Page 18 - 100 Ways to Motivate Yourself

“That’s just the problem,” I said. “We don’t know anybody who can pitch

that fast to us. That’s why, in the games, it’s so hard. The ball looks like an
aspirin coming in at 200 miles an hour.”

“I know we don’t know anyone who can throw a baseball that fast,” said
Rett. “But what if it wasn’t a baseball?”

“I don’t know what you mean,” I said.

Just then Rett pulled from his pocket a little plastic golf ball with holes in it.
The kind our dads used to hit in the backyard for golf practice.

“Get a bat,” Rett said.

I picked up a baseball bat and we walked out to the park near Rett’s house.
Rett went to the pitcher’s mound but came in about 3 feet closer than usual. As I
stood at the plate, he fired the little golf ball past me as I tried to swing at it.

“Ha ha!” Rett shouted. “That’s faster than anybody you’ll face in little
league! Let’s get going!”

We then took turns pitching to each other with this bizarre little ball

humming in at incredible speeds. The little plastic ball was not only hilariously
fast, but it curved and dropped more sharply than any little leaguer’s pitch could
do.

By the time Rett and I played our next league game, we were ready. The
pitches looked like they were coming in slow motion. Big white balloons. I hit
the first and only home run I ever hit after one of Rett’s sessions. It was off a
left-hander whose pitch seemed to hang in the air forever before I creamed it.

The lesson Rett taught me was one I’ve never forgotten. Whenever I’m
afraid of something coming up, I will find a way to do something that’s even
harder or scarier. Once I do the harder thing, the real thing becomes fun.

The great boxer Muhammad Ali used this principle in choosing his sparring
partners. He’d make sure that the sparring partners he worked with before a fight
were better than the boxer he was going up against in the real fight. They might
not always be better all-around, but he found sparring partners who were each
better in one certain way or another than his upcoming opponent. After facing
them, he knew going into each fight that he had already fought those skills and
won.