Batting Practice

One of the things I enjoy most when going to a baseball game is watching the players limber up and take batting practice. As good as these world class athletes are, even they need time to stretch and get their bodies "in the mood" for a new contest. If they had to, of course, I am sure they would be able to run onto the field and play without the benefit of warming up. Still, making a regular habit of that  would no-doubt be difficult and put them all at-risk of injury. This is true of athletes who play other sport as well as people in other professions as well. Professional singers and musicians need time to warm up as well.

Can the same be said of professional communicators? Do they time to warm-up their minds before starting on a new campaign? My sense is, "yes," they do. As someone who has been in the communication profession since the early 1970s, however, I concede I have never seen or even heard of any communication professional who has actually taken their own version of batting practice before sitting down with a client, entering into a brainstorming session with their team, or sitting down to draft copy for a publication or write a speech. This is too bad because our brains, to perform at their best, need time to stretch just as much as the rest of our muscles.

The question then becomes what would be an example of batting practice for professional communicators? What could they do to limber up before embarking on a challenging assignment? Physical stretching is not a bad idea. After all, sitting in meetings or behind a computer all day can be physically taxing. Mental word games, such as reciting the alphabet backwards or trying to identify everyone of our presidents, are also good. Anything to get the juices flowing, as my father used to say.  As thinking and creative beings, those who communicate for a living must do all they can to remain stimulated and be stimulating. In their own way, they, too, are athletes.