Much in life is outside of our control. As a Major League Baseball player, I learned the importance of taking charge of areas within my control. Small adjustments can have major impacts.

Baseball is a game of centimeters. Let’s look at a recent example.

Jordan Zimmermann tossed the Washington Nationals’ first no-hitter on Sunday. Steven Souza Jr., brought in during the late innings as a defensive replacement, made a tremendous catch, laying out, fully extended, to preserve the no hitter and 1-0 victory. If Souza travels an inch less, is slow to his jump by a millisecond, or allows his head to bounce violently as he runs, the ball drops, Zim gives up a hit, and the Marlins conceivably end up tying the score.

Souza was called upon theoretically cold and asked to shine. He responded admirably, and was able to do so because he was at his peak, mentally and physically. For a baseball player, a game and at times a career hang in the balance. The playoffs are here. Games will be won or lost based on an outfielder’s vertical leap, the flexibility of a first baseman or the endurance of a pitcher’s mind. For you, it may be workplace success, academic prowess or a personal record with the weight bar. When you’re called upon, will you have taken the steps necessary to dazzle?

We cannot control when those moments will come or the circumstances when they do. We can and should control how we prepare and care for ourselves.

In baseball, everybody warms up, right? Wrong. There is a famous anecdote about Ken Griffey Jr. that circulated in nearly every team stretch I took part in. As one teammate decided to slack off during team warm-ups, another would inevitably bring up a story where Griff says to another man, “Ever see a cheetah warm up before catching his prey?”

Cue club laughter. Griff was a physical freak. Like everyone but him, I can remember days when I neglected to warm up properly and was stiff for an at bat or two. I have no doubt that I prepared as adequately as anyone to be ready to play, but I could have been better.

No one has a perfect plan for well-being, and we aren’t robots. The small choices we make, like whether to properly warm up, have major impacts at the end of the day. From a study, Effects of warming-up on physical performance: a systematic review with meta-analysis:

Thirty-two studies, all of high quality (6.5-9 [mean = 7.6] of 10) reported sufficient data (quality score >6) on the effects of warming-up on performance improvement. Warm-up was shown to improve performance in 79% of the criterions examined. This analysis has shown that performance improvements can be demonstrated after completion of adequate warm-up activities…

This isn’t about Kenny Griff , and it’s not about warming up. It’s about making an impact at the margins. What if Derek Jeter was a step slow the day of the famous cutoff? Imagine Pedro Martinez’s arm being slightly better conditioned in game 7 of the 2003 ALCS. The course of history is changed by the minutest details.

You may not be expecting to make a big presentation to your boss at work, but you’ll undeniably perform better if you’re not groggy at the office after a drink too many with dinner the night before. It is imperative to identify what we can control and devote our limited mental bandwidth to those high impact areas.

I know there are a few players reading this blog. Men, how important are these details to your career earnings and your club’s wins? Exactly.

Kap