Atlanta Constitution, Jones admitted he reads the papers and listens to the radio hosts, who had claimed Jones’s career was headed downwards. Luckily for Chipper, the doubt was just fuel to the fire. Highly successful people like Chipper Jones don’t let negative energy get in the way of pursuing their own goals. Later in that interview, Jones, who had just reached his target of bench pressing 320 pounds, spoke about the people who were uncertain he would be able to sustain the success he was having: “It’s what motivates me to get in here [the weight room] and say okay, I’m going to show you.”
In 2006, Chipper put together a stretch of fourteen straight games with at least one extra-base hit, a record that is tied with Paul Waner, who accomplished this feat in 1927. Brian McCann, Jones’s teammate on the Braves, was asked about Chipper’s magical streak. The catcher was quoted in The Atlanta Constitution saying, “What Chipper’s doing right now is the craziest thing I’ve ever seen in my life.”
The ensuing season, as a thirty-five-year-old, Jones batted .337 with 29 home runs and 102 RBI, while also leading the league in on-base and slugging percentage.
As we all know, Father Time is undefeated, especially when it comes to professional athletes, which was why I asked Chipper how his goals shifted, knowing he was in his mid-thirties. “As I grew older, I knew the power was going to decline a bit, so it made it easier to hit for a higher average and to take a different approach at the plate. I dedicated myself to using the whole field even more than I usually did and never gave away at-bats.” Understanding that his body was getting older, instead of trying to crush 40 home runs, Chipper’s goal was now to hit for a higher average.
At thirty-six years old, Chipper Jones hit a career-high .364 and won his first National League Batting Title while also leading the league in on-base percentage. To this date, only three players in MLB history, age thirty-six or older, posted a season with at least 150 hits, 20 home runs, and a batting average north of .360: Babe Ruth, Ted Williams, and Chipper Jones.
In 2012, Chipper retired from the game of baseball. He finished with 2,726 hits, 468 home runs, a .303 batting average, and a career on-base percentage of .401. Only three other players in the history of the sport have assembled those numbers: Babe Ruth, Mel Ott, and Stan Musial. Jones is one of two switch hitters (Mickey Mantle is of course the other) who hit at least 450 home runs while also getting on-base at least 40 percent of the time.
When I was digging through his statistics, I also noticed Chipper fared extremely well against some of the top pitchers in baseball history. He gave National Baseball Hall of Famer Randy Johnson absolute fits, hitting .349 with 6 home runs against the tall lefty. Against Curt Schilling, a 216-game winner in the MLB, Jones hit .303 with 4 long balls. In our interview, he told me, “I always loved facing the best. It made me work that much harder and focus that much more. Those types of guys always brought out the best of everything in me.”
On January 24, 2018, Jones received the news that he would be getting inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame. While all of his personal success was remarkable, Jones made sure to never forget the two people who helped him accomplish his goals: his mom and dad. When I asked Chipper about the importance of having a good support system when one is pursuing their goals, he went into great detail explaining the positive effect his parents have had on him. “They are your foundation and give you unconditional love and support through the good and the bad. They keep you grounded, having you mow the lawn or get in the fernery no matter what successes or failures I had on the field. They ultimately shape you into the person you become.”
Only two switch hitters in MLB history have hit at least 450 home runs while posting an on-base percentage better than .400: Chipper Jones and Mickey Mantle.
Nowadays, Chipper can be found spending time with family or hunting outside in the woods. He takes what he learned as a ballplayer and easily transitioned it to the outdoors. When I asked about the differences between baseball and hunting, Jones said “Honestly, there are a lot of similarities. You have to scout, work hard at staying committed, have discipline, and accept a lot of defeat in order to have success. You will certainly get lucky from time to time, as in baseball, but ultimately, you need to be dedicated to your goal and pursue it diligently.”
As a parent, Chipper instills the same lessons that his mother and father taught him. “I simply want them to know that I will support them in whatever they do, as long as they commit to it and show me that they are going to work hard at whatever it might be. I try to simply teach them that hard work will always pay off, whether or not you get the desired results.”
Chipper Jones finished his MLB career with 2,726 hits, 468 home runs, a .303 batting average, and an on-base percentage of .401. Only three other players in the history of the sport have assembled those numbers: Babe Ruth, Mel Ott, and Stan Musial.
When you think about Chipper Jones, appreciate the outlandish numbers, but try to zone in on the approach he has when it comes to setting goals. Throughout his life, he was never afraid to set colossal objectives. Even if they seemed unattainable to most and hadn’t been accomplished in over a hundred years, Jones pursued his goals with persistence. By focusing on the immediate, on a game-to-game basis, Jones was able to do things on the diamond that we simply have never seen.
So be like Chipper. Set goals as high as humanly possible. Wake up each day with an approach. Block out any negative energy that might be in your way. Don’t back down from the best. Appreciate those who are there to support you on your journey, and pass along what you have learned to the next ones in line.
If you want to be successful in life, saying your goals out loud or writing them down will automatically give you a better chance of achieving them.
Jack Canfield (author, motivational speaker, corporate trainer, and entrepreneur) dedicated an entire blog to the power of sharing your goals with others. Canfield references studies that investigated people attempting to shed a few pounds. The research revealed that the individuals who publicly mentioned their weight loss goals lost more weight than those who kept their aspirations to themselves.
So be like Chipper, and speak those ambitions into existence. A study conducted by Procedia Social and Behavioral Sciences concluded that basketball players who said motivational affirmations to themselves in the middle of games performed better than those who stayed silent. Gary Lupyan, researcher from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, asked individuals to rummage through a bunch of photos and look for an assigned one. According to the New York Times, “if they said the name or whatever object [was on the photo] out loud while looking, they tended to find the image faster.” When talking to ourselves, we are internally improving our focus, which leads to better decision making, which will allow us to reach our goals at a faster rate.
This principle stands true with anything in life. The more we say out loud whatever it is we want, the better our chances become of achieving the said task.
You see, saying your goals out loud provides you with three things you otherwise would not have had if you kept them to yourself. Number one, the simple act of telling a friend, family member, or, in Chipper’s case, a reporter, will give you more confidence. Second, you automatically become more accountable. People who you told will most likely follow up with you on the goal you promised to achieve, which, in turn, will cause you to internally work harder toward it. Third, you will have a better understanding of what you wish to conquer. Sometimes, we think we want something but are unsure exactly what that something entails. Often, people wish for more money, a nicer car, the ability to take a vacation, a better job, etc. By describing out loud the Lamborghini we want to drive, the managerial job we strive for, or even the beaches in Punta Cana, we signal to our brain exactly what we wish for our reality to look like.
Mark Murphy, bestselling author and founder and CEO of the research and consulting firm Leadership IQ, conducted a study of 4,690 men and women. In his findings, Murphy
