This week I finished two books, "Resilience" by Eric Greitens and "No Excuse Leadership" by Brace Barber. The former shares a series of letters from the former SEAL to a colleague who is struggling with PTSD and alcoholism and the latter a collection of shared experiences from Army Rangers about how their training transformed their lives. The books reinforce common themes - "it's about the work" and "if you want to change the world, you have to change yourself" first. Attitude, making the right choices to meet challenges, and effort "there is always something more you can give" are timeless lessons.
Greitens discusses everything from Aristotle to boxing and Barber's colleagues expose experiences from guys falling asleep standing up, to trying to put a quarter into a tree (as a Coke machine), to peeing your pants to get through Ranger training.
You can buy a SEAL trident or the Ranger tab on Ebay. But you can't buy the respect or the ethos that those symbolize. Representations of "honor" are poor substitutes for the genuine article.
How effective is HGH in enhancing elite athletic performance? We'll never know in a 'controlled' study, but it's fair to say it has very real physiologic effects. Chronic overdosage occurs in a disease where a pituitary tumor secretes HGH leading to a condition called acromegaly that causes diabetes, physiognomic changes, carpal tunnel syndrome, arthritis, and more. The Harvard Health letter reviews more subtle changes (gain in muscle mass and loss of fat) in ordinary subjects and in athletes. Vigorous denials of PED use are nothing new and hardly preclude 'cheating'. Only those with short memories forget the protestations of innocence from A-Rod, Ryan Braun, and Lance Armstrong (among others) of their PED use.
"At the end of the day, I knew the truth was on our side."
Ryan Braun later apologizes...
Jalen Rose, formerly of Michigan's Fab Five, discusses "skill versus will." He compares early career "one-and-done" guys like Aaron Gordon, Noah Vonleh, and James Young to NBA superstars Kevin Durant, Stephen Curry, and LeBron James. Having some skill but not always the will to do "whatever it takes" to advance your game separates mediocrity from greatness.
That doesn't always distinguish the ability to get paid for enough 'specialty' skills.
It doesn't always differentiate the ability to get paid. The player with the above statistics (career free throw percentage of .417) has earned forty-five million dollars and is still only twenty-seven years old with his best paydays ahead of him. He scores inside, rebounds, and blocks shots, but you'd think a true professional would want to take his game to an even higher level. But only time will tell for DeAndre Jordan.
At the other end of the scale is Karl-Anthony Towns and his "shared accountability" with future Hall of Famer Kevin Garnett, his taskmaster and tutor. Towns isn't the average one-and-done player. He covered his walls with motivational quotes as a youngster.
I am not saying that quotes alone will propel anyone to greatness. But combining "skill and will" and the tough, conditional love of KG with Towns affords a great talent the opportunity to become an iconic NBA player.
"...how to be a pro but to be a Hall of Famer...the work you need to put in to be the best player you can be."