Baseball has been apart of my life for as long as I can remember. My grandparents, my parents, we all grew up watching games together. Because of this, some of my best life lessons came from the game of baseball and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Never give up. One of my favorite things about baseball is that 1 inning can change everything. A come back can be right around the corner, down is definitely not out.  The same is true in life- you never know what kind of ground you can recoup if you just keep pushing forward.

Effort over outcome.  You can be having the game of your life against someone who is having the game of their life. You can’t always look to the score board for your value. You have to start measuring your efforts- it doesn’t always mean you come out on top, but it does mean you continually get better. The score isn’t always the whole story.

Life is unfair. Umps are people too. They make bad calls, they mess things up, you’re going to have to get used to doing life with ‘people’. People make mistakes, people have favorites, people will fail to see things your way. You can throw a fit or you can press on.

Big Risks = Big Rewards, they can also mean big failure.  You try for the steal, sometimes it puts your team in scoring position, sometimes it puts your team at 2 outs. The choices that impact our lives the most are never easy, there is always a risk of failing. If you don’t jump out and take that chance you’ll never know.

You can’t pick your Coach or your Team. Much like you can’t pick your boss or your co-workers. You have got to learn to work with others, even others that you don’t like. There is almost always something to respect and learn from another person.  You are not always going to like the people that you are around- that’s life- but you still have to give 100%.

Don’t Burn Bridges. You are going to struggle in baseball and in life. Watch out how you treat people when you are playing (or performing) well and watch how you treat them when you aren’t. You can’t ever think that you are too good to fail. Everyone deserves your respect no matter where you are in your journey.

The majority of people won’t see even half of the work that you put in. You want to be great? You’re going to have to put in hours upon hours of work. It won’t be seen, it won’t be applauded, it won’t get you pats on the back. But you aren’t doing that work for others- you are doing it for yourself. I have never met someone in a career that doesn’t bring some type of work home with them. You better love your journey because it will require time outside of 9-5. If you don’t, maybe you are doing the wrong thing.

As you may have noticed we rotate through newsletter weeks- so I knew this was my week some time ago and started working on my topic. This morning however, May 16^th, we lost my Grandmother (Coach Wolforth’s Mom) to cancer. Even though I had panned this topic before today, I think it is very fitting to honor her. My Grandma loved baseball and she was an old school, tough old bird. I will miss her dearly and because of her I want to add something to my list of life lessons:

Don’t forget your biggest fans. They may not always say what you want to hear (they may even boo you when you don’t play well J) but they are always there to love you through your screw ups, your bad games, your bad days. I am so blessed to have had Lois Wolforth as one of my biggest fans and just for her today I’ll say “Go Rockies”.

If you simply take a minute or two, you can think of numerous ways that you can go the extra mile.  Start with one today and build from there.  I can tell you that it will be noticed and will eventually reap rewards, often in ways you don’t expect.