I don’t make new year’s resolutions. If something is worth doing, there’s no point in waiting for an arbitrary date. Waiting for a specific moment to do something to make yourself better is wasting the time leading up to that point. The whole idea of new year, new you is generally just an excuse for undisciplined people to feel good about themselves for a few weeks before falling back into their old habits.
What the beginning of the year can be, is a good time to re-assess what you’re doing with your life and career. You can pinpoint the things you’re doing to reach your goals and refocus your energy to make your plans more effective. Could you do this on any random day during the year? Of course, but having a single day that’s easy to remember every year, like the 1st day of the year, has its advantages. Here are the areas I plan to focus on this year.
Rededicate To The Blueprint: The very first article posted on SayTheDamnScore.com detailed the system I developed to improve as a play-by-play broadcaster. It involves practice reps, networking, self critiquing, and building my broadcast vocabulary. I followed the plan consistently for about two years, and during that time, I improved dramatically in every aspect of the broadcasting spectrum.
It was about this time last year that I got off track. Basketball season was in full swing, I was trying to adjust to married life, and I was spending time trying to plan my career move to Minnesota. Now that the move is complete, and I’m gaining a bit of stability in my personal and professional life, it’s time to get back to following the Blueprint!
While some people are carried to success by prodigious natural talent, I still believe deeply that athletes don’t become stars by playing games, musicians don’t become great by playing shows, and broadcasters don’t master the craft by calling live games. It’s getting practice reps in an empty gym, garage, or spare TV room that allows people to make the jump from good to great. I need to get back to basics and continue to outwork everyone with more natural broadcasting talent than myself in order to reach my goals.
Do Something Different: Part of my non-resolution planning involves evaluating what I’ve been doing to do things more efficiently. For example, when working on my blueprint drills, I’m going to wake up earlier in the morning instead of doing them in evening. In the past I was single and lived alone, so working late was never an issue. Now on nights without games, I want to spend my free evenings with my wife. As a result, I’m going to wake up earlier and become a better broadcaster by working on my skills during the morning.
Meet Decision Makers: I’ve been pretty successful building relationships with area broadcasters. I’ve had contact with most of the major pro and college broadcasters in the Twin Cities metro area. I’ve also gotten to know many up-and-coming sportscasters. Hopefully we can help each other out in the future.
The next step is to meet decision makers in the market. Frankly, they’re more difficult to track down than other broadcasters. Their names can be tricky to find, and their contact info is often even more elusive. However, with the relationships I’ve developed the past few months, they should be easier to track down.
I enjoy the job I currently have and want to keep it, but I still hope to do freelance work with a pro team, college team, or sports radio station. Whether that’s filling in as an update anchor, a pregame show segment, or something else unforeseen, it is pertinent that I continue to get a foot in as many doors as possible. The best way I know to do that is to continue to build networking relationships in 2019.
Read More: This last year, I read fewer books than I had in quite some time. With everything that’s happened this year, I’ve been extremely busy. But when it comes down to it, that’s just an excuse. It’s something that I need to make a priority.
Reading helps to gain knowledge and learn new skills. As a sportscaster, it helps to build vocabulary and gain a stronger mastery of language. Whether it’s fiction novels, biographies, or blogs; as the old NBA commercials say, reading is FUNdamental, and I’m going to do more of it in 2019.
Learn Patience: We all dream of becoming successful overnight. In the real world it rarely, if ever, happens that way. There are many nights where I go to bed frustrated that I seem to be running on a metaphorical hamster wheel. It doesn’t always feel like I’m making progress, but when I listen to my tape, it sounds better than it ever has before. I also know significantly more people in the sports radio business than I did previously. I just have to be patient, keep working, and be ready for opportunity when it comes.
What are you doing different this year in the past. Share your ideas in the comment section below!
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[…] week I wrote about refocusing on improving as a play-by-play broadcaster through regular focused practice. Finding ways to prevent tripping over the same stumbling blocks […]