Like millions of Americans, I watched the 10-part ESPN documentary “The Last Dance” about Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls. His mental toughness and mindset really stood out throughout the series.

Jordan was an extremely gifted athlete who worked tirelessly at his craft and was 100% committed to do whatever it took to overcome his competition. Nothing was going to deter him from winning. And he has a handful of championship rings to prove it.

He understood that so much of sport and business is a mental game.

Golf legend Jack Nicklaus was not the longest driver, the best iron player or even the best putter, but he said, “I never missed a putt in my mind.” Golf is 50% mental, and no one mastered the mental part of winning major golf tournaments like Jack.

Baseball’s “philosopher” Yogi Berra famously opined, “Baseball is 90% mental. The other half is physical.”

No matter what your occupation, you need to create a winning mindset. What does this mean? You have to set goals and then prepare to achieve them. I’ve often said, “Failure to prepare is preparing to fail.”

You need dedication to your craft, focus and discipline, plus what I call the three Cs: confidence, commitment and competition. Michael Jordan welcomed competition. He knew competition made you better.

Mindset even extends to body language. You need to show people that you are confident in what you are doing.

Having the right mindset is having the right attitude. Your mindset shapes your attitude, and your attitude reinforces your mindset. A positive attitude enables you to look for or create opportunities. If you take advantage of them, opportunities multiply.

As an eternal optimist, I firmly believe that there is virtually nothing that I can’t do if I set my mind to it, but I am realistic enough to know I am never going to pitch in the World Series. However, I can be a player/manager of a top-notch company. I took a big gamble buying a failing envelope manufacturing company and getting it off the ground, and I’ve never looked back.

While mindset seems to be a current term, it actually originated in the early 1900s; however, it didn’t become a household term until this century. One of the key influencers was American psychologist Carol S. Dweck, a professor at Stanford University who wrote the 2006 landmark book “Mindset: The New Psychology of Success.”

Dweck believes there are two very distinct types of mindset -- fixed and growth. In a fixed mindset, you believe your abilities are unchangeable.

She explains: “You were born with certain traits and a certain amount of intelligence and that’s that. Many people are trained in this mindset from an early age -- for instance, by a teacher who believes your IQ determines everything. You’re either smart or you’re dumb; you can learn or you can’t. If people get a set amount of intelligence, you want to prove you have a lot, although you secretly worry you were shortchanged.”

Fortunately, I have what Dweck calls a growth mindset, where you believe the abilities you were born with are just a starting point. A growth mindset helps you unleash your potential.

She writes: “You can get smarter and grow with hard work, persistence and the right learning strategies. You have a passion for learning, welcome mistakes as opportunities to learn and seek challenges so you can stretch.”

I’ve also studied negative mindsets, where people are filled with negative thinking. It’s not easy to overcome, because negative thoughts can quickly become habit. It takes a lot of positive thinking to pull people out of this rut.

“Never let your mind talk you out of your dreams, trick you into giving up. Never let your mind become the greatest obstacle to success,” writes Roy T. Bennett, author of “The Light in the Heart.”

He reminds us: “Attitude is a choice. Happiness is a choice. Optimism is a choice. Kindness is a choice. Giving is a choice. Respect is a choice. Whatever choice you make makes you. Choose wisely.”

Mackay’s Moral: Set a course for success with a positive mindset.

As I began this list of management ABCs, I was determined not to confuse management with leadership. There are leaders at all levels, whether we identify them with a special title or simply recognize their ability to direct their colleagues. Managers, on the other hand, have responsibilities to the organization to achieve results, often by working with the leaders.

Here are my thoughts on what managers need to know:

A is for advice. Good advice doesn’t get old. Good advice is never cheap, and cheap advice is never good.

B is for bringing out the best in others to get them to believe in what you believe in: your employees.

C is for caring is contagious. Help spread it around.

D is for diverse. You get the best results from people with diverse ideas who respect each other and are committed to each other’s successes.

E is for excellence. Managers should demand nothing less than excellence because they have set an example of demanding excellence from themselves.

F is for first. Running your own business is no endeavor for anyone who feels anything other than the urge to be the first person in the door in the morning and the one they have to drag out at night.

G is for good. The trick isn’t to get good at everything in your business. The trick is getting to know what you are good at and figuring out how to get better.

H is for hero. As much as you would like to be a hero, look to the heroes in your company and acknowledge and encourage their contributions.

I is for impression. What’s the easiest way to check the first impression you’re making? Have someone call your company to check up on how the call is handled. Find out what your customers already know about your business.

J is for judging. We consciously or unconsciously judge a lot of companies by the attitudes of their average workers -- the store clerk, driver, receptionist and so on. Don’t underestimate their impact.

K is for kindness. Treat yourself and others with respect. Plant seeds of kindness by doing something kind every day.

L is for listen. You can’t learn anything if you are doing all the talking. Listen to your staff because they often have great solutions and ideas for improvement.

M is for money. Managing money is as important as managing people. If you don’t manage your resources well, you’ll have to manage the mess you’ve made.

N is for nice, as in nice guys can and often do finish first. N should never be for nasty or negative.

O is for obligation. Your first obligation to your company and employees is to set them up for success.

P is for pride. Take pride in your company. Take pride in your employees. Take pride in your products. But check your personal pride at the door.

Q is for qualifications. Help your employees develop the qualifications they need to take the next step in their careers.

R is for right. Always make time to do it right the first time. Otherwise you’ll have to take time to do it over.

S is for sales. A manager needs to sell ideas, plans and products to staff before a project can take off.

T is for team. The people who make it big in business are those who are able to put together a team and know what to do with it.

U is for up-front. Being up-front builds trust. Customers and employees appreciate honesty and will be more willing to work with people who respect them enough to tell them when there’s a problem.

V is for versatile. Of the many skills managers need to bring to the job, versatility is key to understanding the different challenges they face daily.

W is for walk your plant or office floor at least once a day. Be visible and available.

X is for eXpert. Spend at least 10% of your budget on the best professional advice available before you spend a nickel on anything else.

Y is for yesterday. The decisions you made yesterday will determine where you go tomorrow.

Z is for zenith. An exceptional manager guides a company to its zenith.

Mackay’s Moral: Managing people is an art; strive for a masterpiece.

One afternoon, a boy was walking through a field when he came upon an apple tree. “It sure would be nice to have an apple to eat right about now,” he thought as he stood below the tree.

The windfall apples scattered on the ground were inedible, as they’d been half-eaten by various critters. There were a few pieces of ripe fruit hanging from some limbs, but most of these branches were just out of reach.

The boy was unable to climb the tree and unable to jump up to grab a piece of fruit. As he walked away, empty-handed and hungry, he mumbled, “Stupid tree. I bet the apples aren’t any good.”

Was he disappointed in the height of the tree or in his failure to find a way to pick the apples? In either event, circumstances were beyond his control.

These days, it often feels like disappointments are everywhere. So many parts of our lives have been disrupted, and the future seems very uncertain at times. It would be simple to give up hope and just let the chips fall where they may. But don’t give in to that mindset.

Disappointment is part of life. It happens to everyone. To avoid being disappointed is to avoid being human. The more expectations you have, the more disappointments you will encounter, especially if you go outside your comfort zone. People who expect the best are often let down the most.

Maybe it’s missing out on a promotion, losing an account or frustration with the “new normal.” Disappointments come in all sizes. Some may be small, others life-changing. How you handle such occasions will determine how fast you are able to move on with your life and career.

When disappointment happens, let yourself experience the emotions that come with it. For example, I want to remember how I felt so it drives me to never feel that way again. The important thing is not to dwell on your disappointment so long that it turns into discouragement.

Try to put a positive spin on your disappointment. I’m not a big believer in the blame game. This is a good time to have a sounding board, someone with whom you can talk things over.

Reframe your thinking and expectations. No one is perfect, so don’t set standards that you can’t meet. Examine what it will take to make you happy and feel fulfilled.

Stay optimistic. Positive thinking has no negatives. Positive thinking changes the way we behave. I firmly believe that when I am positive, it not only makes me better, but it also makes those around me better. I have found that good attitudes are contagious.

Maybe it’s a good time to take a break and regroup after being disappointed. Stress often gives a little thing a big shadow. Find your stress reliever. One of mine is sports -- attending a sporting event (when we could), playing golf or swimming. I’ve been known to play tennis and run marathons too. Find your stress reliever and use it. It could be music, reading, gardening, bird-watching or even parachuting.

Look at the big picture and get some perspective on what went wrong. Learn from it. Can it be corrected or changed? If that is not an option, then you may have to change course and move on and learn from the experience.

You can’t let disappointment cause you to procrastinate. Procrastination robs you of the one commodity that you just can’t replace: time. It throws off schedules. It exchanges accomplishment with inaction. Overcoming procrastination helps your to-do list become your all-done list.

Don’t lose hope and allow yourself to get beaten down. Believe in yourself. Make a plan to move forward. Set a small goal or plan that you can accomplish to get the ball rolling and feel confident about yourself.

“We must all suffer one of two things: the pain of discipline or the pain of regret or disappointment,” said my friend, the late Jim Rohn, American entrepreneur, author and motivational speaker.

The minister of a church discovered at the last minute that he hadn’t invited a sweet older lady congregant to come to his garden party, so he called her up and asked her to come out.

“It’s no use,” she informed him. “I’ve already prayed for rain.”

Mackay’s Moral: Don’t let disappointment cloud your thinking.