20 Lessons and Advice from Major League Baseball Players

Quick Reminder:

This Wednesday at 4:00 PM (Mountain Standard Time), I’m hosting a free, live webinar on the mental game where I’ll draw from what I’ve learned working in Major League Baseball and across different sports and competitive levels.

If you coach or lead performers, I’d love for you to join us and/or feel free to share the registration link below with anyone you think might be interested.

Please complete and submit the following registration link to confirm your spot (Registration Link).

Once you complete the registration, you’ll be added to the distribution list and I’ll send follow-up details and reminders (including the Zoom link) as we get closer to January 14th.

Advice from Major League Baseball Players

Today’s note is a little different than my normal format.

Over the past couple of months, a number of you have shared that you’ve appreciated (and would like more) personal stories and direct reflections from my experiences working alongside elite athletes and coaches at the highest levels of sport. So I’m going to slowly start to sprinkle in more of these stories, reflections, and conversations that I’ve acquired within this email newsletter.

A couple of days ago, I was flipping through the Notes app on my phone and trying to organize my thoughts for my upcoming free webinar and I came across something I’d written years ago. It was a simple note I created after asking a group of Major League Baseball players one question.

“What advice would you give to a Rookie just starting their professional career?”

What you’ll read below is a compilation of their responses (unedited besides some grammatical adjustments).

1. Good hitters make adjustments game-to-game. Great hitters make adjustments at-bat to at-bat. Elite hitters make adjustments pitch-to-pitch.

2. You're playing the long game. One of the best things you can do is maintain perspective of the big picture, especially amidst struggles and slumps.

3. Every day you have to define and be clear on your process. Then you have to re-commit to that process over and over to get you one step closer to your goal.

4. It's never as good or as bad as it seems.

5. The only way to get consistent results is to be disciplined and consistent in your preparation. Consistent inputs will produce consistent outputs.

6. The days or reps you take off eventually become visible.

7. Don't let others dictate how you feel. Every time this happens you give away your power.

8. Throughout my minor league career I heard how hard and tough the competition would be in the Big Leagues. The reality is it is hard, but you don't have to be perfect. My career took off when I quit trying to be perfect and changed my relationship with failure.

9. Identify what you do well and your strengths as quickly as you can along with who you are as a player. Be careful not to obsess over weaknesses at the expense of what makes you great.

10. Enjoy it and play the child's game. There's more freedom and less tension when you quit grinding.

11. Be open-minded with everyone, but it's key that you develop a healthy filter too. Sometimes you'll have to be your own best coach.

12. Fucking compete. Every single day.

13. This is a "do it" league. You can't just talk about it.

14. Failure will be part of the process. How you respond to and learn from it will determine your success.

15. Strive for progress, not perfection.

16. No one is ordained to be in the Big Leagues. You have to earn getting here and you have to earn staying here.

17. No one's voice matters more than your own. You have to be develop a strong "Inner Coach" while others try to feed your "Inner Critic."

18. Your career will be a series of "Todays" stacked together. Each one matters. The most important day of your career is today because it's the only one you have control over. And tomorrow (and so on) the same idea will apply.

19. Becoming a Big Leaguer is a product of belief and habits. Both compound over time so be mindful of what you're allowing to influence both.

20. This is your career. Take ownership of it. The person who needs you to be accountable the most is your future self.

My Reflections:

What has always stood out to me about lessons like these is how simple (but not easy) they are. There are no magic secrets here. No tricks or shortcuts. There’s no silver bullet when it comes to one’s mindset or becoming the best in your chosen craft.

One of the biggest bottlenecks in mental performance work isn’t a lack of information. It’s the gap between knowing and doing. Knowledge does not automatically translate to application. Insight alone doesn’t change behavior. What matters is whether something actually gets lived, practiced, and revisited over time.

That’s why I appreciate this list so much. The mental game, when it’s at its best, isn’t generic or prescriptive, it’s personalized. Each of us brings a unique lens to how we learn, how we interpret coaching, and how we navigate our careers and lives. Some of these lessons may immediately resonate with you. Some may not and that’s okay.

In my experience, many of the most valuable insights don’t land the first time we hear them. They often surface later when context changes, when responsibility increases, or when we’ve lived enough to truly understand them. That’s part of the process. Growth has a way of retroactively giving meaning to words we once skimmed past.

I wanted to share this note today because for some of you (or perhaps more importantly, for the people you serve) there may be one reminder in here that fits the moment you’re (or they’re) in right now. One idea that reframes a challenge. One sentence that helps close the gap between intention and action.

If that’s the case, feel free to share it forward.

And over time, I’m looking forward to continuing to peel back the curtain on more of these conversations and what I’ve learned from working alongside some of the best performers in the world.

Thanks for the continued support,
ZB