Hey there :)

47 games in 122 days.

Usually, 8-year old spring baseball lasts 8 weeks.

This summer, for us?

Not so much :)

Instead, my son (and my family) went on a WILD ride, all the way to the Cal Ripken League 8U World Series last week.

It's been amazing, and fun, and anxiety-inducing, and a scheduling puzzle, and HOT, and exhausting, and basically all the things all at once.

In the end, my son and his friends came in 3rd - and they were thrilled. to. bits with the outcome.

For kids who didn't even know there WAS a World Series to play in, it was a pretty wild end.

Now that we've been done with baseball for a few days, I keep thinking about the take-aways - what did we learn? What did he learn? What did I learn? (you can take the teacher out of the classroom but not the teacher out of the baseball mom, ha!)

And there are a few take aways that I think are worth sharing, because they mean something in more than just the land of kids' sports.

So here goes...

First, it ALWAYS gets figured out. The schedule, the time, the work, the life, the how, the plan, the way forward - it ALWAYS works out. Even when it seems absolutely impossible, even when it's like 'holy shit, I have NO IDEA how I'm going to do this', it gets figured out.

I have said 'Okay, well...we'll just figure it out' more times than I could possibly count this summer and I've only actually believed it about 50% of the time.

And yet? We always DID figure it out. No matter how crazy it got. We're still here, we're more than okay, and we're better for the experience.

Why does this matter for you?

Well. Right now there is something you're feeling like is NOT going to get figured out - the schedule, the time, the work, the life, the how, the plan, the way forward - and I'm here to remind you that it WILL get figured out, and you can ALLOW it to do so. Sometimes just remembering to trust the process is good enough.

Second, humans come before goals.

My son was lucky to have some AMAZING humans as coaches this season. Amazing. Everything you want your kid to have in a coach and then some.

And what MADE them amazing was this - they never, not once, put the goal before the human.

The WINNING never, ever came at the cost of the kids, their growth, their development, their safety, their well being. Not ever.

Were the expectations high? God yes. Were the kids held to high standards? Absolutely. Were they challenged? Yup. Was it uncomfortable for them (and the parents)? Hell yes.

But the expectations and the standards were ALL about the kids as PEOPLE - growing human beings - and NOT about winning.

And as a result? They WON a LOT.

Why does this matter for you?

Because as business owners we are taught to put our goals at the front and sacrifice ourselves as people - whatever it takes - to get them.

And that, friends? That's BULLSHIT.

Humans come before goals.

WHEN you prioritize the HUMAN - you - achieving the goals gets EASIER.

It feels weird, right? How can it be that prioritizing yourself OVER your goals gets you there faster? With more ease?

Here's the thing - when the HUMAN is taken care of the rest of the things around the human work better.

Ask yourself - how are you putting the goal before the human right now? What IF you switched the order? What would change?

(and as a business owner who has had to make this switch myself over the last two years I can tell you from first-hand experience that this human-first approach changes EVERYTHING for the better. I see it in my clients too...)

Third, and finally... coaching matters.

I'm not even sure what else to say about it, really.

The truth is that coaching matters. A lot.

Without the coaching he had this season, none of the things my son accomplished would have been available.

As a team, they were successful faster, with more fun, and with more learning WITH good coaching than they EVER would have been otherwise.

Having this coaching made a difference.

Period.

Why does this matter for you?

Well. Because sometimes we tell ourselves coaching is nice to have. Somehow it's needed for athletes but not for us. We tell ourselves we SHOULD be able to do this on our own. We tell ourselves it's too much money, there's not enough time, it can't make that much difference. We question if it will 'work'.

I have said and done ALL of these things myself, I get it.

And yet, what I also know is that when I have coaching, I grow more, more easily, with less stress, and more success.

Hindsight being 20/20 and all, here's what I know about coaching from the inside out.

Being coached doesn't TAKE time, it SAVES time - because I am clearer about my goals, I'm less likely to fall into rabbit holes the size of a small country, and I know what matters.

Being coached doesn't TAKE money, it MAKES money - because I am more focused, I'm taking better care of the human (me), and I am less likely to get in my own way because I'm being coached.

And yeah, being coached IS nice to have. I get to CHOOSE it and the help it comes with. Can I do this growing thing on my own? Sure. But really, I don't want to. Growing is more effective WITH help - why NOT choose that?

So I choose coaching (and get the money and time benefits which don't hurt...).

If you're thinking about coaching and NOT choosing it - why not, really? What if you'd be better WITH it than without it?

What IF things could be easier, more effective, faster, and more successful WITH it?

And that's that for today.

Much love,

Sara

PS. If you're thinking about coaching AND thinking about coaching with me, I'm ready for you.

I have room for YOU today if you are ready to choose coaching.

You can work with me 1:1 (book a time to talk here), or you can join my small group that will run starting in October (book a time to talk here). If you're interested and have questions, just hit reply - I'm a person, I respond :).

Human-first coaching creates success on the field, and in your business.

That's what we do here.

Come get what YOU need.