Many of you (especially Focus Graduates) know my friend and Focus trainer, Ryan Lefebvre, the voice of the Royals. Well, Ryan will soon be making his way to beautiful Arizona to begin spring training with the Kansas City Royals. Tough gig, huh? Yes, while we finish out the winter (which has thankfully been very mild), Ryan and the Royals will be suffering in the near perfect conditions of Arizona.
Have you ever thought about what they are going there to do? The professionals, who are all paid a substantial amount of money, are going back to the basics for one month. Yes, even though they have spent years and years in catching ground balls, fly balls, hitting, bunting, and even base running, The Basics is all they are going to work on for one whole month, just The Basics. No matter how long the professionals have been in the league, they still all go back to the basics - just like how they first started in Little League. Many of them are All Stars or Golden Glove winners, but, it does not matter… they all go back to the basics every spring.
At the start of the season, the great college basketball coach of UCLA, John Wooden “The Wizard of Westwood” would have all players (new and even in their senior year) remove their sneakers, take the laces out and all learn the same and proper way to lace their shoes. You would think they should all know this stuff by now, right? Well, I am sure they do… however; even the pros can get sloppy. Even the pros can skip important steps or techniques and end up regressing or developing bad habits.
This situation can relate to each one of us. Maybe we all need a “spring training” in our lives. It is easy to fall back into your old Comfort Zone and go through the motions of life and not be purposeful or intentional. Steven Covey refers to this as “sharpening the saw.” Right now, some of us are working harder and harder with a dull blade. It is important to take time out just like the pros and sharpen our skills. We all need “sharpening” from time to time to have awareness about ourselves and others. We need sharpening not only for ourselves, but also because others count on us to relate/connect in effective ways, communicate in clear understandable ways, control our emotions, and lead in a positive direction; modeling for them how we can better ourselves.
What are you going to use for your “spring training” this year? Some of our Focus Graduates are returning to do an ILW to sharpen the saw. We have some exciting one day seminars; our next one is “Focus on Couples” on March 10th. This is followed by “Focus on Finance” April 21st, “Focus on Singles” July 14th, “Focus on Women” August 18th, and “Focus Up” on November 10th. In addition, Focus is teaming with Mark McAuliffe to offer our graduates a 30, 60, or 90-day post Focus Coaching Program. Call today for more information and/or to enroll. Invest in yourself and take in some good “FUEL”.
