BaseballDOJO MINDSET: THE FOREST & THE TREES

When you’re walking through the wilderness, what do you see?  The forest or the trees?

To navigate effectively, you need to know the forest: your location, the direction you want to go, and the distance you must travel.  But if you’re just staring at a map as you walk, you’re going to run into a lot of trees along the way.  To avoid the trees, you need to divert from the straight-line path to your destination.  But if you’re just turning to avoid trees and ignoring the map, you can easily get lost, even to the point where you are just walking in circles.

To develop your skills, you need to see the big picture: your current ability, your overall goal, the the investment required to reach that goal.  But if you’re thinking about your overall progress during the game, you’re going to miss THIS moment.  To respond effectively to the ball in real time, you may have to make a move that’s not “ideal” just to win the pitch.  But if you tinker with your mechanics after every pitch instead of maintaining your core principles, you can easily lose sight of your development plan, even to the point where you’re “starting over” a lot.

It’s the forest AND the trees, but just at different times.  Knowing how to switch between these perspectives in the wilderness makes for safe and efficient navigation.  Knowing the difference between performance and evaluation does the same thing for successful skill development.

Know your development plan, so you don’t get lost in the forest.

Focus on this pitch, so you don’t run into a tree.