Recently, I’ve been talking with the baseball and softball teams I coach about having a “Next Pitch” mentality.
In baseball and softball, it is easy to carry the last play into the next one. A missed opportunity, an error, or a frustrating call can stay with a player long after the moment has passed.
Meanwhile, the game keeps moving. Their teammates still need them to be ready.
We can’t change the last play. But we can choose how we approach the next one.
That doesn’t mean ignoring a mistake. We need to understand what happened, own our part, and learn from it. Sometimes there is something we need to correct or make right.
Those responsibilities matter.
So does being ready for what comes next.
Construction gives us plenty of opportunities to practice that. A detail gets missed. A conversation doesn’t go as planned. Work has to be redone.
The issue deserves our attention. But the frustration can extend beyond the problem itself.
It can follow us into the next meeting, affect how we respond to a reasonable question, or distract us from a decision that needs our full attention.
The next person we work with may have had nothing to do with what happened. They still deserve our patience and best judgment.
A “Next Pitch” mentality can help us give them that.
It can also help us support someone else. We can help a teammate work through a mistake, learn from it, and regain confidence in their ability to contribute.
What can we learn from the last play, and what does the next opportunity need from us?
November 6, 2026