subject: Marketing Tip #56 - The Hidden Power Of The Winners Mindset [print this page] Im a sap for good inspirational storiesIm a sap for good inspirational stories. Its one of the hazards of being in touch with your emotional side, which is absolutely necessary if you want to write world-class copy heck, I sometimes tear up watching sappy television commercials. Often, its the snarly, cynical guys who have the biggest soft spots.
Ive got a nugget from my own past Id long forgotten about. This was in the early seventies, in my college town. A friend asked me to help him coach a kids baseball team there were no parents available.
This was before the movie The Bad News Bears was made, and I believe its something that has happened multiple times (and is still happening) all across the country: One team in the league is created to house all the kids the other teams dont want And then, a coach is lured in, also from the outside. And then the team is taken for granted as a perpetual loser, but everyone can feel good about having given the little throw-aways a chance.
In this case, our team was a true menagerie of mutts. We had a couple of kids who didnt speak English several obese kids who couldnt run to save their lives a few emotional basket cases (who would burst into tears for no reason) and the only girl in the league.
Make no mistake as coaches, we were mutts, too. And there we were, my friend Bob and I two hippies in torn jeans and Up The Establishment tee shirts. We did, however, share a love of baseball. Wed both played organized hardball through our teens, and knew a bit about the game.
The first practice was a disaster. Kids showed up with decrepit gloves that fell apart with the first catch, there was rampant crying and hurt feelings, and my feeble Spanish wasnt cutting it with the Latino kids.
It was chaos. Being a nice guy did not have much effect.
So, in frustration, I just decided to screw the nice guy attitude and told the team to take a lap as punishment. They looked at me in disbelief, and I chased them toward the far fences. They got back, huffing and gasping, and I made it clear that we were gonna do laps every time they got out of hand. And I stuck to it, too.
Was I being cruel? Nope. I was treating them as ballplayers. And, to my astonishment, they loved it. I dont think too many adults in their lives had set down boundaries before. These kids were, for the most part, treated as losers, and acted like it.
Out of nothing more than frustration, I had accidentally given them a taste of respect by demanding that they stop acting like losers. Even when, once the league started, we lost every single game in the first half of the season except the last one.
And Im not making this up: The last game of the first half was against the arrogant first-place team and we beat them by a run. Our joy was compounded by the humiliation of the jocks in the other dugout.
It got better, too. In the second half of the season, we won most of our games. It wasnt enough to win the league, as Hollywood would have done it, but the real victory was the change in the kids.
I never saw any of those kids again. I have no idea what became of any of them.Still, you take the little flashes of magic when you can. Those kids on the baseball team got to experience a few weeks of discipline and the attention of two adults who no matter how scroungy and off-beat we looked refused to let them wallow in victimhood. Who knows what curves life threw them after that. Maybe we had no lasting impact at all?
Or maybe we did
When I reflect on the people who were forces of change in my life, its clear that major turning points often come as small moments. A casual comment, a fleeting extra lesson, a simple nudge of acceptance.
As adults, as business owners and marketers, we tend to believe we have to be tough as nails all the time. Theres even more pressure to be a rock when you lead others. And its easy to forget just how fragile we are, as humans. We can be brought down by microscopic bugs, rendered destitute by events we never see, decked by the forces of nature, fortune and destiny.
And youre vulnerable no matter how rich, or strong, or important you are.But it works the other way, too.
The power of a short phone call, an unexpected letter, or a visit just for the hell of it with someone whos down can change history. Ive advised every writer Ive worked with to strive to be that one thing your prospect reads today that gets his blood moving.
And thats not bad advice for your personal life, either.
Be that one person who is willing to share a moment no matter how brief with someone who needs your attention. Unlike business transactions, there may not be instant results. You may never know what your actions accomplish. And, in truth, you shouldnt care. You dont reach out to others because there are rewards. You reach out because you can.
by: John Carlton
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