Like riding a bike

Remember when you were little and you were trying to learn how to ride a bike without training wheels?  If you were like most kids, you probably were so concerned with what your feet were doing that you looked down to watch yourself pedal.  You probably remember that looking down was not a good strategy.  I can still hear my dad saying, “Look forward!” when I was learning.

The problem with looking down is that it slows you down.  It also doesn’t allow you to see where you are going so you end up swerving all over the place.  Every bump throws you off balance and often results in some skinned knees and a few tears.

When riders finally realize that the key is to always keep your head up and look forward, they typically make big strides and the process of riding the bike starts to come more naturally.

Unfortunately, many of those little kids who quickly learned that lesson still haven’t learned that lesson as older kids when it comes to baseball.  

Focusing only on what happened or where you are today is like looking down as you ride that bike.  It doesn’t work so well.  You slow your progress.  You lose your path and you start to swerve away from your goal.  Every bump in the road (0-3 with 2 K’s, 2 errors, a loss on the mound, etc.) knocks you down and turns you into an emotional wreck.

Baseball players should always spend energy on the here and now in order to play the game properly.  However, take your sights away from where you want to go for too long and you will spiral downward just like the bike rider.