Free To Fail

Hi friends! Wanna know something I learned this week?

It’s a story about how Babe Ruth was able to grow from a rookie pitcher with no game time to one of baseball’s most celebrated batters, who’s records lasted for almost half a century.

Babe Ruth loved to practice 🧢

When he joined the Boston Red Sox in 1914 - as a pitcher - he got to practice every day. But it wasn't just pitching practice he was doing, it was batting.

When Ruth insisted on taking batting practice despite being both a rookie who did not play regularly, and a pitcher, he arrived to find his bats sawn in half.

Despite the resentment of the veterans around him, he kept practicing.

Source: Wiki

Swing and a miss 🤷‍♀️

Ty Cobb (a fellow Hall Of Famer) argues that being a pitcher helped the Babe become one of baseball's most celebrated hitters.

How so? Because he could "experiment at the plate".

“No one cares much if a pitcher strikes out or looks bad at bat, so Ruth could take that big swing. If he missed, it didn’t matter".

Babe Ruth was free to fail.

Source: Mindset by Carol Dweck

Step up to the plate 🙋

Lately I've been feeling like I'm about to step up to the plate for the first time. I feel like a rookie. I'm terrified someone's going to saw my bats in half or boo me off the field!

But here's the thing. Everything I'm doing — everything I ever do — is just practice. It's an experiment. So while it can feel like there's an awful lot of pressure to get things right, to know my stuff, to knock it out of the park, I want to remind myself that there's nothing amiss if I miss.

I want to take big swings. To learn out loud in front of a crowd. And if I fumble, I want to be happy to take the knock and learn.

I want to be free to fail.

Thanks for stopping by 🌝

Keep an eye out on mondays (mostly) for some more nosh for your noodles.

In the meantime, here is…