by Oskar Johed, CrossFit Medis
“Everybody knows how to hit – but very few really do.”
I don’t know too much about baseball, but I know excellence when I see it.
Long before we became members of the Two-Brain family we were following Coop’s work. Just by implementing freely available tools and tricks, we increased our net profit with well over the $10.000 per year. We also slept better, served our members more professionally and felt happier. When we finally joined the Incubator the profit (and workload) increased in due fashion. The pattern was repeated when we joined the Growth Stage after examination from the Incubator. The collective wealth of knowledge in the group is quite staggering.
I started reading all the books that everyone was recommending; Purple Cow, Never Split the Difference, A Beautiful Constraint, Start with Why, The E-myth etc. Phenomenal books loaded with insights! However, I am not smart enough to discover something that another Two-Brain member had not already mentioned. If I want to challenge my own thinking as well as contribute I have to seek excellence and wisdom elsewhere.
“Excellence is obvious to everyone” – Coach Greg Glassman.
Baseball legend Ted Williams’ excellence is obvious. He explains in his book “The Science of Hitting” his methodical way to become one of the best hitters in baseball history.
In short, he divided the strike zone into 77 cells each the size of a baseball. He then calculated his batting average per cell. Swinging at pitches of his particular preference would yield 75 percent better than swings at balls in the worst part of the strike zone. His so-called “happy zone” – think heat map – consisted of 18 cells or about 23 percent of the strike zone
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He tried to be patient and only swing at balls in the happy zone.
Before joining Two-Brain we were “swinging” at anything and everything, regardless if the opportunity was in the strike zone or not, let alone our happy zone.
Ted Williams’ concept of the happy zone is amply applicable in Two-Brain’s preferred intake process – “The No Sweat Intro”. Instead of accepting every new person that wants to join us we sit down and discuss background, goals, values etc. Based on the conversation we make a recommendation from a Help first perspective, either at our facility or somewhere else.
Coach Greg Glassman has said something in the lines of “CrossFit is for everybody, but maybe not everyone.” I would like to add “and everywhere” at the end of that sentence.
For some, CrossFit might not be the methodology to get them to their goals – they are outside the strike zone. For some, CrossFit is the right methodology but our values doesn’t seem to align – they are in the strike zone but not in our happy zone.
Our happy zone is women, 35-50 years old with a university degree, working +45 hours/week and living close to our box. We try to be patient and wait for prospective clients that fit our “happy zone”. When they do, we swing.
“If there is such a thing as a science in sport, hitting a baseball is it. As with any science there are fundamentals, certain tenets of every good batter or batting coach could tell you. But it is not an exact science.”
Some of my favorite members doesn’t fit our happy zone. However, most do. Not everybody in the happy zone is a great fit for our gym. However, most are.
However, just like Ted writes in the book: “Only when the situation demands it should a hitter go for the low-percentage pitch.” If money is tight for instance, contributions from less-than ideal clients help pay the bills.
Do you know your happy zone or are you swinging at everything?
