I know it’s already August, but this summer my thoughts can finally turn to the crack of the bat as I watch my Minnesota Twins “Bomba Squad” launch dinger after dinger! As much as I love basketball and football, there’s a certain magic about the great national pastime.

For me, baseball is a learning experience, full of life lessons!

In one "Peanuts" cartoon, Charlie Brown is having a bad day. He strikes out for the third straight time. In disgust, he says, “Rats!”

Back in the dugout, he laments to Lucy, “I'll never be a big-league ballplayer. All my life, I've dreamed of playing in the big leagues, but I just know I'll never make it.”

Lucy responds, “You're thinking way too far ahead, Charlie Brown. What you need are more immediate goals.”

“Immediate goals?” asks Charlie.

“Yes,” says Lucy. “Start right now with this next inning. When you go out to pitch, see if you can walk out to the mound without falling down.”

Moral: Most importantly, goals need to be realistic: beyond your grasp but within your reach in the foreseeable future.

When it comes to getting things done, I have a philosophy: “Find a way, or make one.” I don't tolerate excuses, and you shouldn't either.

A high school baseball coach was frustrated with his first baseman, who made error after error. At practice, the coach grabbed a glove to show the player how it should be done. The first grounder took a bad hop and clobbered him in the chest. Next came a pop-up that he lost in the sun, and it smashed into his forehead. Later, a wild throw from the shortstop caused him to stretch, tearing his pants. Exasperated, the coach turned to his first baseman and shouted, “You've got this position so messed up, even I can't do a thing with it.”

Moral: The person who wants to do something finds a way; the person who doesn't finds an excuse.

We all have weaknesses, whether it’s baseball or business.

Baseball great Stan Musial was having a field day against the Chicago Cubs’ pitcher Bobo Newsom. Stan “the Man” first slammed a single, then a triple and a home run. When he came to bat for the fourth time, the Chicago manager decided to yank Bobo and take a chance on a rookie relief pitcher. The rookie trudged in from the bullpen, took the ball from Bobo, and asked, “Has this guy Musial got any weaknesses?”

“Yeah,” replied Bobo, “he can’t hit doubles.”

Moral: The greatest of all weaknesses is to be conscious of none.

Maintaining a good reputation can help you in bad circumstances by giving you the benefit of the doubt.

Rogers Hornsby, considered to be among the greatest right-handed hitters in baseball history, had a lifetime batting average of .358. In 1924, he hit .424 with the St. Louis Cardinals. He also had a reputation for excellence, good judgment and integrity.

The story goes that Hornsby came to bat one day against a flashy rookie pitcher with a blazing fastball.

Whoosh went the first pitch to Hornsby, who kept his bat cocked.

“Ball one,” said the umpire.

Second pitch and third pitches, same story.

Angry and frustrated, the young pitcher shouted at the umpire, “Those three pitches were all strikes!”

“Young man,” said the umpire, “when you throw a strike, Mr. Hornsby will let you know.”

Moral: You can't buy a good reputation; you must earn it.

Pittsburgh Pirate outfielder Paul Waner was asked when he would know when it was time to quit baseball.

“Well,” said Waner, “as you get older, you slow down and the infielders back up, because they've got more time to throw you out at first base. At the same time, you lose a little power, so the outfielders move in because you aren't hitting the ball so far.” Then he added, "When they can shake hands, you've had it."

Moral: A person doesn’t become old until regrets take the place of dreams.

Mackay’s Moral: No matter when the season begins, start business “spring training” so you can win the World Series.

(Harvey Mackay is the author of the New York Times best-seller "Swim With the Sharks Without Being Eaten Alive." He can be reached through his website, www.harveymackay.com, by emailing harvey@mackay.com or by writing him at MackayMitchell Envelope Co., 2100 Elm St. SE, Minneapolis, MN 55414.)

Many people have lost their jobs during this pandemic through no fault of their own.

For my book, “We Got Fired! ... and It’s the Best Thing That Ever Happened to Us,” I interviewed 29 people who landed on their feet and excelled after they were furloughed or given a pink slip. These were high-profile people, often fired in a very public arena. To sum up each of their inspirational stories, I asked everyone what advice they would give to people looking for a job.

Pat Mitchell was the first woman president and CEO of PBS at the time. She had been working as a researcher/writer for Look magazine when it went out of business.

Her advice was: “Be determined ... I was determined not to give up. I figured it would all come around if I could find a way to survive financially while I stayed focused on what I wanted. It didn’t come easily. If you look at my resume, it seems like one exciting jump from one run to the next. Every one of those moves was somewhat of a risk. Some didn’t work out as I planned or hoped. I didn’t follow a straight line to get where I am, but I never went backward either.”

She added: “Seize every chance you have to learn. It’s amazing how many skills we seem to acquire by accident.”

Bernie Marcus was CEO of the Handy Dan Home Improvement Center chain when the parent company declared bankruptcy. Marcus was fired by a vindictive board even though the Handy Dan division was not in bankruptcy. “They threw me out of my office and put bars on the door. They searched my files. It was pretty terrible -- one of those corporate things. You hear about them, but you don’t really know what they are like until you live through one.”

He was convinced to drop his lawsuit against the company by a mentor who encouraged him to get on with his life. Another friend advised him to open the store he had always dreamed of. And that’s how The Home Depot was born. He was fired from a top spot in hardware retailing and went on to redefine the hardware industry.

Billie Jean King, winner of 39 women’s tennis Grand Slam titles, experienced a series of career setbacks. She said: “Have faith and believe in yourself. It’s OK to feel what you’re feeling. Don’t be afraid to ask for help. This was one of my weaknesses. I was embarrassed to ask, but I’ve since learned that people want to help. Develop skills and try your best.”

King, who became the first woman in any sport to earn more than $100,000 in prize money in a year, added: “Understand delayed gratification. We live in a society of instant rewards. You must learn your craft and earn what you get. It takes a lot of work and sweat, but you have to be willing to pay the price.”

Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg told me that he first had a vision for his Bloomberg media empire the day he was fired from Salomon Brothers. He and 62 other partners were summoned to a conference center and told the firm was being merged into another company.

One message from Mayor Bloomberg really stuck out: “People remember two things in life -- who helped you on the way up … and who kicked you on the way down."

Lest you think these examples don’t relate to your situation, stop and think again. These folks could have wallowed in self-pity, spent fortunes in lawsuits and harbored bitterness that would taint their future job searches.

But they chose a different path. They traded on their strengths and determined to forge ahead. And they didn’t give up. That’s the most important lesson of all.

If you would like a free copy of my book, “We Got Fired! ... and It’s the Best Thing That Ever Happened to Us,” visit www.harveymackayacademy.com/fired to complete a form to download the eBook.

Mackay’s Moral: Tough times don’t last; tough people do.

A group of 50 people was attending a seminar. For a group activity, the leader gave each attendee one balloon and asked each person to blow it up and write his or her name on it with a marker. He collected all the balloons and put them in another room.

Then the attendees were led into that room and asked to find the balloon with their name written on it within five minutes. Everyone was frantically searching for their name, colliding with each other. It was utter chaos.

At the end of the five minutes, only a couple people had found their own balloon. Now the leader asked each one to randomly collect a balloon and give it to the person whose name was written on it. Within minutes everyone had their own balloon.

The leader said, “Everyone is frantically looking for happiness all around, not knowing where it is. Our happiness lies in the happiness of other people. Give them their happiness and you will get your own happiness.”

This story, from the publication Bits & Pieces, illustrates that we generate more happiness by working together and helping each other than we do working independently.

“Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” is an often-quoted phrase in the United States Declaration of Independence written by Thomas Jefferson. But Jefferson avoided defining happiness, choosing to leave it to the individual to determine his or her own meaning of the word.

I say happiness is like your shadow. Run after it and you will never catch it, but keep your face to the sun and it will follow you.

“A happy person is not a person in a certain set of circumstances, but rather a person with a certain set of attitudes,” said the late Hugh Downs, whose television career spanned half a century, including years as co-host of “Today” and “20/20.” I suspect his thousands of interviews gave him a unique perspective on life and happiness.

The pursuit of happiness is mankind’s favorite sport. Happiness is in the here and now, not in the someday. Decide to be happy now. Only when you make a deposit into life will you reap the reward of life. You will reap the quality of life in proportion to the quality which you plant.

I’m a firm believer in the adage, “A truly happy person is one who can enjoy the scenery while on a detour.” These days, given current events and uncertainty, just getting through the day can feel like an enormous task. Happiness seems elusive when you don’t know what the coming days will bring. But that’s the point at which attitude is everything.

Happiness is subjective. What makes one person happy -- reading, exercising or bird-watching -- may make another person decidedly unhappy.

An Indian fable tells us about a mouse that, like all mice, was afraid of cats. A local wizard empathized with him and offered to help the mouse dispel his fear. So, with the mouse’s blessing, the wizard turned him into a cat.

The cat, however, was afraid of dogs. So the wizard did his thing and turned the cat into a dog. Afraid of tigers, the dog was soon turned into a tiger.

The wizard discovered the tiger was afraid of big-game hunters, and exclaimed in disgust, “You’re hopeless! What you need is a change of heart. And that I cannot give you.”

If we want to be happy, a change of heart might be required. As Japanese philosopher and poet Daisaku Ikeda put it: “Genuine happiness can only be achieved when we transform our way of life from the unthinking pursuit of pleasure to one committed to enriching our inner lives, when we focus on ‘being more’ rather than simply having more.”

Mackay’s Moral: The happiness of your life depends on the quality of your thoughts.