Let me tell you what baseball, summer sausage, and neurodiversity have in common.
This morning my husband shared with me the funniest story. The Minnesota Twins baseball team had their ‘lucky’ meat stick overnighted to them while they were on the road.
Here is the headline:
“The Twins and their lucky home run sausage are home safely with the winning streak still intact”
CLICK HERE for the full article.
“After hitting coach David Popkins initiated the superstition last week, grabbing an unopened summer sausage from a table in the clubhouse and encouraging his players to tap it before their at-bats, the Twins coincidentally followed with a flurry of big hits.”
My husband is a retired local team baseball pitcher, and I am telling you he has taught me about superstition and sports. I had no idea how intense it is.
If I wear an odd pair of socks and the team wins, he has said things to me like this, “You have to wear those same socks again for the next game, and maybe don’t wash them yet.”
I thought he was kidding the first time he told me that, but it became clear quickly he was not joking.
This conversation about superstitions got me thinking about the placebo effect. The placebo effect is a beneficial effect produced by a placebo drug or treatment, which cannot be attributed to the properties of the placebo itself and must therefore be due to the patient’s belief in that treatment.
In plain English, the person believed something could help them and their mind made it happen.
This topic connects nicely to the different thinkers. The ADHD or dyslexic mind sees the world differently and often connects things together that the rest of the world doesn’t see as connected. The superstition and/or placebo effect can be very useful in moving you closer to achieving your goals.
You don’t have to be neurodiverse to take advantage of this tool.
I was talking with a client recently and they had a goal of increasing the revenue in their business by 25% a month. I asked what the plan was to make this happen. They listed out the plan.
I then asked, “Do you think there is anything more that you could do to make this happen?” The response I got back was great.
“I read about this one business owner, he placed a bamboo plant at all of his employee’s desks and told them that they were given this plant because it brings good luck, prosperity, and health. Take care of the plant and it will take care of us. Then he had his business meeting and told them the new increased sales goal. This guy’s business grew, just as he had wanted, and all of his employees took good care of their bamboo plants.”
Then my client said, “I am getting everyone a bamboo plant at my company.”
He did the bamboo plants, he told everyone the story of the plants, and the business did grow 25% in the following months.
Just like a baseball team that has a meat sick overnight shipped to their game, because it got forgotten at the last field. There is great power in the placebo effect and in superstitions, why not harness that power and use it to your advantage?
Never underestimate the power of your mind.
Are you willing to play some games to be more effective in your own world regardless of what you call it?
Thanks for taking a moment to read this article. I would enjoy hearing any stories you have about superstitions or the placebo effect from your life.
Have a great day,
JoyGenea
If you want to read more about the MN Twins and the summer sausage adventures check these out.
https://www.mprnews.org/story/2024/05/01/how-the-minnesota-twins-lucky-summer-sausage-got-made
https://apnews.com/article/minnesota-twins-sausage-cc42c059d41860d15c71d3176904c757