Watching baseball teaches me about business.

I love running my own business and being my own boss. I also love baseball.  Oh, I hate to play it (“Don’t hit it to me, please don’t hit it to me…”) but I truly love to watch the game.

From baseball, I’ve learned some excellent business practices:

Barry Zito taught me to consider one batter at a time. Barry’s doing well this year: I read that he’s taking a batter-by-batter approach,  rather than letting his mind wander to how badly the game is going, or to wondering just how disappointed the Giants fans are that his Cy Young pitching didn’t make it across the Bay with the rest of him, $126 million notwithstanding. So I ask myself: Do I concentrate on each batter? Or, when I’m working, do I get distracted, noticing that new email has arrived? Or, when this project reminds me of task I need to do on that project, do I start multi-tasking, to the detriment of my clients? Lesson learned: Concentrate on the work in front of me, and stop letting my mind (and my mouse) dance around like a knuckleball.

Johnny Bench taught me to tell the truth. Since the 1970s I’ve been an Oakland As’ fan. But during the 1970s I was a bigger Cincinnati Reds fan, partly because they were a terrific team but mostly because I had a big crush on their catcher. In 1976, the Big Red Machine was in the World Series—one more win and they’d have the championship—and I had to work that evening! Rather than miss the game, I choose this simple solution: I called in sick. The game was rained out. God poured rain on the World Series because I’d lied. Big lesson there. Since 1976, I have never called in sick unless I was.

Yogi Berra taught me … well, he’s taught us all. As a writer, I enjoy Yogi-isms for their convoluted clarity. But Yogi’s counsel is sound and everyone in business—OK; everyone—can find ways to apply such good advice as:

Ninety percent of this game is half mental.

You’ve got to be very careful if you don’t know where you are going because you might not get there.

You can observe a lot just by watching.

And the classic, irrefutable truth:  It ain’t over till it’s over.

He was speaking about baseball, but I apply it to my business as well.