5 Ways to Be Most Valuable Player in a Spectator Sport

Tomorrow is Easter. If you celebrate, have a great day. If you don’t celebrate, have a great day. Just remember the day is about rebirth. It’s about tossing yourself into the game of life. People can call you a loser. They can shove you aside. Sometimes the best position to play is the spectator because sometimes you need to sit back and let the world bring the game to you. If that’s Left Field. So be it.

As I was growing up in Amarillo, Texas, Left Field was considered a place where crazy people went to toss out half-baked ideas.  It was a destination to avoid at all costs.

In the 1950s, Amarillo’s version of this haven for outcasts was past the zinc smelter, the stockyards and the Pantex bomb factory – all the major companies that fed the economy in this Center Field town.  All good baby boomers in Center Field were taught it doesn’t matter if we win or lose tossing around the ball of life.  What matters is how we play the game.

If that is the case, why are leftfielders viewed as losers?  Truth is capitalism has a way of turning life into a spectator sport when the two teams – the Haves and the Have Nots – are being chosen.  Because of the lineup, some people never get a turn to bat.

Left Field remains a destination that is not for the meek or mild.  But it doesn’t deserve the stigma.  I believe some folks are critical because their stability is shaken by our decision to be who we came to Earth to be instead of who others want us to be.  Out powerful critics may simply be viewing us from where they stand, sinking in the quicksand of society’s fear.

Meanwhile, economic greed digs division while painting Left Field as bleak.  To the collective mindset, Center Field is attractive because it is within spittin’ distance of home plate, restrooms and the line for hotdogs and beer.  Here are some ways you can spot the discrepancies and start playing to win.

1.       Stop Chasing Dangling Carrots and Start Growing Them

A centered mindset allows everything to flow harmoniously in a Right Field sort of way.  How can that happen when love appears to be hate, when peace shows up as terror and when uncertainty causes us to question our purpose and ignore our brilliance?  Just what can we do?

We can do anything.  People forget that and overcompensate.  They will do almost anything to get the carrot dangled by those in power.  Others believe what they have been told.  Conform and the carrots are yours.  The truth is you may have to resort to what you’ve always done – buy your own carrots.  In Left Field, we believe in enticing you to grow your own carrots.  Let’s cut out the middlemen.  We don’t need them to string us along so they can afford yachts.

2.      To Relieve Yourself or Not Relieve Yourself That Is the Question

If you’re working for Corporate America as a status quo slave, you must ask for permission to do such things as check out for lunch or go to the bathroom.  We aren’t questioning why we should take such jobs seriously.  But conformity can be time and money wasted because it deprives us of integrity.  In Left Field, we give ourselves permission to laugh, play and have fun.  We realize our job is to express our creativity.  Experiences are just sprinkles on our ice cream of existence.

In Left Field, we have a choice:  keep dreaming and hope dreams come true or try something new.  Just do it.  Breaking with tradition can create enough change to move us out of the status quo’s hamster wheel.  Just remember to take time to plan to do something you love just for you.

3.       Lead Them into Temptation to Deliver Yourselves from Evil

I’m having a blast encouraging you to buck systems and build better ones.  But I’m doing this more for my renegade heart than yours.  Truth is I’m developing a book that takes a new age approach to the age-old problem of ageism.  Listening to baby boomers whine about the status quo got old.  I needed to do something to give them courage to try something different. 

I also need a marketing platform.  I started this blog for the sole purpose of leading publishers into temptation by delivering them from the possible evil of buying someone else’s manuscript.  Being successful requires surrendering what no longer serves us so we can take back our personal power.  The status quo is about relinquishing power to people in control.  But they need us more than we require their solutions to problems we never had.

4.      Mathematical equations in Life Don’t Always Add Up

When it comes to politics, equality is the budgeted baby that gets pitched out with the bath water.  For example, the Los Angeles city charter establishes and funds 99 neighborhood councils, with each council being elected to represent about 40,000 residents. 

The former president of the NoHo Neighborhood Council, which serves a portion of North Hollywood, called me a bully when I demanded the group amend their bylaws.  The rules stipulated that council members abstain from voting when there was a conflict of interest.  The bylaws at that time also required abstentions to be recorded as yes votes.  Hey, Lyndon Baines Johnson was elected to the Texas Senate by dead voters who stuffed a ballot box.  I was just making sure that type of leadership stays out of California.

5.      Let’s Build Better Zombies

People like routine.  Some people believe they need it for structure.  They contend it gives them discipline to defeat that enemy called procrastination.  It also can stifle lasting change. 

It’s up to us to find resources to promote ourselves, our dreams and a sustainable lifestyle that values human intelligence more than artificial intelligence.

Contrary to public opinion, Left Field is the right place.  It is a place where we don’t need to catch your drift and you don’t need us to catch it.  All that is required is respect for ourselves and each other.