Hello my awesome readers. It’s been about 6 weeks since a post and that’s mainly because I’m full go into baseball season and I’m trying to get my book done and to the printer.

I do, however, have something for you to read today (are you JACKED or what?)

The only thing is it’s on another blog BUT I wrote it. Don’t over think it and just go with it

Dean Somerset was gracious enough to put one of my articles on his site and since Dean’s a pretty smart dude I think it’s pretty cool.

Anyways, here is the link to my article on Dean’s blog and I hope you enjoy.

http://deansomerset.com/2012/05/02/why-motivation-is-dangerous/

Search for excellence,

Dan Grant
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A commercial created in 1997 that never aired. Actually, it did air but without Steve Jobs speaking.

Are you a crazy one?

Strive for perfection,

DG
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I may just have to start having a blog post theme called: Conversations with Players because we can genuinely have some pretty good talks sometimes. Like yesterday behind the batting cage. I had just thrown batting practice  and another coach had come in to throw round two.

One of the guys was obviously frustrated about his swing and when he came over to watch another player swing I made the comment that only the wisest of wise could make…”So…you look frustrated.”

After a series of simple questions and some answers the conversation ended by revolving around the theme of development and the actual work it takes to get where you want to go.

I talked about my first year in college and how I only hit one home run and had to develop through experience and maturity to become more of a power type guy later on in college. It just doesn’t happen overnight. If it did everybody would do and “it wouldn’t be fun to try” as the player put it. You have to not only learn the fundamentals first but you have to master them…that’s just the facts.

I want to be a Division I head coach and as much as I want that to happen tomorrow it’s not going to. I have to put the time in and work my ass off to learn the craft and develop my philosophy. Here’s another tip I like and it’s from Zig Ziglar. He says you don’t “pay the price” for success you “enjoy the price” for success and I agree. If you’re doing something you love and want to be the absolute best at it then you are definitely “enjoying the price” for success no matter how tough or hard it may seem at that very moment.

Trust me, there have already been plenty of battles and insecurities when it comes to my internal thoughts about coaching in general, the team, and my future in the business. But at the end of the day I know I’ve done the best I could that day at teaching and learning and even if I come home mad as hell about something such as the team’s effort or a player’s attitude I’m very much so enjoying the fact that I have the opportunity to even have those issues.

So if you’re going after a goal that you really want then you have to understand that development is necessary and what you want is probably not just going to happen tomorrow. It takes work and dedication. It’s the attitude you bring to the field that day (or your workplace, etc.). If you’re frustrated you can’t let it get in the way of your opportunity to get better TODAY. If you think you’ve finally got it, you know everything, and you can now coast then you are going to be crashing and burning before you know it…nobody ever knows everything.

Strive to be the best and take the ups and downs as they come…just never let them stop you from reaching your own personal greatness.

Strive for perfection,

DG
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So it’s been a little bit since my last post…mainly because we are now full go into baseball season. The last couple weekends we’ve been on the bus traveling down to Washington to play a few colleges. So far we have started with a 1-3 record. We were actually supposed to play up to 10 games down there so far but the weather has definitely not been in our favor.

This past weekend after playing in Yakima, WA we were supposed to drive up to Skagit Valley to play but a snow storm in Washington cancelled those games as we were headed up there. So we had no choice but to head back to Nanaimo…or so we thought.

It all started relatively normal until we ended up dead stopped on the highway in the mountains with hundreds of cars stopped ahead of us and the snow coming down pretty hard. We eventually found out that there was a SIXTY car pile up two miles ahead and we were now stuck there. We didn’t move for three hours and once we did and saw some of the wreckage it was a pretty incredible sight to see all these cars…some absolutely crushed. The good news is that nobody was killed and there were only a few minor injuries. How…I don’t know.

At this point, though, we knew that we couldn’t make it back to Nanaimo that night because it’s on an island and the last ferry ride for the night would be long gone by the time we got there. So we got to Everett, WA at about 11pm and piled into rooms and walked across to the 24/7 Denny’s where after a long wait for food…probably because 30 people just walked in we were in the hotel room and trying to get a little rest by 1am.

At 6am the alarm rang and we ate a quick continental breakfast and were on the bus at 7am ready to get to the border and make the 10:30am ferry so we could finally get home…well…not so fast.

There was an damaging windstorm yesterday and all ferries were cancelled until 3pm at the earliest. So us coaches found a local restaurant and sat there for about 3 hours and then made our way to the terminal to wait there for another hour and a half until we finally found out that we would actually travelling back. We made it back at 5pm.

On Sunday night as we got into Everett, WA for our quick pit stop I had a thought and kind of just threw it out to a player near by. I said, “This is what it’s all about.” After a not so enthused look I decided to explain.

“This is what makes us special and unique…we are doing something not very many people do. I mean, we could all of just had a weekend where we go out Saturday night with friends and then we go to bed tonight knowing that we are going to the same job we’ve been going to for the last 5 years. Or in your case, you’d be partying all weekend and then you’d just go to class Monday like everybody else…that’s normal…we aren’t normal.”

I take baseball very seriously…it’s more then a game to me…and that’s why I’m back. I make very little income and I’m always thinking about what could make the players better and even though I didn’t necessarily want to be stuck on a bus in the middle of Washington in a snow storm for 3 hours and then stuck at the ferry terminal most of the day Monday it all kind of made sense to me.

This is why I’m back. I missed the game, I missed the travel, I missed the players. There’s no more Monday to Friday for me. I get to be around baseball every day…doesn’t matter what the day is. I don’t start work on Monday and pray for Friday to come.

It was a long weekend. We lost both games, but I learned some things…and hopefully the players did too. It was fun though and an experience that I know for a fact that a lot of people would have rather been doing…then doing what they always have been doing on their Saturday, Sunday, and Monday’s.

Strive for perfection,

DG

What if the ‘eat an apple a day’ theory was true?

What if reading one hour a day prevented any risk of dementia or Alzheimer’s?

What if only thirty minutes of fairly vigorous exercise a day literally vanished all chances of illness and disease?

It would be pretty easy to make the time to do all of those things wouldn’t it? I mean, if you could prevent mental illness with just one hour of reading a day that night’s show of American Idol suddenly seems a tad less important, doesn’t it?

Here’s the thing, however. Generally what’s easy TO DO is also easy NOT TO DO.

It’s pretty easy to find some reading time, but it’s also pretty easy to put it aside for another day because your favorite movie is on television for the hundredth time. It’s pretty easy to get a good exercise session in, however, it’s also easy to say you’re just ‘not feeling it today’.

That piece of fruit could be staring you right in the face but that chocolate chip cookie in the jar sounds a lot tastier at the current moment.

It’s the same for almost everything.

Water or diet Coke?
“One more set” or “that’s good enough for today”?
“I’m too tired to get out of bed” or “time to work”?

The list can go on and on. The decisions, however, can make lasting impacts.

I’ve gone through a couple periods when it was very easy for me to say no to working out. Either because it was a long day of training or because something on my body was nagging me a bit from a past injury. I would happen to find a little time in the day when a workout would do me wonders but I decided that I really needed a rest instead. So instead of 4-5 workouts a week I’d get anywhere from 1-3…and they weren’t anything to write home about.

After a while I started noticing I was getting a bit weaker and little skinnier (I wasn’t going for weight loss). It was from just a few errors in judgement that I gradually started paying the price for them. I didn’t feel as good as I used too, it was horrible, but it was easy to continue to play the victim and continue to tell myself that, “I am working long days” and “need to take a break anytime I can get it.”

The decisions we make between ultimate health and a slow gradual destruction are from fairly easy decisions. You just have to be smart and realize what role your current decisions are playing on your future. I remember Jim Rohn once saying, “What if somebody got it mixed up and thought it was a Hershey bar a day, keeps the doctor away? You gotta be smarter in your philosophy.”

A few decisions in judgment repeated everyday can be the difference between a happy and healthy future or a disastrous constant battle with sickness.

Strive for perfection,

DG

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