“The fact of the matter is, if you want to be good, you really don’t have a lot of choices, because it takes what it takes.
Every person has two things, what you feel and what you choose. I know after 14 games you probably don’t feel like practicing anymore. I know you probably don’t feel that great physically.
But are you going to choose to do what you feel ? Or are you going to choose to do the things you need to do to accomplish the goal that you have?” - Nick Saban (From It Takes What It Takes by Trevor Moawad)
If It's a Requirement, Why Complain?
If petrol costs $1.50 a litre and you have to drive, why complain about it?
If you want to be a shooter and you have to get 250 makes a day, why complain about it?
If you are locked down because the government said so, why complain about it?
Spend your energy elsewhere, toward something productive.
Pay the price, or get a new goal.
Lessons From The Unforgiving Race
Famous trainer or Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant, Tim Grover has just bought out his latest book. Winning: The Unforgiving Race for Greatness. Incredible stories about the mentality of the worlds best, and what it takes.
"It's not about what's wrong or right it's about deciding what you will or won't negotiate for yourself." - Tim Grover
Grover said Michael Jordan had the most disciplined game day routine he had ever seen, like clockwork. Controlling the unpredictable was his specialty. All his pieces were in place before, so he could go out and play totally on instinct.
Jordan's Game Day Routine
In between a 5 and 7am start - Grover would go to Jordan's house and they would work out. Didn't matter if they got in at 2:30am the night before, it was on.
Pippen and Harper joined the breakfast club at his house, worked out competitively jawing at each other about how much weight they lifted. Grover would take Jordan through some injury prevention exercises, then Jordan's chef would cook them a big breakfast.
The rule was, you had to complete the work out. You couldn't just come for breakfast.
Go to shoot around - laser like focus into the opponent and shot preparation.
Media. Treatment.
In the afternoon he would go home, take a nap. Sometimes play golf.
Pre game meal at home - steak and potatoes. He would have to leave early for the game based upon where he lived, all the carbohydrates were not keeping him full and he would go hungry right before the game. A dense satiating protein like steak kept his stomach full, his focus sharp and his blood sugar stable.
Drive to the arena. Get taped and ready, put on a new set of Jordans. Fulfil all media, Make-A-Wish and his ticket obligations. Calm, relaxed and loose before games.
Jordan rarely did much extra shoot around on game day, the work has already been done.
Loose and aggressive. A simple, laser focused routine of a champion.
Favourable Conditions Never Come
“We are always falling in love or quarreling, looking for jobs or fearing to lose them, getting ill and recovering, following public affairs. If we let ourselves, we shall always be waiting for some distraction or other to end before we can really get down to our work. The only people who achieve much are those who want knowledge so badly that they seek it while the conditions are still unfavourable. Favourable conditions never come.” - CS Lewis
The timing is never perfect.
You'll never have all guys on the practice floor anyway, stop waiting for that moment.
Opportunities are not waiting for your perfect life set up, they come and then they go.
Famous baseball mental skills coach Ken Ravizza said this and it stuck with me HARD
Are you really that bad you need your A game to perform well?
Shane Warne, greatest leg spin bowler of all time said he probably had 51% good days and 49% bad days. And he has 708 test wickets. Most days he didn't feel like it.
In basketball, if you shoot 40% from 3pt you're in the top tier. You still miss most of the time.
To walk a thorny road, we may cover it's every inch with leather or we can make sandals.
But if you really want something, there's not a really a lot of choices.
That's empowering.