Slow Down to Speed Up...

While watching the Indians/Red Sox series I heard Eric Wedge, the Indians' manager, speak about how the great performers in baseball "slow down the game." Now I'm not a professional baseball player but I think I know what Wedge was talking about.

So many times in sports and in business we get so caught up in the stress and angst of our activities that the game - or the business - starts to get away from us. Wedge advises his players to focus on each pitch, each at-bat, each ball that comes their way and not worry about what happened in the past or what might happen in the future. He tells the players to go into each game with a plan and then focus on executing that plan. And that's true in business as well.

Business owners should take care of business by focusing first on creating a plan for success and then execute the plan - 'planning the work and working the plan.' When we do that the game of business slows down and yet the results come faster; in other words, we "slow down to speed up."

Slow your game down; create a plan for your success and then follow the plan in order to achieve the results you want - only faster.

Unfortunately the sign held up by the fan won't happen for the Tribe in 2007...