TAKE AN UNCOMMON APPROACH
You ever watch someone perform and can’t help but recognize that they’re just…different? Like, there’s a unique energy they bring, a unique connection they create, and a unique way they compete. People like that seem almost destined to win. Throughout this baseball postseason, that’s how it felt watching the Milwaukee Brewers. Not surprisingly, they finished off a historic run of postseason success this week, and in doing so captured the franchise’s first ever World Series title.
In his postgame interview, Brewers manager Pat Murphy was asked to reflect on the journey that led his team to their championship moment, and he highlighted it all starts with having the kind of players and people who were willing to take the road less traveled. His message from the beginning of the season was simple. “I just feel like you got the right mix (of guys),” Murphy said. “You got the right mix that decided that they wanted to be uncommon. We talked about that. You have to have an uncommon mindset. Not common to the game, you know…different.”
We talk regularly here about the winning mindset, choices, and behaviors that set those we consider champions apart, and the mindset, choices, and behaviors that make them worthy of the winning outcome they’re after. Pat Murphy and the Milwaukee Brewers provide yet another example of what a unique and uncommon approach looks like, and where it can take you. Stop and consider what “uncommon” looks like, not only for a Major League Baseball player chasing a World Series title, but for you and your winning pursuit, too…
*Showing up today tired and distracted is common. Showing up focused and energized is uncommon.
*Doing the bare minimum to get by is common. Going above and beyond the minimum is uncommon.
*Blaming, complaining, and making excuses is common. Taking more ownership and more responsibility is uncommon.
*Falling apart when things get tough is common. Digging in and responding with some toughness in that moment is uncommon.
*Focusing on what you think you deserve or are entitled to is common. A commitment to serving the needs of others is uncommon.
*Coasting because you think no one is watching is common. Giving your best - even when no one’s watching - is uncommon.
*Bailing on your commitments when it gets uncomfortable or inconvenient is common. Doing what you said you were gonna do - despite the discomfort or inconvenience - is uncommon.
*Wanting to win is common. Doing what winning requires is uncommon.
I’m not sure where exactly it is that you want to win, or what exactly you’ve got in front of you today, but I do know that for you - like for each one of us - there are two options for how you choose to approach it. You can of course do what most people do. You can take the easy way out and settle for something less than your best. Or you can choose to take the road less traveled, what you might call the way of the champion. You can choose, like Pat Murphy and the MIlwaukee Brewers did this season, to take an uncommon approach.
That decision might get you noticed. People like that, after all, are just…different. There’s a unique energy they bring, a unique connection they create, and a unique way they compete. And while it might seem to those watching that people like that are just destined to win, you’ll know it’s not by luck or by accident that they set themselves apart. Just like you, it’s simply what they’ve chosen.