Andy Neary compares surviving disruption to baseball pitching: use a relief pitcher's tactical focus to handle immediate crises, then switch to a starting pitcher's long-term strategy to build for growth when conditions improve. Pause, assess, pivot to serve now, and use downtime to learn and prepare for the rebound.
Questions this video answers
Friday, March 27 (year not specified in chunk).
Episode 11.
Chris Harder (he mentions sitting on a webinar with Chris Harder).
Milwaukee Brewers (he signed with the Milwaukee Brewers and served briefly as a middle relief pitcher).
Good morning. It is Friday. You know what that means. It is time for Friday Bullpen sessions. My name is Andy Neary, and this is episode 11.
Well, it is Friday, March 27th, and if you're listening to this, my guess is you have taken a gut punch in the last week or two, and your world looks a lot different than it did just even two weeks ago. And so it is imperative right now that you allow yourself to pause, allow yourself to reflect, and look at where you are, take stock of where you are, and then put a game plan together moving forward so you can continue thriving as we move forward. The best analogy I can give you is what it was like for me as a starting pitcher in baseball, but also as a relief pitcher. You see most of my.
Young baseball career, from Little League all the way up through high school and college, I was a starting pitcher. But then when I signed with the Milwaukee brewers, my short time there with the brewers was spent as a middle relief pitcher. And those two positions have completely different mindset. And I think it's those two mindsets that you need to apply right now in your business. You have to have the mindset of a starting pitcher as well as having the mindset of a middle relief pitcher. What do I mean by that? Well, as a starting pitcher, my job was to think long term. When I was going into the first inning of a game, I had to not only strategize how I was going to attack each and every batter in the first inning, but I had to also game plan and think about what it was going to be like when I was facing that same batter in the sixth or seventh inning of that same game. Because I can't come with the same pitch sequence that I provided in the first inning, in the seventh inning, because then I would become predictable. That batter would have a much better chance of getting on base or hitting that ball in the gap or out of the park. So I had to constantly be thinking long term as a starting pitcher. Now, as a middle relief pitcher, it's a completely different mindset. You are entirely focused on the short term. Often you're coming in in the middle of a jam, the middle of a mess, two guys on one out, and you've got to figure out how to get out of that specific inning. And so it's a completely different mindset where a starting pitcher thinks long term. A middle relief pitcher is thinking about the here, the now and getting out of the jam. And that's the mindset, both mindsets that you have to apply to your business. Right now you have to figure out how you're going to get out of this jam. We are all in a jam right now. Our worlds have been turned upside down, down. So what do you need to do right now, here in the moment, to make sure your business survives? But at the same time, you have to apply the mindset of a starting pitcher. What are you going to do right now to build a foundation for your business so that it can thrive in the long term? I sat on a webinar earlier this week with a mentor of mine, Chris Harder. I've put his name here in the post. He is a mentor to the entrepreneur world. He was talking about the fact that, you know right now, if you think about how you can serve today, how you can spend your time serving today, because there's not going to be a lot in the way of sales in the next couple weeks so that you can set yourself up that when we get back to some kind of semblance of normal in the next four to five months, your business is ready to thrive. And that's the advice I want to give you today, is again, apply the mindset of a middle relief pitcher in the moment. You got to figure out what you need to do to pivot, to adapt so your business can survive. But don't forget to bring the mindset of the starting picture to your business right now, too. Take the time to take a step back, grow, learn, study your business so that you can build the right foundation, that when we come back in the next four or five months, you are ready to explode, you are ready to grow and you are ready to take advantage of what the world's going to be like in that time. So that's my advice to you today for this week's Friday Bullpen session. Attack your business like you would a starting pitcher. But at the same time, I know you've got to survive in the moment. So bring that mindset of a middle reliever as well. Hope that helps. Have a great rest of the day, have a great weekend and stay safe and healthy.
