Choose Joy

“I choose joy, man. I choose to elevate others. I was a happy guy. I enjoyed playing. And I didn’t like seeing people down, man. When we were in a baseball locker room, these are my guys. I’m spending more time with them than with my family. I want them to feel good about things. I want them to be happy. I think it’s an attitude. It’s how you choose to look at it.” 

— Jeff Francoeur, former Major League player

Jeff Francoeur was known for being a great teammate during his big-league career, the kind of guy who brought a positive spirit into the clubhouse on a daily basis.

Now, Francoeur does naturally have a positive personality, but as he explained in a story in The Athletic recently, sometimes he had to work at it.

“There were numerous days I came to the park and there’s no doubt I was in a bad mood or like, ‘This sucks, I don’t want to do this.’ And I said I can either choose to be like this, and let’s be honest, who the heck wants to be around that? I didn’t want to be around that. Or I can choose to put a smile on my face, turn this around and be positive and be a guy that people want to be around in the clubhouse and the coaches want you out there.”

Regardless of your line of work, or even if you’re retired, you can be a positive influence on the people you come in contact with today. We all have our days where we’re tired, or grumpy, or whatever it might be, but we have a choice as to whether or not we allow that to impact how we interact with others.

Today, choose to be a good teammate. Choose joy.
Win Your Day!

Contact MLB.com writer Steve Gilbert at winyourday@gmail.com to sign up for his daily inspirational emails.