After 11 years of mediocrity and failure, the Philadelphia Phillies finally made it into the playoffs. Not only did they make it in, but they’ve DOMINATED in the first three rounds. Now, they’re going to compete for a 2022 World Series title! This makes me (Nick), a life-long Phillies phan, VERY excited!
Watching this team go through the ups and downs all season long has taught me MANY different life and business lessons, and I wanted to share some of them with you.
LESSON 1: It doesn’t matter if you barely make it to your destination. What matters is that you make it there!
If it were last season where there were only two Wild Card spots available, the Phillies wouldn’t have made it to this year’s playoffs. But, with the addition of a third wild card spot, the Phillies made it in! They suffered devastating losses all along the way, and the Brewers almost took them out of the last playoff spot. It wasn’t until three days before the season ended that the Phils officially made it in!
When you’re aiming to achieve a specific result in your life or business, even if you’re battered and bruised while crossing the finishing line, be proud that you still made it! What counts is that you pushed through the adversity, absorbed the gut punches, kept growing, and continued moving forward!
LESSON 2: Believe in yourself!
Whenever a player experienced a slump, they knew that it would eventually end. When interviewed, they all said pretty much the same thing. “I know I’m in a slump, but I’ll come out of it. Slumps are common in baseball. I just have to keep doing what I know to do, and it will work out.”
In other words, they believed in themselves and their talents. They’ve shown in the past that they can play at a high level, and they accept that a slump is going to happen now-and-then. They knew that they would eventually snap out of it and produce again. They just needed to stick to what got them where they are.
BELIEVE IN YOURSELF! Just because you made a mistake doesn’t mean that your career is done or that your business is going to shut down. You’ve gotten this far! Push through the adversity, trust in your talents or your ability to learn, and keep moving!
LESSON 3: Believe in your teammates!
In several interviews, when the Phillies were down in the game, players talked about how they all believed in each other, encouraged each other in the dugout, kept the energy going, and upheld the belief that, at any moment, they could come back and win the game. They believed in each other and picked each other up, even when the outcome looked grim.
Are members of your team struggling? Is someone not delivering on their responsibilities? Rally around them! Instead of writing them off, calling them lazy, or saying that they’re incompetent, why not talk to them and see if you can help them? Ask them if everything is ok. Reiterate that you believe in their skills. Remind them that they are a very important to the company or project. Ask if there’s something you can do to help them. Be a servant leader.
Demonstrating to someone that you believe in them can change the entire game!
LESSON 4: Own your mistakes
After Alec Bohm made three errors in the game on April 11th against the Mets, he was caught muttering a phrase along the lines of “I hate this f*** place.” As you can imagine, Phillies fans didn’t appreciate that.
The next day, he apologized, played better, and Phillies fans cheered him on. That’s Philly for you!
When you make a mistake, own it! Don’t try to pass it off. Take responsibility, do what needs to be done to remedy the situation, apologize to those that were affected by it, and move on.
When you take responsibility for your mistakes, your employees and co-workers will appreciate the honesty, and everyone can move on with a sound mind. Even if there is still a bit of fallout afterwards, honesty is always the best policy!
LESSON 5: To be the best, you’ll need to BEAT the best
The Phillies lost their season series with the Atlanta Braves, eleven games to eight, and were even shutout in Atlanta in the second-to-last series matchup of the season. The outlook wasn’t good for the Phillies going into their playoff matchup with the Braves. And, as we saw, the Phillies dominated that playoff series and won, three games to one. In fact, they won in pretty convincing fashion!
Going into the World Series, the Houston Astros are heavy favorites to win it all… just the way the Phillies want it to be!
They know that, to win it all, they need to beat the best teams! They’re all alpha competitors who WANT to beat the best.
If your business is going to take off, and you want to compete in your space on a local, regional, national, and even international stage, you’re going to be up against some major competitors.
That shouldn’t scare you, though. They all started in the same place you did.
Stay consistent, grow your skills, make mistakes, grow some more, and learn be ok with the fact that you’re facing some giants! If you’re going to achieve the scale you want to achieve, you’re going to need to be better than the best!
LESSON 6: Risk is part of the game!
From deadline trades that gave up significant prospects like Logan O’Hoppe for players who looked great defensively but seemed to have little offensive ability like Brandon Marsh and Edmundo Sosa, the Phillies took some RISK this year… but those risks paid off.
Brandon Marsh was hitting .226 with the Angels but ended up hitting .288 for the Phillies in the regular season. He was great defensively, but giving up a top prospect for someone with a .226 average was RISKY. But, they saw something in him and thought they could help his bat come alive. Now they have a CF who could deliver offensively for years to come.
Edmundo Sosa was even worse than Marsh with a .189 BA with the St Louis Cardinals, but he hit .315 with the Phillies. That was not expected, but he delivered great hitting AND great defense. Multiple times, he saved the game.
Both were risky trades that paid off handsomely.
No matter the current state or stage of your business, risk is going to be involved. Honestly, even just STARTING your business is a risk, so congratulations on assuming risk already! To scale your business will take some scary and risky decisions, but those are the decisions that can shape the future.
Risk is the entry fee for ANY business to succeed.
LESSON 7: How it happened yesterday has no effect on how it happens today.
With a lineup of power hitting superstars, you’d assume the Phillies would be #1 in the league in home runs. They did VERY well, but they were 6th overall in the rankings.
In some games, they MASHED the ball.
In some games, they won by playing small ball.
The point is that they found a way to win, even if it wasn’t the same way all season.
You’re inevitably going to face obstacles, but they aren’t the end of your business.
Find a way to win!
LESSON 8: HAVE FUN!
When you look in the dugout, all you’ll see are a bunch of players who not only want to win but are having fun winning.
Compare how the Phillies celebrated their wild card wins to the Padres. The Phillies were ecstatic, and the Padres seemed… unimpressed… with their win against the Mets.
Watch the Phillies all throughout the playoffs, and you can see that they’re enjoying EVERY moment they can. This is a fun team to watch because THEY’RE having fun!
In the end, even though owning, running, or working for, a business can cause some VERY unpleasant moments, (we’re going through some right now), finding a way to win AND have fun is one of the keys to enjoying the journey.
Learn to enjoy the process.
Grow through the failures.
Surround yourself with people you truly would love to spend time with!
Find the small wins and celebrate them.
Whatever you need to do, try your best to have fun!
CONCLUSIONS:
First, GO PHILLIES!
Second, pay attention to everything that's around you. You can probably learn a lesson from something that seems insignificant in the world.
Third, WE'RE ROOTING FOR YOU!!!
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