It's Never Fair

It's only too easy or too hard

Hitting a baseball is a great parable for business and life.

Because at bats are not fair. Hitting is either too easy or too hard. Never in between. When the going is good, most everything you put your bat on seems to find a hole.

But when you're in a slump, every pitch seems hard to hit. You don't hit many balls hard and the ones you do hit well tend to be outs. And it seems like there are defenders everywhere preventing you from getting on base.

No matter if you're hot or cold, two things are certain:

1) You can't imagine it being any other way

2) Your luck will turn in the near future

Bad hitters and unsuccessful businessmen think both the good times and the bad times are permanent. They aren't aggressive enough to expand when times are tough, and they have credit fueled delusional aspirations when times are good.

Professional hitters and successful businessmen alike are able to stay within themselves. They know what pitches they can hit and what pitches they cannot. They know that sometimes a bad approach gets a good result and a good approach gets a bad result, but they aren't fooled by either outcome.

The best in both worlds are able to stay process oriented, never believing how good they are when the going is good or how bad they are when the going gets tough.

They say hitting is 90% mental. So is life and business. The best players develop a mindset that keeps them competitive in as many at bats as possible. The worst find themselves defeated before the game even begins.

Is your mindset built to last?