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A mindset reset
-James McMurtry1
This is no place for pessimism
James McMurtry, not unlike his Pulitzer-prize-winning father and Texas legend Larry McMurtry, tended toward melancholy. You can feel it in his music and hear it in his lyrics. I find resonance in this because I am also naturally prone to melancholy or a more practical critical pragmatic negative view of the world. I give my best friend Keith, the eternal optimist, fits. (I even think either time or I have turned him some.)
As a business leader, this can be a problem. One cannot resemble Eyore of the Hundred-Acre Wood when casting a vision for an organization.
Can’t you hear Disney’s version of Eyore on a company video call now?
“It’s not much of a tail but I’m sort of attached to it.”
“Good morning. If it is a good morning, which I doubt.”
“Sure is a cheerful color. Guess I’ll have to get used to it.”
Nobody wants Eyore running a Teams meeting or Zoom call.
Just as the borderland is “No Country for Old Men,” (which is a bleak and pessimistic book-turned-movie title), LinkedIn is no place for Eyore-style communication. People are looking for inspiration, not exasperation.
Pessimism belongs even where you think it doesn’t
“•George Bernard Shaw
The marketplace needs the bulls and the bears. The workplace needs the idealist and the realist. Businesses need to explore possibilities and anticipate inevitabilities.
Every cloud has its silver lining, but it is still a cloud. The sky is not always sky-blue. The consumer needs the assembly line and the repair shop because he needs a new car but it won’t be new forever.
Maybe a mindset reset is in order for the melancholic
I like the word mindset, defined as “A mental attitude or inclination.”2
It is defined at verywellmind.com this way:
Your mindset is a set of beliefs that shape how you make sense of the world and yourself. It influences how you think, feel, and behave in any given situation. It means that what you believe about yourself impacts your success or failure.
Mindset is how you see yourself and how you see the world.
How you see yourself is how you see the world, according to one of the great authors on successful lifestyles:
“•Stephen R. Covey
Mindset.
The secondary meaning Merriam-Webster offers for “mindset” is “a fixed state of mind.”
I like to think that if it is a MindSET, it can be reset if we are intentional about the way we think. If we think about our thoughts and become self-aware, we can turn the negative into positive, even if we are melancholic.
I like the story about the little boy playing baseball by himself, throwing the ball in the air, declaring, “I am the greatest hitter of all time!” Then, he swings and misses and immediately does it again.
Kenny Rogers turned that story into a song a song about mindset a song about a mindset reset!
Little boy, in a baseball hat stands in the field with his ball and bat.
Says, “I am the greatest player of them all” puts his bat on his shoulder and he tosses up his ball.
And the ball goes up and the ball comes down swings his bat all the way around
The world so still you can hear the sound, the baseball falls to the ground.
Now the little boy doesn’t say a word, picks up his ball, he is undeterred.
Says, “I am the greatest there has ever been” and he grits his teeth and he tries it again.
And the ball goes up and the ball comes down swings his bat all the way around
The world so still you can hear the sound, the baseball falls to the ground.
He makes no excuses, he shows no fear, he just closes his eyes and listens to the cheers.
Little boy, he adjusts his hat, picks up his ball, stares at his bat
Says,”I am the greatest, the game is on the line” and he gives his all one last time.
And the ball goes up and the moon so bright, swings his bat with all his might
The world’s as still, as still can be, the baseball falls and that’s strike three.
Now it’s suppertime and his momma calls, little boy starts home with his bat and ball.
Says, “I am the greatest, that is a fact, but even I didn’t know I could pitch like that!”
Says, “I am the greatest,that is understood, but even I didn’t know I could pitch that good!”
Larry McMurtry: A Life by Tracy Daugherty, copyright 2023 by Tracy Daugherty, p. 357