With the Confidence of Babe Ruth

Confidence, like happiness, is mostly an inside job. One can, however instill confidence in an insecure person.

From time to time, when a new air staff member started at a station, I’d be given the duty of training them. If I saw they were hesitant, I’d stay close by to encourage them to the point that they felt somewhat confident.

The biggest problem most new hires had is the fear of screwing things up – especially stumbling over their words. If I saw this, I’d ask them if they’d ever heard of Babe Ruth.

Most said ‘yes’ and I’d continue by asking, “Do you think he was the home run king of his day?”

The response would usually be something like: “Yeah.”

“Would you be surprise to know that Ruth struck out seven of 10 times he was up to bat?” I’d continue.

“That is surprising,” was often the response.

“So, if you look at his stats,” I’d say, “then apply them to yourself by doing the math, which in this case would be speaking about 10 times in two hours, and say you flubbed up twice each hour – you’d still be doing better than Babe Ruth’s life time batting average.”

I loved seeing that ‘light bulb’ pop on.