When You Come to a Fork in the Road, TAKE IT by Yogi Berra, with Dave Kaplan - Great for Educators & Parents - Page 2 of 6

When You Come to a Fork in the Road, TAKE IT by Yogi Berra, with Dave Kaplan – Great for Educators & Parents

Everybody has slumps. As Catfish Hunter use to say “The sun don’t shine on the same dog’s ass all the time.” To break a slump just keep the faith and keep working hard and hope your luck changes. I believe you develop good habits through practice. Bad habits can slip in through different things like injury, carelessness, fatigue, and worry. More than anything, you have to have a good frame of mind.

Any marriage is a trust. It’s a foundation on which a family is built. Yogi has lived this since his marriage to Carm in 1949. He felt like he was king of the hill then and still does.

Yogi said this in spring training one year when someone asked him his hat size. You can’t do much about the way you’re built. God determines that. But conditioning can go a long way in helping your performance and your confidence. You have to take your health seriously. Sometimes you lose sight of what’s happening to your body because of stress or work. I am more obsessive about food than Jenny Craig. Anyway, I like the way my cap size fits now. (Dr. Doug: There is no excuse for not being fit. Take a walk or do something daily. Also, pay attention to what you eat. A teacher or principal eating a doughnut sends the wrong message.)

Yogi mentions speeches by Lou Gehrig (I’m the luckiest man on the face of the earth), Babe Ruth (The only real game is baseball.), and Joe DiMaggio (I want to thank the good lord for making me a Yankee.) He advises that if you have to make a speech, make it from the heart without a script. When acknowledging the crowd at a dinner in his honor Yogi said “I want to thank everyone who made this night necessary.”

To do any job you have to be prepared. You can learn by doing but you can also learn by learning. Yogi tells of Bill Dickey who helped him learn how to catch and awaken pride in himself. Everyone should have a mentor. You can always learn from someone else’s experience.

Most important, you need good talent. (Doug: The most important thing a leader does is find good talent and nurture it.) You need to be encouraging and reassuring even when someone fails. Everyone has a bad day. The idea is not to dwell on it.