Life is like a batting average!

The summer of 2010 I had a great experience watching as my son began his coaching career. He was coaching his oldest son, Parker, in the ways of baseball. Technically it was T-Ball, which is very different from baseball.
True, in T-Ball there are all the elements of baseball. There are bats, balls, bases, gloves, unruly fans, aka parents, and a chance to play in the outdoors on a team.
Different in that everybody gets to swing at the ball on the T. Everyone gets to run the bases, no one gets called out. And no one really knows what is going on, except for those unruly fans,  In the end, the most important lesson is what “after game treat” was brought to share among the team members.
I share this as the World Series of 2010 is in mid-stream. The San Francisco Giants and the Texas Rangers are playing the best-of-seven to see who gets to claim the title “World Champion.” Texas has never been to the Series, and San Francisco hasn’t won a Championship since 1964.
I share this information to lead up to a thought I came across in the writings of Og Mandino, a great philosophical author on the elements of success. He wrote a series of “Worlds Greatest Salesman” and introduce scrolls, which read often, would help anyone interested in rising above mediocrity to find the inner fortitude to do so. I was introduced to them while serving as a missionary for my church, back in the 70’s.
Today, I struggle with the elements that create success, and how it is defined. I also struggle to remember that one of the elements of creating success is that there is a ratio of contacts to sales that is true in every business. This quote comes from The University of Og Mandino.

Success has the intrinsic character of a batting average. It is not all of a piece, not every hour nor every day is uniformly successful. Rather, there are upturns in success separated by valleys of failure. I successful television producer, responsible for turning out an intensely complex and difficult program every day remarked.
“I’d go crazy if I tried to judge every day’s performance against an absolute standard of perfection. All I try for is a good batting average. I know very well that sometimes I’ going to foul out, but so long as I get my share of singles and doubles, perhaps an occasional home run, I don’t mind the inevitable errors or strikeouts.”
So, too, a successful life will have its days or even years of failure. These are not blights upon such a life, but merely the inevitable failings which bear testimony to the fact that success isn’t easy.

Success is not anything like T-Ball. You do not hit each inning. You do get thrown out, and sometimes you even strike out “looking.” If you are going to put the ratios to work, you must at least “go down swinging.”

A Second Chance

I received a call from a friend of a friend, who was interested in learning more about my business. I had never met Troy in my life. My life was about to add another story,
I met Troy for lunch and, as is my nature, asked him to share his story with me. This, in brief, is some of what I learned.
Tory had been in the advertiging business, selling penny per/household coupons. As we talked, I knew of his business, and we shared names of printers that we had both used in our past. He was quite successful and had a wonderful business model, with little competition. He was in print, radio and television. He owned several Corvettes, a large home, had six figures in the bank, and was on a roll. He loved fast cars. He had a "Kit Ferrari" custom built. He believed he was on top of the world and had no need for God nor his religion. He could do it all on his own.
In fact, he had approached his church leaders to remove his name from their records. Hasta la vista!
He says God had other plans. As he left the church building, and before he arrived home, he had crashed his fancy Corvette If you know anything about this car, it is pretty-much fiberglass on wheels. He was in a coma that lasted around 30 days.
When came to, he had lost parts of his vision, mobility, abilities, and more. It wasn't all of what he lost, but the road from there shows the extent of his losses. He quickly realized he may have "had it all" but in reality, the bank owned most of it. That, in a nutshell should describe where his life has gone.
Today he is a humble man, working his way out of debt, out of a horrible situation. As part of his "second chance"at life, he was asked out-of-the-blue to participate in a movie shoot for the LDS Church. He had no acting background, and they liked that. It was his look that they loved. He has now actually had several photo shoots, articles in newspapers, featuring his likeness and radio interviews announcing the that LDS Church is looking for people who have the appereance of "middle-east ancestry" for future movies about the New Testament.
He is very grateful that God gave him a second chance. I learned to quickly love this man, his journey, and his story. He plays a roll that in someways very much is true to life. In his darkest hours, those who could help, those he trusted turned. The good Samritan was there by his side. And remains there today, in his heart
Wonderful story.
Follow this llink to read more about the film and to watch the 5-minute clipl
http://new.lds.org/church/news/lds-motion-picture-studio-seeks-actors-for-new-testament-project?lang=eng

Meeting A President's Challenge

It was November, 1976, and I was about to leave Minnesota and fly home to Salt Lake City. I had just about completed my church mission. All that I had left was the interview with the mission president.
I had the privilege of serving with President Douglas Callister. He was a young, dynamic individual. Still in his early 30’s he had served his church as a Bishop and a Stake President. He was the grandson of the very well loved Apostle LeGrande Richards. He was something special. He had taught me more lessons that I could share in a brief blog
*He introduced me to the scrolls of “The Greatest Salesman In The World,” written by Og Mandino. Each scroll encouraged me to seek more than who I was.
*He taught me that people rise to your expectations. He told the story of a regional church leader that expected 100% attendance at all regional meetings. It wasn’t long until he got it. When his turn was over, another regional leader remarked, you are a good region, there is no reason why we shouldn’t have 80% attendance at these meetings. It was the next meeting when he got his results.
*He taught me to love the “Parables of James E. Talmage“. An early Apostle, Talmage had written “parables” for a church magazine. They had been later compiled into a book. I asked him about these parables, and he said they were from a book that was no longer in print. Hadn’t been published for a while. I was discouraged. As a student at Dixie College, I walked into the Dixie Drug, which had all the items a drug store sells, as well as a book section, and you can appreciate my joy as I found a single copy of this wonderful treasure.
*He taught me many other lessons. Some of them stuck and, sadly, many of them didn’t. I do remember that the final challenge in my exit interview was “The next time we meet, before you say anything, show me your temple recommend.”
Well, our paths have never crossed until this past week. I don’t attend reunions, afraid of being judged -- I don’t remember names -- I … you name it, I have the excuses lined up for miles. I never expected to see him again, in person.
He now serves as a member of the First Quorum of 70.  It was Saturday night and I had decided to attend a session in the LDS Temple in Salt Lake. He was standing at a door, watching as we filed in. I took the chance, shook his hand and said “You don’t remember me, but I was one of your missionaries.”
It was then I recalled his challenge, and was grateful that I didn’t need to show him my recommend, it had allowed me in, to see him.