Anyways, number five, having fun
is one of the greatest competitive advantages there is.
“You can be serious and give something you're all”
and have fun at the same time. It is very, very, very possible. That's why those are two standards. It's the two standards that I learned from the Los Angeles Dodgers that I now apply
into my life and with my teams and with my athletes. Try your hardest, give your best effort and have fun because you can be serious and give something you're all and go all in and care super deeply about it and have fun at the same time.
Here's a quote from the Olympics. That's what I'm fucking talking about. That was so much fun. Those are the first words, figure skater, Alyssa Lue uttered after a combat gold medal performance.
Intensity and joy can coexist. It's very possible. Now there is a fine line in sports between having fun and joking around
“and I think young athletes have to find that line”
and they'll learn, right? They'll learn over time.
But it's never, it's never that serious.
It is just sports. You hear all the greatest athletes in the world. Aaron Judge said it recently, right? It's like, I get to play a little kids game for a living. Fucking awesome.
You get to play a little kids game for a living. So why is Aaron Judge having so much fun? And now that the kids in you sports eight, nine, 10, 11, 12 have so much pressure on them that they want to quit the sport.
That's not what we should be doing, right? Intensity and joy can coexist. Improvement and fun can coexist. I can't want to get really, really, really good at something while also having fun at the same time.
Now it's everything always fun all the time.
No, when I was in college baseball, like the six-hour practice we had going over fun defense, that wasn't necessarily fun. It was kind of a grind. And there are grinds that are part of the sport.
There are sacrifices you have to make. But if you don't, like when you eventually get to play in the game or be with your friends or build great relationships, if that part doesn't seem super fun and super fulfilling, you might be doing the wrong thing.
“And so that's why it's important to understand”
that you can be serious, very serious and care deeply about something and give something you're all, try your fucking hardest. That's the cornerstone of life. And also have fun doing it, right? Intensity and joy can coexist.
That's really important. Alyssa Liu from the Olympics really exemplified that in the most recent Olympics where they're come back gold medal. And so I think that's really important,
especially for our young athletes and our young people who want to be serious about something, who want to care about something, who want to make an impact in the world or whatever, you can also have fun doing that at the same time because you get a build, great relationships.
You get to become the person you want to become. You get to see yourself grow and build self-respect and all these things. And all at the same time you're doing something that you enjoy should really be fun.
Try your hardest, have fun, two standards. Let's make it really simple. Patreon is the home of our exclusive community where we do bonus episodes, live streams, Q&As, and merge discounts, and so much more.
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