Tuesday, June 12, 2018

Basketball: Don't Sabotage Yourself



"Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result." - Einstein

 "It's your craft, stupid." If we want to lift our craft, then we can't go half speed. Raise the bar; raise the tempo. Return to focusing on our craft. 

Don't sabotage yourself. You didn't study for a test or prepare for an interview. You undermined your chances of success. Why? Did you not want to get the good grade? Were you afraid your friends would call you a geek or a nerd? Did you fear the competition or did you believe that you didn't deserve success? 

We form expectations. "I'm not pretty enough, inexperienced, not good enough, unathletic, not that smart." Rewrite your inner voice. "I can do this. I was made to do this. I will." 

 We sabotage ourself by wasting time, lack of focus, allowing distractions, procrastinating. Anne Lamott authored the writing text, Bird by Bird. "Lamott's 10-year-old brother was trying to write a report on birds. He'd had three months to write it. It was due the next day. Naturally, her bro was panicking at the family cabin when their father put his arm around him and said, "Bird by bird, buddy. Just take it bird by bird." 

Players sabotage themselves. They dribble too much, catch and immediately dribble, gamble too much, double down on mistakes after a turnover or bad shot, foul needlessly, lose their assignment, don't know the time and score. "Get your head right." 




Are you seizing opportunity or forcing the action? As Jay Bilas says, "it's not your shot, it's our shot." "My turn" shots sabotage your team. There is no MY TURN. "You should be market (team) focused, not self-focused." 

Lagniappe:

 In the movie Swordfish, the operative word was misdirection. 
The Warriors do the same thing with distracting weave action disguising the intended backscreen as Curry reverses his basket cut. 

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