Photo Credit: Big Stock Photo
Recently, I was scrolling through the cable channel guide and saw a listing for an evening Philadelphia Phillies game.
It instantly took me back to my childhood and summer nights filled with Phillies games on the TV. I recalled the windows being open and hearing the crickets outside under the starry nighttime sky. I remembered the sound of the baseball repeatedly landing with a thump in the catcher’s mitt. I could hear the sound of the bat cracking against the ball, and the way that our local baseball broadcasters Richie Ashburn and Harry Kalas would react with unbridled excitement as the player rounded the bases.
These memories take me back to a different time that feels so long ago. In researching this blog post, I did a quick Google search on Ashburn and Kalas, two comforting voices from both my childhood and adulthood, who we - as diehard Phillies fans - could always count on at every game. They were part of the fabric of this great city and also the great game of baseball. They became beloved figures in this city and also best friends. Did you know that they worked together for an impressive 27 seasons until Ashburn’s passing on September 9, 1997? Quite a feat, indeed.
As we get ready to move into summer, the topic of baseball seemed like a fitting theme for this blog post.
I thought about how summer vacations and holidays will quickly fill up our calendars in the coming months and how life will naturally seem to move at a slower pace in a number of ways.
So as we prepare for the upcoming summer season, let me ask you to ponder this: Where in your business (and life) have you been wanting to step up to the plate to become a bigger, more confident, more empowered version of yourself, and have maybe been holding back for whatever reason?
We Phillies fans wanted every bit of our players to show up fully at each and every game. To give it their ALL. To make magic on the field. We also wanted every comforting and also excitable part of Ashburn and Kalas, too.
Just imagine how different those games would have felt if the players didn’t give it their all. Or how much less interesting and exciting the games would have been to experience if Ashburn and Kalas showed up with only half their energy?
This holds true for every fan of every sport, wanting their beloved players to show up and be ready to play, as well as for the beloved local announcers who skillfully take you through every facet of every game. They become part of the fabric of each experience that you look forward to and contribute to the entirety of that experience.
And guess what? Your clients or customers feel the exact same way. So do the people who are connected to you and/or following you on social media, as well as your faithful newsletter subscribers.
They want to hear from you. ALL of you.
So the next time you feel the nagging whispers of doubt or fear trying to take control, think about how the people in your life - whether those whom you know personally or cherished public figures - show up and give their all. Think about how much richer and more exciting your life is because of it.
Give your clients, customers, followers, connections, and raving fans the very same. Let your fears fall away so that YOU can show up in the very best iteration of yourself.
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