“Don’t Think, It Only Hurts the Ballclub.”

60. “Don’t think, it only hurts the ballclub.”

Let’s set the scene. In the 1988 classic movie Bull Durham the character Crash Davis played by Kevin Costner is acquired by a minor league baseball team (The Durham Bulls) to groom a hot new prospect into becoming a major leaguer. His assignment, Ebby “Nuke” LaLoosh, has a million dollar arm but a five cent head. Nuke continues to sabotage himself by always over analyzing everything and in doing so constantly making a disaster of his situation. Realizing this, Crash offers him some words of advice, “Don’t think, it only hurts the ballclub.”

We all know people who rehash everything over and over to try and make sure they have covered every possibility and outcome. They ask everyone for their advice on the situation and then pose other possible scenarios for you to respond to. They run every possibility out to its full outcome, buying books on the subject and doing their research on the internet. Setting up pros and cons outlines for every decision they need to make, thereby limiting the probability of making the wrong choice. Then what do they end up doing the majority of the time? They have over thought the situation so badly they make the wrong decision or no decision at all. You also know right off the bat if you are a person who falls into this dilemma.

If you find yourself in this manic mentality, my suggestion is to just stop over thinking everything and simply start letting things happen. You also need to understand that if you make a mistake, it is part of the process of success and that the most successful people fail the most as well. When you stop over thinking and just start doing, you achieve that state known as “the zone.” Athletes know this mental state all too well, because when you are in it you can do no wrong. You are running on automatic pilot. When you ask people how they achieved a particular win in this state, they will tell you they have no idea, they were just “in the zone.” So if you are one of these people who over thinks things to the point that no one will even discuss it with you, use this Tool and don’t think, cuz you’re only hurtin’ the ballclub.