What baseball can teach us about personal finance.
Yesterday was opening day of the major league baseball season. My husband encourages me to watch baseball, saying that I would love it because it’s a game of statistics. His encouragement hasn’t worked yet, but he said something that fascinated me, especially because of a lot of the conversations I’ve had recently with clients. In his excitement and praise of baseball, he said, “baseball is a game of failure.”
Baseball is a game of failure.
In baseball, if you get three hits out of ten, that is great. Anywhere else in life, we’d say that is a failure. On an exam, getting three answers right out of ten would be a 30% - an F. Getting three pins knocked down when bowling is not very good. But in baseball, getting three hits out of ten is extraordinary. It all comes down to how you look at it.
With some of my clients, I’ve noticed that there are feelings of disappointment, inadequacy, and shame around what is happening with their finances. They might have been making incredible progress, and then suddenly, something happens that slows them down – perhaps a home repair, a car repair, or a medical bill. It feels like a big setback on the progress they are making.
In baseball, three hits, even if it’s only three out of ten, means that the team is heading towards winning. The players know the path to winning, and three hits is progress towards that goal. With my clients, they have a path to success and when they get set back, it can feel like they have lost momentum. However, just like with baseball, it’s important to put this into context. A setback, in the form of an unexpected house expense or medical bill is only a setback if it actually sets you back and you believe it has. All of my clients who have had an experience that feels like an obstacle haven’t actually been setback, they just didn’t make additional gains forward. Their situation wasn’t made worse. These things, hurdles, come up in everyday life. The beauty that I have seen with my clients lately is that they are prepared to handle them and they do with such grace. It’s progress forward, not a step back. They are still winning.
Like baseball, know the road to win. If something feels like a setback, pause and acknowledge the growth you’ve already made and the way you are able to the handle the challenge. Express gratitude for how far you have come. Be proud of yourself. Winning doesn’t have to be ten out of ten. Winning can be three steps forward on the correct path and knowing that you’re on that path.