Do you know how hard it is to do things? Any things…
How about juggling? When’s the last time you tried to juggle?
How about dunking a basketball?
How about drawing a horse?
How about making a good cup of coffee?
How about going to Uganda to be a nurse for the summer?
How about writing a book?
How about playing the piano? Or signing solo in front of a large crowd?
How about starting a business?
How about raising kids?
Do you know how hard it is?
Major league baseball players, in my opinion, have to do the hardest thing there is to do in sports. Hit a baseball being thrown over 90 miles per hour from 60 feet away. If the pitcher misses his target by 2 feet, you could get killed and the ball isn’t going straight all the time…it moves around!
Singers maybe have one of the hardest things to do in general and that is get up in front of a strange crowd and sing…and deal with all the haters and criticism that can come from that.
But baseball players have a margin of error. Do you know that if a baseball players fails 70% of the time, he will be in the hall of fame?! He could strike out 7 times out of 10 and then just get a single the other 3 times and he will be one of the best ever! Hitting .300 is so hard to do in a career that there are books written about it. “The Art of Hitting .300” for example. Do it, and you’re in the hall of fame.
In my life I often wondered if I would make the “hall of fame”. When I was younger I actually tried to make a major league baseball team. I still think I could have done well if given the chance. But God obviously protected me…because I have lived most of my life trying to make it. And I don’t mean baseball. I have given myself very little margin of error. I have pressured myself to the point of exhaustion. I have surrounded myself with people that also need me to not fail. It wasn’t that long ago that I “let myself up off the mat”. I decided that I don’t need or frankly even want to be in the hall of fame of life.
But while I have given myself the freedom to not be perfect, to recognize that I’m “good enough”, I still crave something I wish I didn’t.
I crave understanding.
I wish people knew how hard it was to live with pain. I wish people knew how hard it was to start a business. I wish people knew how hard it was to hit a 5 iron. I wish people knew how hard it was to…fill in the blank.
Sounds kind of weak to say it out loud…I know. But I don’t care.
Justin Beiber came out with a song recently and I think it’s called “Lonely”. And essentially what I believe it is saying is that he just wants someone to understand. He doesn’t want a pass on bad decisions or an excuse. But he does want to be understood.
I remember one time I went to a high rise in New York and we were meeting with a potential investor. George Soros family office. I could not believe the arrogance of the guy we met. It was crazy…almost surreal. And they wanted to invest. My partner was lamenting and criticizing etc. And frankly, it was hard not to. But towards the end I remember saying…”If people came to me all day every day asking for money and treating me as if I was the answer to their problems, I’m not so sure I wouldn’t think more of myself than I ought as well”.
I wonder if anyone else wants to be understood. I’m pretty sure everyone does. Most ignore the desire because it’s rare for people to step outside themselves and ask someone else a question that sounds something like this… “what’s it like?”
Many fans look at their favorite baseball player (or pick a sport) and when they strike out with the bases loaded we moan and groan. We lament their failure as if they failed us. I do it all the time during TCU football season.
But you know what…what they do is hard. What we all do is hard. It’s hard to hit a baseball or kick a football. It’s hard to make a free throw. It’s hard to make a putt. It’s hard to make the right decision in business that helps jobs versus the ones that hurt business and loses jobs. It’s hard to be President. It’s hard to be a vaccine maker. It’s hard to perfect a mocha. It’s hard to teach a class. It’s hard to fix roofs. It’s hard to install a sink. It’s hard what you do…and I’m sorry I haven’t taken more time to understand how hard it is so that when you fail, I’m more patient and understanding.
Understanding = Healing
30% is the hall of fame…what you do is hard…
Brint's Blog 
Hey bro, this is really good. Like, you playing baseball good. I’ve found that leaders tend to be less critical of other leaders, because we all know that leadership is hard. Those who are most critical are often themselves not leaders.
I think it was George Burns who said, “We’ve got several people who know how to solve all the world’s problems; the problem is that they’re all driving taxis in New York City.”
Doing it… hard.
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