Learning life's lessons from the greats of baseball

I usually like to use quotes from Yogi Barra, if I’m using a baseball quote in a blog post; but today I saw one from another baseball great that struck a chord with me – “Never let the fear of striking out get in your way.” - Babe Ruth

Babe Ruth was the best home run hitter of his era, and most other eras for that matter; however, he was also the strike out king of his time, too. Ruth was always swinging for the fences. He once commented that he probably could have been a .600 hitter had he been willing to settle for “boring little singles.”

Now baseball purists might argue that those boring little singles, when strung together in the right ways, are what really wins most ball games – and they would be right. We can’t all hit home runs every time and sometimes you have to be happy with the little singles that are paying the monthly bills, if you can string them together.  At the same time, it’s important to take Ruth’s advice about not letting the fear of striking out keep you for swinging for the home runs.

Another Ruth quote also applies to life and real estate sales – “You just can't beat the person who never gives up.” I have found that to be true in life and in real estate. Persistence is one of the necessary traits for success in real estate and in life. Many times hanging in there with a difficult client or persisting after you’ve lost the listing first round pays off.  

Finally, when we do get those rare home runs, we cannot rest on our laurels. Each day in real estate sale is like a new baseball game; and as Ruth also said – “Yesterday’s home runs don't win today's games.” It is all too easy and unfortunately all too common for sales people to have a letdown after a big win or, maybe better put, a slowdown that is really just basking in the prolonged afterglow of a big success. Like any other distraction that takes your eye off the ball and your daily routine, this pause to enjoy will come back to haunt you.

So the Babe’s advice might be summed up as - never give up and never stop trying out of fear of failure and always be ready to do the whole thing over again today.

Now, I just can’t end without adding this piece of wisdom from the Yogi-mister about how to stay honest with your clients – “If you ask me anything I don't know, I'm not going to answer.” If all Realtors® just followed that advice from Yogi Berra, instead of trying to appear to be knowledgeable by blowing smoke at their clients, we would all be the better for it.