Leave Your Seats, Enter the Lineup

I enjoy going to a Major League Baseball game, and I really don’t mind sitting in the nosebleed seats. From that high up you can see the arrangement of the entire defense, including strategic shifts not as easily noticeable from lower in the stadium, or even on TV. I especially love it when I’m with others that appreciate the game, and we can discuss what we think might happen, what the manager should do, or how a prior play should’ve been handled differently. Baseball is great.

Life is like baseball, but this should not be so. In a sport where so few in the world play professionally, but so many are given the opportunity to sit in the stands, we almost train ourselves to treat life like the game of baseball. How many of us have sat in the metaphorical nosebleeds criticizing passionately, but refuse to step on the field? (my hand is raised)

At some point there is an opportunity to enter the lineup. That’s where most of us freeze. Either lack of confidence, courage, or awareness, we hesitate to get out of the stands. Why would that be for you? Does risk terrify you? Does the potential for wounds keep you in the nosebleeds?

I want to suggest that in many cases we don’t know where to begin. Am I a first baseman, or a pitcher? What if I strike out in front of everyone? Kaleo Coaching exists to stir in you the awareness of, and confidence in, your strengths to provide the good work you are called to do. By entering a coaching relationship you can come to understand the primary talents you carry with you, and how to invest in them so that they can become strengths. Using Gallup’s Clifton Strengths assessment, and a personal Strengths Coach, you can map out a plan to enter the lineup.

The beauty about both life and baseball is that when you swing and miss on strike three, the lineup will eventually turn over with the chance to redeem yourself. Yes, you will be beaned by a 97 mph fastball at some point. It’s going to hurt. But there’s no other way to get both the satisfaction in your work, and reach the purpose of your life, then to overcome your fear and join in the game. Joseph Campbell explains the dangers of refusing the call to adventure in this way: “Walled into boredom, hard work, or ‘culture’, the subject loses the power of significant affirmative action and becomes a victim to be saved…. All he can do is create new problems for himself and await the gradual approach of his disintegration.” (The Hero With a Thousand Faces, p.49)

As a coach who’s experienced the hesitancy and terror of engaging the game on the field, leaving my nosebleed seats where I can comfortably analyze, I invite you to connect with me to begin the first steps of your journey.

Contact me today at dan@kaleocoaching.com to see how coaching can help you gain insight and confidence to the work and life you were designed for.