bettger's book How I Raised Myself from Failure to Success in Selling. Short answer: enthusiasm. Being passive and unenthusiastic does not open doors for you. Being enthusiastic does. 10 minutes of me enthusiastically reading Bettger.  If you want a professional, here's Cain.  As always, I welcome all feedback... Thanks!!!

This week is April break in Bedford. It means our players can just be baseball players. Sure, there may be other commitments to family and friends, and other leisure time... but for the most part, they're ballplayers who don't have to worry about school or other intrusions.  When was the last time you limited yourself to just one main focus?  P.S. I am jealous of these kids.

The average person gets hundreds of notifications a day. They interrupt us at all times: when we're conversing with people we care about, when we're trying to do deep work, when we're sleeping. Improve your productivity. Turn off your notifications to everything except the stuff it's worth breaking stride for.

Seneca the Younger defines "euthymia" as "believing in yourself and trusting that you are on the right path, and not being in doubt by following the myriad footpaths of those wandering in every direction." It can be hard when you see other people doing things you want to do, getting rewards you feel like you should receive. Finding that place of euthymia is challenging and requires a degree of comfort in your own process and path.