Mindset: The New Psychology of Success

The Yankees went on to dominate baseball, winning, it seemed, endless World Series. Meanwhile Boston made it to four World Series and several play-offs, but they always lost. And they always lost in the most tragic way possible. By coming achingly near to victory and then having a meltdown. Here, finally, was another chance to fight off the curse and defeat their archrivals. If they won, they would make that trip to the World Series and the Yankees would stay home. Pedro Martinez was their hope. In fact, earlier in the season, he had cursed the curse.

Yet after pitching a beautiful game, Martinez was losing his lead and falling behind. What did he do then? He hit a batter with the ball (Karim Garcia), threatened to bean another (Jorge Posada), and hurled a seventy-two-year-old man to the ground (Yankee coach Don Zimmer).

As New York Times writer Jack Curry wrote: “We knew we were going to have Pedro vs. Roger [Clemens] on a memorable afternoon at Fenway Park.… But no one expected to watch Pedro against Garcia, Pedro against Posada, Pedro against Zimmer.”

Even the Boston writers were aghast. Dan Shaughnessy, of the Globe, asked: “Which one would you rather have now, Red Sox fans? Roger Clemens, who kept his composure and behaved like a professional Saturday night, winning the game for his team despite his obvious anger? Or Martinez, the baby who hits a guy after he blows the lead, then points at his head and at Yankees catcher Jorge Posada, threatening, ‘You’re next’? … Red Sox fans don’t like to hear this, but Martinez was an embarrassment Saturday, and a disgrace to baseball. He gets away with it because he’s Pedro. And the Sox front office enables him. Could Martinez one time stand up and admit he’s wrong?”

Like Billy Beane, Pedro Martinez did not know how to tolerate frustration, did not know how to dig down and turn an important setback into an important win. Nor, like Billy Beane, could he admit his faults and learn from them. Because he threw his tantrum instead of doing the job, the Yankees won the game and went on to win the play-off by one game.

The sportswriters on the plane agreed that character is all. But they confessed that they didn’t understand where it comes from. Yet I think by now we’re getting the idea that character grows out of mindset.

We now know that there is a mindset in which people are enmeshed in the idea of their own talent and specialness. When things go wrong, they lose their focus and their ability, putting everything they want—and in this case, everything the team and the fans so desperately want—in jeopardy.

We also know that there is a mindset that helps people cope well with setbacks, points them to good strategies, and leads them to act in their best interest.

Wait. The story’s not over. One year later, the Sox and the er J went head-to-head again. Whoever won four games out of the seven would be the American League Champions and would take that trip to the World Series. The Yankees won the first three games, and Boston’s humiliating fate seemed sealed once again.

But that year Boston had put their prima donnas on notice. They traded one, tried to trade another (no one wanted him), and sent out the message: This is a team, not a bunch of stars. We work hard for each other.

Four games later, the Boston Red Sox were the American League Champions. And then the World Champions. It was the first time since 1904 that Boston had beaten the Yankees in a championship series, showing two things. First, that the curse was over. And second, that character can be learned.

More About Character

Let’s take it from the top with Pete Sampras and the growth mindset. In 2000, Sampras was at Wimbledon, trying for his thirteenth Grand Slam tennis victory. If he won, he would break Roy Emerson’s record of twelve wins in top tournaments. Although Sampras managed to make it to the finals, he had not played that well in the tournament and was not optimistic about his chances against the young, powerful Patrick Rafter.

Sampras lost the first set, and was about to lose the second set. He was down 4–1 in the tiebreaker. Even he said, “I really felt like it was slipping away.” What would McEnroe have done? What would Pedro Martinez have done? What did Sampras do?

As William Rhoden puts it, “He … searched for a frame of reference that could carry him through.” Sampras says, “When you’re sitting on the changeover you think of past matches that you’ve lost the first set … came back and won the next three. There’s time. You reflect on your past experiences, being able to get through it.”

Suddenly, Sampras had a five-point run. Then two more. He had won the second set and he was alive.

“Last night,” Rhoden says, “Sampras displayed all the qualities of the hero: the loss in the first set, vulnerability near defeat, then a comeback and a final triumph.”