Chop Wood, Carry Water is a great book by Joshua Metcalf – really easy to read. It tells the story of John who’s a young samurai warrior who goes to camp to learn how to become a samurai. But he’s super disappointed because all he does at camp isn’t what he expected. He’s just chopping wood and carrying water. Every day before enlightenment, chop wood, carry water. After enlightenment, chop wood, carry water.

Eventually, he falls in love with the process. The process is chop wood, carry water. For him it becomes the process of becoming great. And to him, greatness is a bunch of small things added together, the most people think are too small to matter. Metcalf says, “Every now and then, a person comes along and accidentally gets it the first time. Most of us have to learn the hard way through multiple failed experiments which allows us to learn lessons and skills that those who had it easier did not develop.

In the off-season, you have more time to chop wood and carry water. You can do all the little things that people think are too small to matter. You can different things – You can lift heavy, you can do a throwing program, you can have a diet because you have more time. But you have to have a plan for it. You can also sleep more too, that’s super important. You can do big things, physical fixes, surgeries, physical therapy. You can work on mental skills. You can work on recruiting – getting yourself out there to coaches and doing things that your opposition might not be doing to get yourself in front of coaches in places that you might want to play. Setting goals, deciding what your M.V.P. process is. In short, you have a chance in the offseason to decide who you want to become.