Every July, it’s a joy to witness the Hall of Fame Induction ceremony for Major League Baseball. This afternoon’s inductees included Ichiro Suzuki, CC Sabathia, Billy Wagner, Dave Parker, and Dick Allen. Every speech was unique, as one would expect from five distinguished players. But the one who seemed to shine the brightest was Ichiro Suzuki.

In their wrap up following his speech, the MLB network hosts were in awe. They celebrated his humor, his speaking in English, and the audience’s amazement and adoration. In stating what they most appreciated about it, one of them captured his message with this statement:

Focus on what you can control.

Even though he was told not to embarrass his home country…even though he didn’t speak English…even though he was told he was too small…he chose to focus on what he could control when starting and throughout his MLB career.

• Like making sure his spikes were clean
• Like setting goals rather than focusing on dreams
• Like not letting team staff lace up his glove and doing it himself
• Like not making excuses for failure and taking responsibility to improve

Many forces tempt us to focus on the wrong things. Sometimes they succeed. Reaching the goals we are called to requires resisting temptations, whether they’re mental, emotional, physical, relational, or spiritual.

Ichiro admitting having strong doubts in the beginning and along the way of his historic career. The one person he said never doubted him was his wife. She helped him stay focused on what he could control.

May we all pay more attention to what we can control, listen to those closest to us, and resist the temptations to do otherwise.