Parenting is a honorable and never-ending job. Every parent who has a son wants him to grow to become a man of high character. Character is who you are all the time. There are six character traits that I use to coach my clients to develop and/or maintain.
- Excellence – meeting expectations
- Humility – not thinking of yourself less so that you can serve others more
- Integrity – doing the right think even when you can do the wrong thing
- Loyalty – doing the right thing for the right reasons, even if they’re not popular
- Stewardship – protector of your values and people
- Teamwork – being your best within a group of people that are being their best for a specific purpose
Life is in fact complex, but it doesn’t have to be complicated. The benefits of having high character is that you can make good decisions.
My Mother, Brittain Prigge, is known for saying:
“Good manners take you further than they should.” I have found that to be true over and over again, and have instilled the thought into my children. My boys are often lauded for their manners – the fact that they look someone in the eye and shake with a firm handshake, say yes ma’am and no sir, write thank you notes and understand how to act at a cocktail party sets them apart.
There is very little we can control in life, but we can control the way we behave. There is nothing more important to me than my boys becoming men of character. Their character is their brand and reflects the values Scott and I teach them. In this advanced technological world they are growing up in, we must acknowledge that there is little we can shield them from different from when I was growing up.
We must make sure they understand the values we expect them to live by and trust that they will make good decisions. Being men of good character and empathetic, thoughtful, good citizens is everything. The material things will follow if you have a solid core.”
Successful people often are those that have high character and that are also competent. Competence is all about knowing what you need to know to do what you need to do. Baseball coaches are unfortunately positioned as the authority for baseball information. It’s unfortunate because it causes players and parents to be dependent on us.
I’m a Master Level professional baseball swing coach because of my proven methodology of swing development and my ability to achieve outcomes for my clients. Clients come to me to get what they need when they need it. They come to me to achieve an outcome.
I’m not naive and arrogant to think that the complexity of hitting is comparable to that of landing an airplane, performing brain surgery or rocket science. Hitting just isn’t as complicated as coaches make it out to be. There are seven parts of the swing and it takes 3,000 reps to build a habit. That’s 21,000 reps that you won’t take if you don’t have high character as defined above.
- Stance/Load
- Timing
- Tempo
- Tracking
- Approach
- Contact
- Extension/Finish
Why is knowing what you need to know so important? So that you can do what you need to do. Hoping that you can become a good hitters is never a good strategy.
I believe that when something becomes simple, three things happen.
- You “Do it” with enjoyment
- You “Repeat it” with intentionality
- You “Achieve it” with convenience
We all know that “hard work pays off” because we’ve heard it thousands of time. I don’t believe in working hard. I believe in working smart, which leads to intelligence and skill development. Working hard makes you tired and working without a clear plan is ridiculous.
Being smart is knowing what to do and intelligence is knowing what to do and the ability to do it. Training under stress develops skills.
“Our goal is for Miles [Jackson] to become a Division I baseball player or get drafted out of high school. In order to do that one must be competent and confident. An African-American baseball player must be more knowledgeable than the average and show a complete understanding of the skill set. This will allow him to make necessary adjustments and remain in the elite group of hitters which will help us accomplish the original goal.” – Rendell Jackson
If you’re reading this blog, you’re a parent or player that unapologetically wants to be successful in baseball. You also have to sit in lots of traffic and eat late dinners in the car on the way home in order to get the high level training that you need to become a successful baseball player.
However, that’s not the case for my Diamond Directors clients, because I have what you need when you need it. Now that’s convenience.
“Convenience is subjective as everyone has a different convenience threshold. Accessibility is specific and critical. Sometimes a pitching or hitting or catching coach can be accessible remotely. It helps if they are convenient so they can see your player often enough to develop a relationship, identify where he is struggling and how to get the instruction to improve. If a coach is too far away or inaccessible for other reasons, he isn’t really going to be available to help you in a time of need. That’s not really a good coach. If your coach is accessible, you can rely on him when you need him and he will be worth the drive.” – Rachael Barron
If you are player with high character, all you need is content to become competent and train at your convenience. I have a proven Skill Build Drill for each of the seven parts of the swing that you can do at home by the thousands avoiding the rush to a batting lesson.
My Onsite Hitting Lab Assessment is how I can give you these three C’s.
- I will diagnose what’s right and what’s wrong.
- I will prescribe drills for you to do at home based on what’s wrong.
- You will be able to train doing the right things for the right amount of time from the convenience of your home.
Click here to learn more about and schedule your Onsite Hitting Lab Assessment with me right now.
Remember: Intelligence tops being smart.
For more information, visit www.diamonddirectors.com today. Also, check out our Digital Magazine.
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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 area scout for the Cincinnati Reds. As founder and CEO of Diamond Directors Player Development, CJ has more than 12 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 track record of success that can work for you.
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