Today is October 8 and the Navigate the Chaos question to consider is “How often are you improving your own corner of the universe?"
People who navigate the chaos like professional baseball player Sandy Koufax turned his life around by dedicating himself to improve his own corner of the universe. After many teams passed on Koufax in the 1955 MLB draft he eventually signed with the Brooklyn Dodgers.
The Pirates were impressed with Koufax but the son of GM Branch Rickey had seen Koufax get clobbered during a game in a minor league game and advised his father not to sign Koufax. Fortunately for Koufax, Jimmy Murphy of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle saw that exact same game in which Koufax got clobbered but told Al Campanis of the Dodgers that was impressed him the most was that, through Koufax was getting shelled, he did not give up and kept pitching with a blistered, bloody hand.
Six years after being signed by the Brooklyn Dodgers Koufax considered quitting baseball after going 8–13 in the 1960 season.
But in 1961, five things happened that caused one of the greatest turn arounds in sports history. First, he lost 20 pounds and got into the best shape of his life. Second, he worked with his pitching coach to improve his fast-ball. Third, he studied his statistics and realized he performed better when he got ahead of the batters. Fourth, he worked on improving his delivery when he had a man on base. Finally, he took just enough off of his fastball to improve his control.
The end result was that Koufax had one of the most remarkable periods of baseball history that lasted from 1962 to 1966. He had four no-hitters with the last one a perfect game. For five seasons in a row, Koufax led the National League in fewest runs and hits allowed per game. He retired at 30 years of age when he realized his injured arm could not take it anymore.
Author Aldous Huxley noted “There is only one corner of the universe you can be certain of improving, and that's your own self.”
Koufax improved his own corner of the universe. Are you?