"The 6th Tool: The Power in Perfection" Newsletter!

_{Welcome to "The 6th Tool: The Power in Perfection" Newsletter!} 

Hello friends,

It is with great excitement and passion that I introduce you to "The 6th Tool: The Power in Perfection” Newsletter. As the Founder and CEO of The U Developmental Facility, Director of Baseball Development, and a lifelong student of the health, career longevity, training, biomechanics and the game of baseball, it is to my pleasure to share everything I have learned throughout my career as a player, coach, teammate, leader, husband, and father. “The 6th Tool: The Power in Perfection” is a newsletter that will consistently work to deliver a “secret” that all “GREATS” have learned when it comes to being excellent or elite in their given career and lives. This 6th tool, which is “one’s pursuit in perfection” can be used in all aspects of life including: work, sport, relationships, marriage, family order, spiritual pursuit, daddy duties, mommy duties, and all other everyday tasks that we all deal with in today’s world.

As a retired professional athlete who devoted much of my life to master and perfect my craft in my given sport, I found myself lost, disorganized, and failing at life after baseball. At least, that was my perspective of what life had turned into for me. I pondered much of the time on how to correct my everyday habits that were affecting my everyday life negatively. Not until I pondered on the extraordinary depths of God’s Holy Catholic Church did it finally dong on me that there is something powerful in “striving for perfection”. Striving for perfection was something that was very familiar for me in sport, but it was definitely something that I had not put into practice in other areas of life. Somewhere in the fact that God created a Church with such extraordinary depths led me to see the power in the pursuit of perfection. It was apparent that no matter the level of knowledge, the level holiness, and the number of virtues, the limitless depth of The Church could not be totally grasped and attained, but only pursued. This revealed an impossible task of being the perfect Christian and loving God PERFECTLY. Many of us Christians understand that through God’s perfect love, we are not required to be perfect, for there have only been 2 perfect, sinless lives (Jesus and Mary).

Did this mean God did not want us to strive for perfection? Did this mean God settled for receiving a mediocre love from his creations? Would God have created a Church with limitless depths to motivate, inspire, and challenge the mediocre? Why did God create such a powerful “tool” (The Church) to lead and help a human to deep depths of holiness and intimacy with our Lord.

God did not intend for us to be perfect, but it is apparent his intentions were for us to seek a perfect love and intimacy with our Lord, all while knowing we could never perfect this. Somewhere it seems, God knew the power of “pursing perfection” and what that challenge or chase could do to us humans in becoming an excellent Christian. God understood growth. God created a church with such depth that it will leave the “perfectionist” chasing for eternity. Could this pursuit be the space in which excellence lies in all avenues of life?

Again, all this made sense to me when chasing excellence in sport. Growing up, I was always taught to chase the perfect rep in practice, over and over again. Athletes have an understanding that, this is where the achieving excellence lies. The “perfect practice” was the athletes secret in a consistent success in performance. A baseball player understands the unattainable goal of being a perfect baseball player or having a perfect performance. Much like God’s Church, someone had designed a game that couldn’t be perfected. Baseball, a game of consistent adjustments and a grueling consistency of adversity was never meant to be perfected, but that didn’t change the way you practiced and trained. That didn’t change your attention to detail. No great baseball player or athlete was ever “ok” with a mediocre practice or rep. We have all been in the space when training when we say “one more” seeking to finish on that “perfect” rep.

All avenues of life are much like the game of baseball and The Church. We can always be better husband, father, coach, leader, athlete, employee, CEO, Christian, etc. The understanding that perfection cannot be reached within these avenues can seem like a depressing reality to many, but allow me to give you a different perspective. The uneasiness and mental turmoil we receive is much of the time caused by mistakes and the reality of needing to “be better”. This is the fight that we must enter. Mediocrity is the accepting of not winning that fight. The people in history that we know to have done great things or achieved honorable tasks are the people who have chosen not to accept losing this pursuit, this pursuit to PERFECTION. Of course they did not become perfect, but the point is, they were not “ok” with anything less. Setting our sights to perfecting an avenue of our life may come with as uneasy journey, but in time excellence will be achieved. Many of those who cannot change a habit or correct a personal flaw are those that choose to accept the loss in the fight. To simplify, no real growth and change can happen in a individuals life without the pursuit of perfection. Perfection is the goal that inspires our growth and excellence. The Power of Perfection is the help that we individuals need to achieve excellence in the given avenue of life.

In "The 6th Tool," we'll explore a wide range of topics, from advanced hitting mechanics to infield footwork drills to the psychology of peak performance, but also many topics revolving around being excellent in every avenue of our lives. We must enter the fight if we wish to achieve our given goals. God designed his Church to be an endless pursuit of perfecting our love for our Lord. We must design our lives to being an endless pursuit of perfecting ourselves. I pray God guides this newsletter with the wisdom that can help many others and create of community of excellence in which we all have a duty and role in being a part of. I pray this newsletter becomes a place where players, coaches, parents, employees, business owners, team members, and Christians, can come together to share insights, ask questions, and support one another on our quest for EXCELLENCE.

Here's to unlocking the power of perfection together!

Best,

Blake Trahan

Founder & CEO, The U Development Facility.