To learn about anything, learn about everything. Charlie Munger says, "be a learning machine" and Kevin Eastman, "be a learn-it-all, not a know-it-all." Recognize and use powerful mental models.
FEEDBACK LOOPS. Disproportionate benefits flow to successful enterprises. From Farnam Street, "Winner-take-all markets are increasingly dictated by feedback loops. Feedback loops develop when the output becomes the input. Consider books. More people will buy a best-selling book because it’s a best-selling book (social proof influencer). More people will listen to a song that tops charts. More people will go to see an Oscar-winning film. These feedback loops magnify initial luck or manipulation." Google dwarfs other search platforms. Markets trend because of buying or selling reinforcement. The powerful in Congress get the lobbying spoils.
Basketball follows these principles. Golden State inks Kevin Durant and DeMarcus Cousins. Elite men's and women's basketball programs get the best recruits. AAU powerhouses get the top players. "The rich get richer." Feedback loops.
Education builds antifragile states. In Antifragile, Nassim Taleb writes, “A loser is someone who, after making a mistake, doesn’t introspect, doesn’t exploit it, feels embarrassed and defensive rather than enriched with a new piece of information, and tries to explain why he made the mistake rather than moving on.” A learning culture makes us antifragile.
How do we build a learning culture? Work as agents of change to disrupt the playing field. We don't water the baselines or slope the foul lies; we exploit trend shifts, analytics, and subtle differences in experience and training. A learning culture rearranges and changes the pieces on the board. Know whether the roller or the ballhandler has the high scoring efficiency on the pick-and-roll. Do more of what works and less of what doesn't.
In Ego Is the Enemy, Ryan Holiday organizes by Aspiration, Success, and Failure. The separation ignores the continuum, "sometimes we're the windshield and sometimes we're the bug." Process to limit the downside, the fragility or bugness.
1. I've shared using notebooks.
2. The Folder of Ideas
4. Drill book. Have one.
5. Reading routine. Commit to a daily reading period...not necessarily about basketball.
6. Spreadsheet with useful links for you.
7. Improving teaching. I keep a copy of Doug Lemov's Teach Like a Champion in my workspace.
Lagniappe:
The Celtics create some reverse action off the SLOB. Smart (2) screens for Horford (5). Tatum (4) inbounds and cuts downhill off the Brown (3) screen. Naturally, they run options off that. This has roots with Bob Hurley.
