Life is a lot like baseball.
You have winning streaks and losing streaks, and, often times, it changes all too quickly. You never know when it will happen. Its luck, it’s skill, its will, and well, (for me) it’s mostly luck.
Sometimes, it’s just a hot date. Sometimes, it’s a great week at work, but whatever it is (like any positive thing), you want to keep your hot streaks going as long as possible. You want to be like Joe DiMaggio. You want to make your own luck. That said, I tell this short tale not to brag, for there is nothing to brag about, but to relate.
2016 was a rough year for a lot of folks, but for me (on a deeply personal level), it was one of the most brutal years in a long, long time. The worst since my first year at The University of Oklahoma (to be exact), and I hit bottom probably around May. Not rock bottom, per say, but I’d say somewhere between a big leader hitting below 200 and a freshly trampled bull rider.
Like both of those athletes, I somehow made it out, and I started an unbelievable hot streak in early December. The second week of December, I drummed up a 3.5 GPA. I saw excellent football games, drank the best, most magnificent beers and spirits while spending almost a week in New Orleans to close out 2016. I had a vacation date, followed by another when I got home. Like I said... when you’re hot, you’re hot, and you want to keep it going.
So the question is now: How do you go from a five-game hitting streak to being Joe DiMaggio?
After experiencing over a year, long losing streak, all I have to say is this – milk it, embrace it, and enjoy it. Don’t take a winning streak for granted. Grab life by the balls, by the huevos. A streak is a streak, after all, and anyone who’s experienced the downward spiral knows adversity comes in hotter than a 95mph cut fastball.
Like a good hunt, a great game, or an exciting race, now is the time to push for more. Step outside your comfort zone. Work out at 7:00 AM. Have a hot date per week until something sticks. Push to close on everything you want. Push back on everything and everyone until you get what it is you want.
The elation of constantly winning is unbeatable. Win so much you have to say, “Well, I’m the best there is. Plain and simple. When I wake up in the morning, I piss excellence.” (I'm kidding. Don’t burst a blood vessel).
Regardless, maintain your momentum, and get everything you possibly can before the metaphorical "cold winter", when you have to hide and hibernate and binge on pizza and wings and try your best not to bottom out when the next rough patch comes to pass.
