OBSTACLES MAKE ME STRONGER (OMMS)
Let’s start this blog with a statement that should not surprise you. No matter who you are, and what you choose to do in your life, you are going to face obstacles. Not shocking stuff right?
No doubt you’ve experienced obstacles yourself, have seen them thrown in front of your friends and family, and heard about obstacles faced and overcome by successful people in general. So how does developing a process for overcoming obstacles contribute to success?
Take a minute and think about how you handle obstacles. Do you make a plan of attack? Seek advice? Try to avoid them or become paralyzed by indecision? I’m willing to bet that during your lifetime you’ve probably handled obstacles in a number of different ways. Some have worked out and others maybe less so.
Let’s talk about those times that you were faced with a problem that you were afraid to take head on out of fear or indecision. How did you *feel* about the obstacle in front of you? For anyone, especially young players, it can be easy to let your emotions get the better of you and start to feel down on yourself.
The most difficult thing to do here is resist that (natural) urge. If you begin to see obstacles as opportunities to learn and become better, you’ll have a much easier time pushing aside the negative thoughts and emotions and you’ll be able to get down to the business of learning and growing. This is what we call a Win or Learn mindset.
Once you begin to shift your mindset away from seeing every obstacle as some insurmountable wall or feeling like failing will be the absolute end of the world, you can begin to develop the habit of analyzing each obstacle that you come across and learn to overcome it in the future.
Use the challenges that are put in your path to learn and grow, and you will be able to create a virtuous cycle where the next challenge is something that can be taken as a lesson and help you move forward and spiral up into the best version of you, on and off the field.
Let’s take a look at a few examples:
You worked all year getting ready for the baseball season and during your training you suffer an injury that will force you be out for most of the year. For any player, this could feel devastating and it would be very easy to get down on yourself.
However, if you remember OMMS (Obstacles Make Me Stronger), you can shift your mindset from a place of mental negativity to using it as fuel for your comeback. Develop a plan to attack the time that you’ll be out with the injury to work on parts of your game that you’re still able to physically practice as well as leaning heavily into improving your mindset. If you do this, when it’s time to make your way back into the lineup, you’ll be *stronger* than when you went out with the injury in the first place!
I hope that you attack your work in the classroom as much as you do your work on the diamond, but because no one is perfect, I’m sure you can recall a time that you didn’t get the result you wanted on a test or school project. It can feel like a major letdown, especially if you put in a lot of effort and didn’t get the outcome that you wanted.
If you use the OMMS mindset, you can take steps to develop a system for studying that will help you score better on your tests, including things like seeking advice from your teacher and classmates, changing/improving the way you take notes, and revising your study schedule. The best part is, once you’ve developed these strategies, they can stay with you and will definitely help you moving forward!
All of us are going to experience obstacles in our lives, it’s how we internalize the process of learning that makes the difference. When you face an obstacle in your life, remember to approach it with a positive attitude and think of ways that you can overcome it. It will make you stronger in the long run!
Remember these four words: FALL. LEARN. RISE…STRONGER.
