The bare minimum.

One of the many life lessons I learned were taught to me by my little league baseball coach, Earle Kukahiko.

Back in the 90’s, (best decade ever) they didn’t hand out participation trophies just for signing up. You actually had to earn one. Not every kid was a winner and if your kid had no talent, they wouldn’t play.

Kids had to ‘try out’ to get on a team. Not good enough? See you next year!

I loved baseball but I couldn’t believe how much work we put in. You would think we were training at major league levels. I quickly learned that without 100% dedication and focus, you will not reach your goal.

Discipline, consistency, hard work.

I remember Coach yelling, “you think I’m teaching you about baseball, no! I’m teaching you about life!”

Something else that stuck out to me over the years was going the extra mile.

For the Red Sox, basic requirements were to show up to practice everyday and work hard. That was the minimum standard we had in little league just to get a chance to play in the games. Playing in the game was our paycheck.

Your talent level was a factor, but equally important was how much work you put in that week. Did you just put in the bare minimum or did you go the extra mile?

The extra mile was staying late after practice, working on drills on your own time, researching techniques or getting info about the game to understand it better, coming in early before practice to help set up and be ready to go, or training your fellow teammate on something they were struggling with.

All of those things were absolutely not a requirement to be on the team or even play in the game but guess who noticed the most? That’s right. Coach Earle. The guy who decided who will play in the games and for how many innings.

This is a fact of life. If you are consistently going the extra mile, people will notice.

Fast forward about 15 years.

When I got into excavation, I was all about it. I sacrificed a lot to learn everything I could as fast as possible.

How did I trick my boss into letting me advance so quickly?

One of the many things I did was to prove that I was fully invested by putting my money where my mouth is.

I bought all my own tools. I bought my own work truck and outfitted it with a custom fuel transfer tank. I bought a Nextel phone cause that’s what my supervisors were using. I brought huge sets of plans home to learn how to read them.

What message do you think that sent to my boss?

It said that I was committed. That I was a valuable asset worth keeping and paying more money. I was worth investing in to teach and give opportunities to grow.

You get out of life what you put into it. If you only put in the bare minimum, expect bare minimum results.

** side note.

As everyone knows, little league coaches don’t get paid anything for their time. For years, Coach Earle and a handful of other men put in 5 days a week for 2 hours plus half a day on Saturdays game.

They spent their own money on equipment, gas and other expenses.

Every coach trained every kid like they were their own but none invested more than Coach Earle.

Some 30 years later, I got to pay him back by doing some work for him at his house.

I told him how much those 4 years of little league shaped my life and how I remember all of the lessons.

I could see his face swell up with pride. He was damn proud of me and knew that his dedication had paid off.

Love you coach!

#staytrue