It is April. The flowers are blooming. The rain showers will fall. And it’s spring. But there is something else special about this month. April is the final month my hitters focus on converting their habits to skills.

There are four things I pray rains down on baseball players of all ages and skill levels throughout the world this month:

1. Discernment
2. Grit
3. Focus
4. Self-efficacy

Grit is the relentless pursuit of purpose. It is a mental skill that can only be developed by doing things that are tough. It is necessary because, as we know, “skills pay the bills.”

So many hitters seemingly had productive winter workouts and came into the spring with high expectations. Some are meeting these goals, while others are struggling to the point of wanting to quit playing baseball altogether.

It is that struggle that helps you develop grit. Since grit is the relentless pursuit of purpose, it is important we have a specific purpose for life in general and baseball specifically.

• What is your life purpose?
• What is your reason for playing baseball?

My reason for coaching is to help diamond sport athletes become the best version of themselves.

Before the word coach was used in sports, it was only used as a means of transportation. There was a horse, a coachman to stir the horse, and the coach was the place where passengers rested until they arrived at their destination.

Life is a bumpy ride and grit is the fuel. The let-downs and disappointments in my life are the things that have caused me to develop the grit required for me to move from being an ordinary person to an extraordinary person on a mission for God.

Grit is the thing that moves athletes from just possessing talent, to having strong habits, to being skilled.

Get grit so you don’t quit.

For more information, visit L.E.A.D. Center for Youth today. Also, check out our Digital Magazine.

C.J. Stewart has built a reputation as one of the leading professional hitting instructors in the country. He is a former professional baseball player in the Chicago Cubs organization and has also served as an associate scout for the Cincinnati Reds. As founder and CEO of Diamond Directors Player Development, C.J. has more than 22 years of player development experience and has built an impressive list of clients, including some of the top young prospects in baseball today. If your desire is to change your game for the better, C.J. Stewart has a proven system of development and a track record of success that can work for you.

One of my favorite quotes is from Maya Angelou, who said, “We may encounter many defeats but we must not be defeated.”

There are five weeks in March, so here are your weekly marching orders if you want to be successful on and off the baseball field.

• Be honest 
• Be courageous 
• Be agile
• Be loyal
• Be respectful

This week’s focus is being agile. Being agile is being able to move quickly and easily. Consider your most recent night and/or daydream. As a child, I dreamed of playing professional baseball with the Chicago Cubs.

In 1984, I was eight years old. The Cubs won the National League East Division. I watched a lot of their games that summer while living in Atlanta. I would watch the game and then go outside to practice in the Hotlanta weather by hitting rocks with a stick and working on my pitching accuracy by throwing rocks at trees.

I had my first workout with the Cubs when I was 14 thanks to my mentor, the late T.J. Wilson. I was drafted by the Cubs at age 18 while I was a senior at Westlake High School. Instead of signing, I attended Georgia State University as a student-athlete (baseball).

Due to a lack of commitment and discipline, I was academically ineligible at the end of the season and transferred to Dekalb College where I experienced the same fate.

Everyone you go, there you are.

I was drafted again by the Cubs in 1996 and this time I signed only to play two years because of a lack of discipline and commitment. I define commitment as making and keeping a promise starting first with yourself. Discipline is doing things you need to do even when you don’t want to do them.

Because I lacked the strong character traits I needed in order to be agile early on in life, I experienced a lot of heartache and disappointments.

For the 20-plus years since my professional baseball playing days ended, I have been regarded among the top professional hitting coaches in America. That is largely due to my commitment and discipline.

Commit and discipline yourself to being agile so that you can win at the game of life.

As Redd Foxx once said, “Life is hard. It’s harder when you’re stupid.”

For more information, visit L.E.A.D. Center for Youth today. Also, check out our Digital Magazine.

C.J. Stewart has built a reputation as one of the leading professional hitting instructors in the country. He is a former professional baseball player in the Chicago Cubs organization and has also served as an associate scout for the Cincinnati Reds. As founder and CEO of Diamond Directors Player Development, C.J. has more than 22 years of player development experience and has built an impressive list of clients, including some of the top young prospects in baseball today. If your desire is to change your game for the better, C.J. Stewart has a proven system of development and a track record of success that can work for you.