As Winston Churchill once said, “Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.”
Courage is a noun. A noun is a word used to describe a person, place or thing. Courage is a thing. So is fear. When I feel fear, I remind myself to respond with courage. Oftentimes, the fear I feel is rooted in my not wanting to fail. That’s why I have begun to look at failure as learning rather than losing.
Brittany Carr wrote a book titled, “F.E.A.R.” The acronym stands for False Evidence Appearing Real. On my first high school, collegiate and professional at-bats, I remember feeling fear. For a brief moment in the dugout before each of the monumental at-bats for me, I had to remind myself that I have earned the right to be here.
I had to quickly respond with courage in spite of my fear in order to get through the at-bat.
When each of them were over, I had a sigh of relief realizing it was not as bad as I thought it would be. In my future at-bats in high school, college and the pros, while I felt fear, I reminded myself of how I overcame that first at-bat to get me through future at-bats.
Our confidence in our courage grows as a result of us using it.
Fear is a real thing. So is courage. Choose courage when you feel fear so that you can experience success.
This reminds of Jackie Robinson, Hank Aaron and Martin Luther King, Jr., three men who were faced with fear and built up courage muscles so they could keep stepping up to the plate.
- How do you handle fear?
- Do you experience fear when it is your time to step up to the plate during a close game?
- Do you fear rejection from college coaches and professional scouts?
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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.
