I've been thinking a lot lately about two specific moments in my life. Two moments that I know now have completely changed my life for the better both personally and professionally. Two moments that would have never allowed me to cross paths with specific very important people.
They say that for many successful people it takes a certain amount of "luck." The book Outliers talks about this often. I had to stop reading that book. Mostly because I struggled accepting how important the book considered the "luck card" to be as if it was a needed component for success. I know how important luck can be in things. The two specific moments that I will talk about have their own style of luck involved. But I truly believe that we make our own luck. If we have some talent, and truly do whatever it takes, I believe that we can make anything happen. The "truly do whatever it takes" part is where most fall short.
The most successful people all seem different. They stray away from the norms that society and our peers want us to fall in. "Choices" are an illusion to them because the only choices they make are in line with the vision they have for themselves. I believe there are a lot of talented people in the world, but most allow themselves to be stuck in the group of the "norm." They can't avoid distractions. It's not only about the choices they say yes to, but more importantly what they aren't able to say no to. I want nothing to do with that group, because if I can stay out of that group, I'll clearly and more easily separate myself. By staying out of that group you start believing that luck is up to you, and that the life you want is simply your choice.
Here are the two moments that stick out to me:
1) Going to Madison College as a student-athlete. I wasn't recruited heavily out of high school. I loved baseball and thought I was a decent player. I wanted the opportunity to make something out of it. During my senior season I emailed the head coach at Madison. This is where I wanted to go. He emailed me back, came and watched me play, invited me to a workout, and offered me a preferred walk-on spot on the team as there was no scholarship money left. I committed on the spot. I did my homework and knew this is where I needed to be. The "investment" in myself was worth it. How much I learned in those two years as a player was asinine.
Fast forward several years later, I just finished up my only season as a hitting coach at Minnesota Duluth. We just had a great year losing in a regional. Second in the country in home runs, third in the country in batting average. I get a call from my old head coach at Madison asking if I would like to come home and be a part of the WolfPack again. Like as a player, I was hoping to get that opportunity again. When I started asking baseball people I trusted what I should do (stay at Duluth, or go back to Madison), almost all of them said stay in Duluth. I didn't listen. I was very calculated, and I knew that if I wanted to become the coach I envisioned myself being, I needed to be back at the program where I learned so much as a player. The head coach there is phenomenal, Mike Davenport. In my opinion he is one of the best baseball minds in the midwest, if not the country. I wanted to learn from him again. So I went back to Madison College and continued my journey.
Without getting long-winded I am telling you that I am not with the Colorado Rockies without making that choice to go back to Madison that summer. Also by going to Madison I met some people that have changed my life completely. Weird to think that these people would not be a part of my life if I didn't make that choice. Even crazier to think that I would not have had the opportunity to go back and coach at Madison if I never made the choice to play there in the first place. I’m so thankful that Coach Davenport opened and read that email I sent him when I was a senior in high school. Some might call that "luck."
2) COVID shutting everything down. Nobody in there right mind could have seen this one coming. We heard the rumors, they were saying it was bad, the scare tactics on the news just seemed like normal practice. But then Rudy Gobert tested positive, and the world truly got flipped on top of itself. I will never forget that confusing day. I just started my professional coaching career, and two weeks in I was sent home. We all thought we would be back...we are still waiting.
When I got home it then became a "what is the silver lining in all this" thought? "What good can become of this?" It started with a phone call with a former player, Nick Gile, who too was asking himself the same questions. Circumstance is what you make of it, and we decided that we wouldn't let COVID stop us from doing what we love most, or stop the growth we both desired. Safely of course, we developed a plan, and we got to work. He wanted to improve his game, and I wanted to move forward with some new ideas that were fresh and exciting. This partnership turned out to be one of the most powerful experiences for both of us. Nick has transformed himself and is ready for a big year, and I feel like I have completely changed what I am capable of doing as a coach in just this one year. A year that many claim to be "the worst year ever." For me and Nick, it actually became "one of the most powerful years ever." If COVID never happened, this opportunity and all that came out of it would have never happened. In a way, that also feels "lucky."
Is there some luck involved with the great things that happen in our lives, of course. But the great things that we make of our lives is a choice. It's about how we approach our lives daily. It's our vision of what we want to become. It's the choices we make, or more importantly it’s the choices we say no to. Coach Davenport would have never had a chance to open the email I sent him as a senior in high school if I never sent it. I didn't know it then, but that single email changed my life. 2020 would not seem like the most impactful year of my life if COVID never happened. COVID allowed life to slow down and gave me the opportunity to make specific choices of what I wanted to pursue, how I wanted to spend the time. A horrible pandemic changed my life, for the better, because of the choices that were made in the face of it.
So don't tell me success is solely about luck and luck alone. That seems lazy and too simplistic. Circumstance is what we make of it, better yet, "life is what you make of it," and I will always believe that it is about our choices. These choices have the power to create our own luck. These choices have the power to create the lives we want.
This is a great time of year to have some reflection. My hope is that everybody can be introspective and realize some of the same things I have. That a few moments in your life have turned out to be game-changers for the better, even if you didn't realize it fully back then.
Just know that we always have a choice. It's always up to us. Most importantly, it just takes what it takes.
Merry Christmas to everybody. The best is always ahead.
-Burm
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