Building Accountability With Mantras
“I am responsible for all of it.” Every skill category ends the same way, and that's not an accident.
We use first-person statements, "I" and not "you", so a player is stating a fact about themselves, not receiving an instruction.
Every category, from baserunning to responding to failure, closes on some version of "I am responsible for all of it." That's the whole mantra, "I WILL DO IT RIGHT!", broken down into every phase of the game.
01
The words we use
- Responsible
- To respond with ability.
- Respectful
- To give respect.
- Resourceful
- Figure it out.
- Habit
- Something you do consistently.
- Routine
- A series of habits or a process.
- FTP
- Fundamental thought process: the way my mind is set before an action, and/or how it responds after one.
- Mindset
- How I set my mind to respond.
02
Basic human movements
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02
03
04
05
03
Before practice
Repeated three times.
- I have three responsibilities: have fun (requires a lot of smiling), do my absolute best, and be the best teammate I can be every single day (this includes being a son and a brother).
- I am only concerned with my effort, not my results.
- I will always work to be the captain of myself first, then the captain of my team.
- If I give my best, every time, I'm always winning.
- I will always lift my teammates up.
- I control my attitude. My attitude is my best friend or my worst enemy. I get to choose.
- I am responsible for all of it.
04
Form running
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02
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05
Baserunning
- I always run as hard as I possibly can.
- I will steal every base in the world.
- I always slide when it's a close play.
- I will always look to take the next base.
- I don't get out on the base paths.
- I know how many outs there are, and I always show my coach.
- I am responsible for all of it.
06
Playing catch
- I catch everything.
- I do my flip drills.
- I hit my partner in the chest, every time.
- I get better with every throw.
- I can throw 50 times without dropping the ball.
- I am responsible for all of it.
07
Pitching
- I throw strikes.
- I focus on my fastball only.
- I grab the correct grip on every single throw.
- I'm getting better with every single throw.
- I am responsible for all of it.
08
Fielding
- I focus on my footwork.
- I will always get in a good fielding position.
- I am a wall.
09
Hitting
- I can hit anyone at any time.
- My bat is simply a tool. I can hit with anything.
- If I can reach it, I will smash it.
- If I like it, I will swing at the first pitch.
- It's better to swing at a bad pitch than to let a good pitch go by.
10
Communication
- I say the situation, in my mind and out loud.
- I always know where to go with the ball and what base to cover.
11
Responding to failure
- There is no failing, only producing a result.
- When I don't like my result, I always have a choice: discouraged or motivated?
- I'm a problem solver, not a moper.
- Use this.
11The mantra
Every skill category ends the same way.
Isaac Hess founded CageList after seven years of professional baseball and a coaching career of his own. These are the principles we share with every coach on the platform. They come from his academy, MADE Baseball, CageList's sister company. More of the story at isaachess.com.
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Related reading
The shorter sayings and glossary these mantras grew out of.