Ted Williams



Think
406




What I learned from Ted Williams:

Think 406.

We are all creatures of habit; our lives are determined by the "path of least resistance" driven by a mindset and comfortable thoughts that we have become accustomed to following.

We do what we do because it has become the easiest and most familiar habit. Like a cart running in a circle. Over time it wears down the ground into ruts. The longer the cart goes around, the deeper the ruts and the harder it is to change course. As much as we have the best intentions to change unproductive outlooks, thoughts and behavior our actions will inevitably follow habits we have established over many years. We will continue to get what we have already got.

The Red Queen in "Alice through the looking glass: says 'Now, here you see, it takes all the running you can do, to keep in the same place. If you want to get somewhere else, you must run at least twice as fast as that!'.

The pace of our life is often so frenetic that when it comes to things we have control over, we just want to keep things as they are. Changing outcomes consistently is hard. You're taking on your toughest opponent - yourself.

So how do you think differently and get different outcomes?

Try a number that may be familiar to some of you baseball fans - 406.

What is 406?

When Ted Williams came to the last game of the season one year he was batting 400 and his coaches, teammates, and pretty much every one he spoke to told him to sit out the last game in order to maintain the storied 400 batting average for the year rather than risk it falling below the hallowed mark by playing. Ted didn't think that way because he had wired his mind and his habits differently. Consequently he went out and batted to end the year at 406.

If you seek success you need to harness and focus your passion.

The world is filled with nine to five thinkers that do just enough to get through the day. Their habits are on autopilot and their accomplishments follow the crowd. Why join them?
These sad souls are easy to spot and even easier to surpass in accomplishments, they do what everyone else does, think like every one else thinks and every thing is essentially the same for them - what do these people lack?

Passion, discipline and drive.

Some peoples days are made up of accepting a lowered expectation and baseline. Their habits doom them to repeat what they have already done in the past often settling for less than they desire. They stubbornly resist a prime law of physics - All things atrophy over time. It's like trying to stay in one place, stationary, on a bicycle.

You need to fire yourself up daily with documented and shared challenges. You need to be uncomfortable. This isn't something that is going to happen anyway. You are out to achieve breakthroughs. You'll need commitment and follow through. Guess what - if you're not passionate about daily growth, it won't happen. It sure won't happen if you rationalize your shortcomings. Ted Williams could have settled for 400 and comfortable but he was a 406 guy.

Every one of us writes the script to our own lives. Whether you know it or not - people can read your script from a mile away. It's like it is written on a billboard and you light it up with your daily attitudes, actions and accomplishments.

By doing what you have always done - you will get what you have always got. If you want something different learn to think 406.

Think 406.

That's what I learned from Ted Williams.



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