Golfing great Arnold Palmer said: "My father always said to me, 'Remember, whatever game you play, 90 percent of success is from the shoulders up.'"

Palmer has never flaunted his success as a golfer or businessman. When I visited him a couple years ago in Latrobe, Pa., I learned that although he has won hundreds of trophies and awards, the only trophy in his office is a battered little cup that he got for his first professional win at the Canadian Open in 1955. There is also a framed plaque on the wall, which explains why he has been successful on and off the golf course. It reads:

"If you think you are beaten, you are.

"If you think you dare not, you don't.

"If you'd like to win but think you can't,

"It's almost certain you won't.

"Life's battles don't always go

"To the stronger or faster man,

"But sooner or later, the man who wins

"Is the man who thinks he can."

I later discovered that this was part of a longer poem written by C.W. Longenecker. It's all about mind over matter -- mental toughness.

We often hear the term mental toughness from athletes, coaches and sports commentators, but it translates to all aspects of life, especially business. Mental toughness is persevering through difficult circumstances. It is conditioning your mind to think confidently and being able to overcome frustration.

Athletes must be in tiptop physical shape, but if they don't prepare themselves just as much mentally, they will never become champions.

Serena Williams, like other top tennis players, uses her mental strength to succeed. She uses power thoughts during her matches and reviews them on changeovers, which helps her focus and get her game back on track if necessary. Her power thoughts include: "My good thoughts are powerful." "My only negative thoughts are weak." "Hang on to the thought of what you want. Make it absolutely clear." "You are No. 1." "You are the best." "You will win."

Dr. Jim Loehr of the Human Performance Institute defined mental toughness in his book "The New Toughness Training for Sports" as "the ability to consistently perform towards the upper range of your talent and skill regardless of competitive circumstances." He went on to add: "Mental toughness is all about improving your mind so that it's always on your side; not sometimes helping you nor working against you as we all know it's quite capable of doing."

Mental toughness is like a muscle. It needs to be exercised to grow and develop. You must get out of your comfort zone by taking on new tasks. As your comfort zone expands, seek out other duties to test your determination. You will soon discover that there is almost nothing you can't do if you put your mind to it. It's truly mind over matter.

Dr. David Yukelson from Penn State University lists the key characteristics associated with mentally tough elite athletes as:

-- Self-Belief: Having an unshakable belief in one's ability to achieve competition goals.

-- Motivation: Having an insatiable desire and internalized motivation to succeed.

-- Focus: Remain fully focused on the task at hand in the face of distractions.

-- Composure/handling pressure: Ability to regain psychological control and to thrive on pressure.

But in my opinion, those characteristics translate seamlessly for businesspeople in every discipline. If your mind isn't prepared to take on the challenges that constantly arise in business, you are doomed to fail. It's that simple.

Three cowboys had been riding the range in New Mexico since dawn. Busy with the herd of cattle they were tending, there had been no time to stop and eat. As the day wore on, two of the cowboys started talking about how hungry they were and about the huge meal they were going to eat after the day's work was done.

All they talked about was food. Finally, they asked the third cowboy if he was hungry. He just shrugged his shoulders and said, "No."

At sundown, the three cowboys rode into town and ordered the biggest steak dinners at the local restaurant. The three of them ate every last morsel. One of the trio reminded the third cowboy that less than an hour earlier he had told them he was not hungry.

"Not wise to be hungry then," he replied. "No food."

Mackay's Moral: Life is 10 percent how you make it and 90 percent how you take it.

Teamwork might seem like a complicated subject, but to some creatures, it comes naturally as a way to survive and expend the least amount of energy.

According to a BBC News story, scientists taped heart monitors to great white pelicans. These birds had been trained to fly behind a light aircraft and a boat, and a team was able to observe them during their flight. Pelicans, it is known, fly in "squadron" formation, or in a "V" shape, and they flap their wings in time with their leader. Scientists, now able to observe and gather data from the heart monitors, found that the birds' heartbeats were lower when they flew in formation than when they flew solo. Their heart rates slowed because they were able to benefit from each other's air streams. They were also able to glide more.

Working together, the birds were able to accomplish their migratory goals by expending less energy and being able to fly farther than when they are alone. It seems that there is a lesson here, and it's not for the birds. Animals of all types develop certain behaviors because it helps them to migrate, feed or survive more easily. The entire group benefits because less energy is required to perform the greater task at hand.

In human terms, even the most seasoned pilots need a control tower and ground crew.

Lester C. Thurow, economist and dean of the Sloan School of Management, said: "There is nothing antithetical in American history, culture or traditions to teamwork. Teams were important in America's history -- wagon trains conquered the West, men working together on the assembly line in American industry conquered the world, a successful national strategy and a lot of teamwork put an American on the moon first (and thus far, last).

"But American mythology extols only the individual -- the Lone Ranger or Rambo. In America, halls of fame exist for almost every conceivable activity, but nowhere do Americans raise monuments in praise of teamwork."

Why is that? I can think of no single feat that was accomplished without a little help. From the greatest minds in the world to the most successful corporations, no one can honestly claim they did it all alone. It's often said it takes "a village to raise a child." I believe that village is also necessary to contribute to any level of success in adulthood as well. This world is simply too big a place to go it alone.

A story in the Harvard Business Review illustrates the importance of teamwork at every level. While many Westerners might think that consensus is characteristic of Japanese culture, institutionalized conflict is an integral part of Japanese management.

"At Honda, any employee, however junior, can call for a "waigaya" session. The rules are that people lay their cards on the table and speak directly about problems.

"Nothing is out of bounds, from supervisory deficiencies on the factory floor to perceived lack of support for a design team.

"'Waigaya' legitimizes tension so that learning can take place."

That example emphasizes the importance of every member of the team and how a real team should function. Each member should be able to contribute strengths and ideas; otherwise, the concept of team is meaningless.

Once upon a time, there was an enterprising businessman who had a fantastic idea. He figured out a way to build the perfect automobile. He hired a team of young engineers and told them to buy one of every car model in the world and dismantle them.

He instructed them to pick out the best part from every car and to place it in a special room. Soon the room was filled with parts judged by the group to be the best engineered in the world -- the best carburetor, the best set of brakes, the best steering wheel, the best transmission, and so on. It was an impressive collection -- more than 5,000 parts in all. Then he had all the parts assembled into one automobile -- the pick of the world, so to speak.

There was only one problem: It didn't work! The automobile refused to function. The parts would not work together.

It's the same with people. A team of people or things with a common objective and harmony can be superior to a group of individual "all-stars" any day.

Mackay's Moral: TEAM: Together Everyone Accomplishes More.

Bill Bradley recently spoke to a group of Minnesota Timberwolves season ticketholders. The topic wasn't his stellar career, basketball strategy or memorable wins. Instead, he talked about unselfishness. After 40 years of traveling America as a Hall of Fame basketball player and a U.S. senator, the Rhodes scholar has a lot of stories to tell about the remarkable, unselfish accomplishments of people both famous and unknown. He features them during his weekly "American Voices" program on Sirius/XM Radio.

Bradley briefly talked about his two NBA championships with the New York Knicks and how unselfish his teams were. They wanted to be champions more than they wanted individual achievements.

That's why I love team sports. Players learn not only the power of teamwork, but also how to be unselfish, regardless of their individual abilities.

Another basketball superstar, Michael Jordan, won six NBA championships with the Chicago Bulls. His personal accomplishments on the court give him bragging rights beyond compare. Yet he wrote in his book, "I Can't Accept Not Trying": "There are plenty of teams in every sport that have great players and never win titles. Most of the time, those players aren't willing to sacrifice for the greater good of the team. The funny thing is, in the end, their unwillingness to sacrifice only makes individual goals more difficult to achieve. One thing I believe to the fullest is that if you think and achieve as a team, the individual accolades will take care of themselves. Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence win championships."

Businesses should operate the same way. Every organization has star performers whose skills and talents are evident. If they are smart, they have developed as their biggest asset the ability to work with others.

So many projects require teamwork in order to come to a successful conclusion. But watch what happens when one member of the team claims the victory. Morale goes in the tank. The next group effort becomes a competition. Communication is stifled. The results suffer for lack of a variety of ideas.

President Harry Truman summed it up so well: "It is amazing what you can accomplish if you don't care who gets the credit."

The example needs to come from the top. Management needs to send a clear message that every member of the organization is vital to the success of the group. Good leaders must demonstrate sincere unselfishness when celebrating achievements and share the credit and successes with the group.

We have marvelous examples of unselfishness throughout American history. Ask any military veteran about how loyalty and unselfishness were drilled into them throughout their training and service. They often had to depend on each other in dangerous situations. And while you're at it, thank them for their service to our country.

Perhaps the most incredible example of unselfishness is the little check mark you might have on your driver's license to be an organ donor. Blood donors also make my radar screen for sharing a precious gift with someone they will never know, but who will be forever grateful.

Unselfishness is all around us. We just need to follow the lead of those folks, and not be afraid to translate it to all areas of life.

There once were two brothers whose father had died and left them the family farm. One was married and had a large family to support. The other was single. The will designated that the two brothers would share everything equally.

One day the single brother said to himself, "It's not right that we should share equally. I'm alone and my needs are simple." So every night he took a sack of grain from his bin and secretly dumped it into his brother's bin.

Meanwhile, the married brother said to himself, "It's not right that we should share the produce and the farm's profit equally. After all, I am married and I will have my wife and grown children to look after me in the years ahead. My brother has no one." So each night he took a sack of grain and dumped it secretly into his single brother's bin.

For years both men were puzzled as to why their personal supply of grain never dwindled. Then one dark night the two brothers bumped into each other and it suddenly dawned on them what had been happening.

Mackay's Moral: You'll never lose credibility if you share the credit.