64. How You Can Leverage Playoff Baseball to Have a Kick-Ass Finish to the Year

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Hey. Hey. It is Friday. It is time for Friday bullpen Sessions. My name is Andy Neary. Each week I deconstruct my journey, my struggles through professional baseball to help unpack yours so you can live a life on purpose. I take the lessons I learned in baseball and help you apply them in business and in life. So if you're ready to join me, grab your glove, grab a ball, get ready to take the mound. And get ready, bear down to strike out the limiting beliefs in your life. All right, here we go. Hey, hey. Welcome back to bullpen Sessions. My name is Andy Neary and this is episode 64. Today we're going to talk about what baseball has to do with you finishing the year strong. But before we get into that, I want to make a big invite to you. I am going to be running a challenge this November, a ten day holiday challenge. Why? Because you are struggling. You're struggling with your habits. Those habits you had locked in before COVID are kind of getting away from you. I've listened to people talk about the old COVID 19, referencing the 19 pounds that they've gained over this six to seven month period, which is just saddening to hear. Your calendar is owning you. You're not owning it, especially here in the fourth quarter. You're trying to balance multiple roles in your life. You're playing employee, business, owner, husband, wife, father, mother. It's a struggle. You got to get those habits, the time management skills back in check. And I want to help you do that. So that's what this 10 days challenge is for. It's going to start in mid November, run right up into Thanksgiving. So if you know you need help with habits, you need help with some time management skills, you're not going to want to miss this challenge. Here's what you got to do. All you have to do is text the word challenge to the word 414-622-1462. I'm going to be giving away cash. I'm going to be giving away an interview on this podcast. So you do not want to miss out on this. All you have to do is text the word challenge to 414-622-1462 and you'll get yourself in the holiday 10 day challenge. All right, let's dive into this week's episode.

Well, here we are. Mid October. One thing I love about this time of the year is it means playoff baseball. And today I want to talk to you about what playoff baseball has to do with your career. What playoff baseball has to do with you between now and the end of the year, I'm going to put a really interesting twist on this that I think will resonate with you. I think you'll understand where I'm coming from, and I think this actually can help you finish your year strong. You see in Major League Baseball, if you go back about a month, mid September, In a normal 162 game season.

There are teams that have everything to play for. You know, the teams that are far ahead in their divisions. I think of a team like the Los Angeles Dodgers, who lately seem like they've locked up their division, the West Division in the National League by September, for the entire month of September, they don't have a whole lot to play for. They're already in the playoffs. First place is locked in. And on the flip side, those teams that are some of the worst in the league, you know, teams that come to mind right now, sorry, if you're an Orioles fan, Detroit Tigers fan, you're finding yourself far, far down in the cellar. And again with a month ago, you're out, you're already eliminated from the playoffs. You don't really have a lot to play for. It's those teams in the middle that are dangerous. Those teams that are fighting for the last few spot spots in the playoffs. We call it the wild card spots, right? Those are the teams with, when you got about two weeks to go, every single game is going to matter. Takes me back a couple years to watching my team, the Milwaukee Brewers. You know, they had to fight tooth and nail all the way up till the last game of the season to make the playoffs. And what was so interesting is on the last day of the year, they played the Chicago Cubs. They beat the Cubs, and that actually catapulted them into first place in the National League Central. So those teams that have everything to play for right up until the end of the year typically are the most dangerous teams in the playoffs. Why? Because they've got momentum. For the past 14 days, everything they've been playing for meant something. The games they played in meant something. They had to remain on their A game when it came to strategy. They had to make sure they kept their players healthy. And every game, every win mattered. And because of that momentum, they go right on into the playoffs maintaining that momentum. And that's why you often see wild card teams. The team that comes to my mind is St. Louis Cardinals. I know they've won at least one World Series, maybe two, as the wild card team because they went into the playoffs, had something to play for the final month of the season, go into the playoffs hot, go all the way, win the World Series. And again, if I would go back in history and I'm not looking at my stats right now, I can guarantee if we look back 15 years, there probably have been multiple teams that have won the World Series that were wild card teams entering the playoff, meaning they had a lot to play for with a few weeks to go. So it also brings me back to the summer of 2000. I was pitching for the Helena brewers up in Helena, Montana. And what was really interesting about the brewers organization that year was they actually had two teams.

In the same league. They were the Helena Brewers. It was also a Brewers organization, single A team in the Southern division of the Pioneer League down in Ogden, Utah, the Ogden Raptors. And for whatever reason, they had two teams in the same league, which is an odd, odd thing when it comes to minor league baseball. I spent the summer pitching for the Helena Brewers. Now, to give you both sides of the spectrum the side of a team that has nothing to play for and a team that has everything to play for.

That was my experience that summer because in Helena, quite frankly, we weren't very good because there were two teams in the same league. Most of the high draft picks from that year from 2020 were sent to Ogden mainly because Ogden actually had a lease. The brewers had a lease with the Ogden Raptors. And I believe one of the requirements was in order for the brewers to retain that lease in the future, they actually had to make the playoffs that year. So they kind of stacked the Ogden roster. And then the later draft picks, free agents were sent to the Helena team. Me being a free agent meant I was heading to Helena. And so that summer we spent the majority of the season towards the bottom of the Northern Division in the Pioneer League. By the time August rolled around, we were out of the playoffs. We had nothing to play for. And I'll tell you, when you're on a team that's losing, that has nothing to play for, you know, you're already eliminated from the playoffs. It's really easy to start looking forward to the off season. I can tell you when I was in Helena, I was already looking forward to going home, going back to Milwaukee. I had a semester of school to finish up and I just really wasn't excited about the game of baseball. But here's what happened during our last road trip to Missoula, Montana. After I believe it was the second game of a three game series, I was given the news that I was being shipped down to Ogden to serve as a middle reliever for their playoff run. This was about a week, week and a half to go in the season. And so literally, pack up my bags. My host family and Helena shipped my bags down to Ogden. I jumped on a flight in Missoula, headed to Ogden, and here I was within hours, no longer a Helena Brewer, I was now an Ogden Raptor. And what was so interesting is now I was entering the locker room of a team that had everything to play for. In literally a matter of 24 hours, I went from playing in the game for us, the Helena brewers, that really meant nothing, to now, the next night, pitching or sitting in the bullpen for the Ogden Raptors in a game that meant everything because the Ogden Raptors were fighting for a playoff spot. And every single game the rest of the year was a must win situation. What did that mean? It meant we had to be on our A game. We had to be at our best, we had to be sharp, we had to have a strategy. And I'll tell you, those remaining games of the season and right on into the playoffs were fun. Now, we unfortunately were eliminated in the first round of the playoffs. But my point is this. There is a huge difference in mentality when you are playing for a team that has nothing to play for. Especially when you're on the losing side of that, playing for nothing. And a huge mental shift when you are playing for something that means everything. Every single game here on out is a must win. You get that momentum and you can feel unstoppable. Why do I share this with you today? Because this episode is being released on October 16th, which means we literally have two and a half months to go.

And I am having far too many conversations with insurance reps, financial advisors, who have literally given up on this year. I hear it all the time, Andy. I'm not really, you know, it's. I've kind of given up on selling anything between now and the end of the year. I'm just getting really ramped up for a good, strong 20, 21. Really? You've already given up 75 days, give or take, left to go, and you've already given up. You see, when you have nothing to play for, kind of like I felt back in Helena, you're not going to show up. You're not going to be in a good, clear mental position to go out and do battle. And I'll tell you right now, if you have already given up on this year and you think, and I'm putting air quotes, you think you're getting ramped up for a strong 2021. I can promise you there's a very good chance come December 31st you're not going to be prepared for a strong 2021. You're going to start January just like you ended 2020, and you're going to be frustrated by the end of the first quarter. However, if you go at the rest of this year with the mentality of a team that is fighting for a playoff spot, think 2000, was it, 16, 17 Cardinals teams that are fighting for a playoff spot. It's a must win game every single season or every single game. You may not reach your 2020 sales goal that you had at the beginning of the year, but I can tell you are going to go into 2021 with some damn good momentum.

So what I want to help you do today is I first of all want to give you that mental mindset shift you need to make. Do not give up on the rest of this year. Because if you do, you're going to wake up every day with nothing to play for. You think you're getting ready for next year, but I promise you, come the end of the year, you're still going to have the same mindset. I want you to wake up every day, day knowing you have something to play for. Knowing that every game, every win you go after is a must win.

Because even if you don't hit your goal, you will end the year with a shitload of momentum. So let's bring up. I want to give you a strategy today that I think can give you some clarity so that you can at least go after it, go hard, wake up with your A game for the rest of this year. Here's what I want you to do. I want you to literally sit down right now as you're listening to this podcast and I want you to tell yourself or write down what your number one goal is come December 31st. If you are listening to this podcast on December 31st, what is the number one thing you want to accomplish.

Then? I want you to reverse engineer the math. Because business is a game of math. I want you to look back and say, okay, that is my goal. For many of you, it's going to be a sales goal. It's going to be a number of new accounts goal. It's going to be around some kind of number whether it has a dollar sign in front of it or not. I want you to reverse engineer that. I want you to take about five weeks back and I want you to say okay for me to hit that Number at the end of the year, where do I have to be come Thanksgiving.

When I take that break on Thursday, what is that going to be? Thursday, November 26? Sit down and have my turkey. Unfortunately, this year is probably going to be virtual turkey, or at least hanging out with your family in a virtual, virtual setting. Where do I need to be on that day so that I know that I am on track to be hitting or exceeding my December 31st goal? Then I want you to take another step back and I want you to say, okay. In order for me to be where I need to be on December 31, I now know where I have to be on Thanksgiving. Where do I have to be by the end of this month? By October 31st? By Halloween? Again? Unfortunately, we're not trick or treating this year. But by the time you would normally be handing out candy, where do you need to be? Where does your goal need to be in order for you to be on track on Thanksgiving? And in order for you to be on track to hit your December 31st goal?

Now one more step back. In order for you.

To be on track come the end of this month, where do you need to be by the end of next week?

Again, this podcast is being aired on October 16th. So where do you need to be by October 23rd? What do you need to do by the end of next week in order for you to be on your goal on Halloween? In order for you to be on track with your goal come Thanksgiving? In order for you to be on track for your goal at the end of the year? And last, but certainly not least, in order for you to be on track by the end of next week, what do you have to do today?

The purpose of this exercise is it's so easy to create lofty goals. Even with two and a half months to go, we often believe we can do more than we probably typically can. And when you create a lofty goal and you create no game plan around it, you end up just staring up at that big goal at the end of the year. It looks so big, so high. And with no game plan, you are going to get frustrated immediately. But if you take the time today and you figure out where you want to be come December 31st, and you now know where you have to be on Thanksgiving in order to do that, and you now know where you have to be on Halloween, you now know where you have to be by the end of this week, which means you know exactly what you need to be doing today to be on track with all four of those benchmarks you now have clarity, you're now going to start taking action. And that's the one thing you can control. Can you control the outcome? Can you control where you're going to be, the result you're going to have on Halloween, on Thanksgiving, at the end of the year? Technically, no, you can't. But you can absolutely control what you do today to put yourself in the best position to be meeting or exceeding your goals on each and every one of those benchmarks. And that's why I wanted to share this with you today. If you get laser focused right now, waking up knowing that with two and a half months to go, you have something to play for. If you just stay strong with the activity, you stay strong with the mindset, and you just get up and get after it every single day. Even if you do not hit the goal you set for yourself, worst case scenario, you're gonna enter January 1, 2021, with a shitload of momentum. So what are you gonna do? You're gonna sit here like the team sitting in last place in the division, saying we've got nothing to play for? Like I was sitting up in Helena, Montana, come early August, nothing to play for. Looking towards the off season, are you going to go at it like that? Team fighting for a wild card spot, got two and a half months to go. Every game matters. You have to wake up sharp, you have to wake up clear, you have to wake up positive. You have to wake up with a game plan. You do that, no matter what the result is, come December 31, worst case scenario, you're going to have a boatload of momentum that's going to take you strong into 2021. So that's my advice today. Do not give up on the year.

Make sure that you know every day you're going to get up right now, between now and the end of the year. And promise me this, you are going to go after it like every day matters. You're going to get up and go after it like every win matters. And when you do that, when you have that clarity and you have that confidence that you know what direction you're heading in, you know what happens. Massive action happens. So go make it happen today.

Hey, thank you for taking the time to listen to this Friday bullpen session. If you are enjoying these episodes, please do me a favor, go over to Apple, subscribe, give it a five star rating. And if you know of anybody in your life, whether it's in your family, personal life, your friends, business colleagues that you think would find benefit in listening to these episodes as well. Do me a favor. Please share the bullpen sessions with them. I'd be extremely grateful if you did. And again, go out and make it happen today. Thank.

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