You want to be a quality player. Figure it out. In closing his brilliant MasterClass, David Mamet considers limitations and success. Of Winston Churchill, Mamet remarks, "Everyone thought he was an old buffoon. He was just good for one thing...saving Western civilization." He adds, "what hinders you?" What's stopping you from chasing your dream?
Brains not brawn allow humans to skip evolutionary steps along the path to proficiency. Building a set of tools from seeing and imitation takes years not centuries. We are the greater apes.
How important is basketball to you? The world offers thousands of challenges - potable water for all, ending malaria, economic growth in developing countries, universal justice, and far more worthy ends. But if basketball matters, mastery stands a distant companion, adversity a more faithful friend. Gladwell's 10,000 hours (see Chapter 2, page 14) offers monolithic certainty.
What's your basketball goal? Greatness requires relentless, daily work. "The magic is in the work."
What does excellence look like? You know mastery when you see it.
What are you doing today to grow your physical (athleticism, skill) and mental (knowledge, psychology) game? Is it jumping rope or jump stops? No answers guarantee no game.
What's stopping you? More often, the "Pogo" problem holds us back. "A man distracted is a man defeated."
Find mentors to help you, but rely on your work, creativity, persistence, and character. Figure it out.
Lagniappe:
Mike Lombardi describes Bill Belichick as having "Mastery of the non-obvious." That might require some "rabbit pulling" from non-obvious hats.
Adam Spinella shares magic in this video. We have to find answers and execution by our players.
