major league identities: who are you at your best?
If you’ve grown up watching baseball, or any sport at all, you probably identify with certain players. Everyone has their “favorites” that they look up to and wish to emulate.
When you’re watching other players, whether it’s pro ball players or even your own teammates, there is something important that you need to remember: All of us are unique individuals and when you think about your identity, it’s huge to first understand what makes YOU, YOU.
This may sound pretty obvious, but many athletes of all ages don’t take the time to develop the self-awareness to identify who they are at their absolute best and what they do that helps them perform at their best, both ON and OFF the field.
Identity literally means ‘repeated beingness’. So, by identifying who you are and what you do when you’re at your best, and then repeatedly being that version of you, well quite simply, that is who you BECOME.
The key is to spend time both seeing and sculpting the best version of yourself. Once you know who the “real you” is, and you can identify your strengths, your behaviors change and you become a much stronger individual.
Below is a quick guide (with examples) that you can use to think critically about your Major League Identities ON and OFF the field:
IDENTITY: Who are you at your best on and off the field? It’s time to give that version of yourself a name.
ON THE FIELD: World-Class Athlete
OFF THE FIELD: World-Class Person
QUALITIES: What qualities (character traits) do you embody as the best version of yourself?
ON THE FIELD: Disciplined, Confident, Prepared, Focused, Winner
OFF THE FIELD: Trusting, Loving, Grateful, Present, Kind, Fun
BEHAVIORS: What actions and behaviors do you engage in that help you show up at your best?
ON THE FIELD: Good teammate no matter what (we over me); Control the Controllables; Compete to win every pitch; Act like a warrior not a victim; Great with my body-language and self-talk; In bed for 9-10 hours
OFF THE FIELD: See the best in others; Treat everyone with respect; Present and connected with others; Keep a gratitude journal; Help out around the house
This is just a quick example of the process that we go way deeper on during the 8-week MLM program. Once you have this framework complete, it’s then all about recommitting to being that version of yourself EVERY.SINGLE DAY. Never perfectly, but more and more consistently.
When you live in integrity with who you are at your best, your confidence will soar, you’ll feel more comfortable in your own skin, and you WILL thrive ON and OFF the field.
