The Golden Triangle of Progress

Os Guinness, in his book, Can Freedom Last Forever, discusses a principle called “The Golden Triangle of Freedom”. It goes something like this. Freedom requires Virtue. Virtue requires Faith. Faith requires Freedom. And on and on and on….

I’ll do the best I can to elaborate. Freedom is the enemy of freedom. Free people are free to do as they like and without a virtuous society, anarchy reigns and freedom can no longer exist.  And while atheists can certainly be virtuous, there is actually no good reason for them NOT TO BE VIRTUOUS either. It’s simply a matter of taste. Only faith (of some sort) provides a moral and virtuous framework from which you live your life. The last leg of the triangle is the most obvious. In order to practice your Faith, you need to be a free society.

Os Guinness has a series of podcasts where he discusses this issue. I highly recommend the listen.

http://www.rzim.org/just-thinking-broadcasts/can-freedom-last-forever-part-1-of-4/

Golden Triangle of Freedom

Let’s switch gears and talk about “The Golden Triangle of Progress”. Similar to freedom, progress is the enemy of progress. If you’re not convinced, I recommend the book, Good Is The Enemy of Great. Progress naturally leads to success which, if not checked, can lead to “resting on your laurels” and assuming you’re “good enough”. Good enough eventually allows everyone else to catch up.

The Golden Triangle of Progress goes like this. PROGRESS REQUIRES WORK ETHIC. WORK ETHIC REQUIRES PASSION. PASSION REQUIRES PROGRESS. And on and on and on…

The first leg of the triangle is the most obvious and least controversial. Everyone values work ethic. It’s the second leg that requires some explanation. You can only drag your kid into GoWags so long. If HE’S not passionate about getting better, a father son struggle naturally ensues. So how do we create that passion? Progress. Your son needs to know that his effort isn’t for naught. Measurement is the key here. Measure everything!

Measure his training progress. How much has he improved on the farmers walk? How much has he improved in the hex lift? How much has his vertical jump increased?

Measure is pitching command. How many fastballs can he locate out of 10? How many changeups can he throw for strikes? (Please don’t try to locate changeups!)

Measure is bat speed. How hard can you hit it? See….your training is paying off!

So the next time you’re in at GoWags and wondering what you should be doing. Measure something. Measure anything.

Full Reps!

Bret Wagner