My Dad’s 75th B Day would have been this weekend, so let’s take today to celebrate the dude that really got me into all of this life reflection, motivational bullshit anyways…Â
Without a doubt, my Dad was a student of life and failed several courses along the way. Like all of us, he was a flawed human that constantly struggled and worked to become a better version of himself on a daily basis.
Many kids grew up listening to oldies music or sports talk radio while in their father’s car… We listened to Tony Robbins.
When he was turning 40 and going after his 4th-degree black belt, I remember the endless hours of time we spent at the karate studio and also at home studying…
The amazing thing was that he always found a way to involve us in every one of his pursuits. Whether it was practicing his next Kenpo move or sharing the newest acquired Ed Parker nugget of wisdom, his accumulation of education and experience weren’t just individual pursuits, they were family ones.
Ironically, my Dad never played baseball and really didn’t know all that much about the sport…
To this day, legendary St. Francis coach Chris Bradford calls him the greatest parent he ever dealt with in his 40 years of coaching… His eternal optimistic attitude and willingness to admit what he didn’t know were the two things that separated him from the others.
Late in my career, I was with the Arizona Diamondbacks and coming off a season in which I tore my hamstring and shattered my hand… I was in a tough place physically and mentally. We played a Friday night game and I struck out 3 times and was literally getting booed by the hometown fans. Late in the game, there was a ball hit into the left-centerfield gap with the bases loaded and I was able to run it down in what turned out to be a game-saving grab.Â
It was a good catch that came at a big part of the game, but nothing spectacular by any means…
After the game, I walked out of the locker room, and to my surprise, my Dad had flown into town and was waiting for me with a big ass smile on his face…Â
“WHAT A CATCH!!!!”
Morally beaten down from my physical ailments and on-field struggles, I had already forgotten about the catch and couldn’t get the 3 strikeouts off my mind… Yet, to see my Dad standing there with that shit-eating grin so genuinely FIRED UP about a decent catch immediately changed my perspective.
I had always been my harshest critic and my Dad was always my biggest fan… As I grew into adulthood, I basically could do little wrong in his eyes. One of the many pieces of advice that he gave me when I became a parent was “make sure you catch your kids doing something RIGHT.”
When I heard that one, his parenting style all of a sudden made a lot more sense. Sure, there were times when I was disciplined as a kid, but the greatest gift he and my mom gave me was the freedom to fail and then never once dwell on those failures.Â
Failures were simply learning experiences and my parents were there to help me up every time while making sure the ultimate lesson learned was well entrenched and something we could use to help propel us FORWARD…
Because they didn’t dwell on my failures, neither did I. Â
Look, whether it is our focus on accumulating education and experience, our understanding that attitude and effort are the only two things within our control, or the fact that all of us need to continue to work on never taking our feelings too personally, Jim Byrnes’ life mantras dominate the core existence of the Daily Hustle, and I am forever grateful for my relationship with him as a father, friend, sensei and eternal teacher of life wisdom.Â
Let’s raise one up and pour some out for a dude that not only happens to be the most constant contributor to the Daily Hustle but in a lot of ways, he fucking created it. 🍷Â
-EB