Batting average is a trap
Baseball is not an accurate representation of life.
In baseball, batting average matters because the outcome of the game is directly related to the percentage of times each batter gets on base.
But in life, we’re not keeping track of how many times you get up to bat, or how many times you strike out.
We’re keeping track of the impact you make.
If you’re working on a project that needs just one funder, one publisher, one partner, it doesn’t matter how many other people didn’t like your idea.
And there’s no extra credit (zero) for getting a ‘yes’ from the first person you ask.
Of course, it’s foolish to spam the world, to make yourself a glutton for “no”, to hustle and hassle and learn nothing from all the feedback you’ve gotten. Sooner or later, you’ll use up your welcome and run out of at bats.
But that’s an extreme, and it’s probably not your challenge.
The challenge is to find the resolve to bring your work to someone who will benefit from it. To learn from what doesn’t work and then to do the work again.
For the right project, one in a hundred is as good as Ted Williams.
[Hat tip to medical researcher and scholar Dr. Jonathan Sackner-Bernstein. His work saves lives.]