The Ultimate Struggle - Simplicity and Execution

"It's your game." Simple is hard. Choose simplicity and clarity. 

Warren Buffett tells investors to imagine having twenty lifetime 'tickets' to invest. Think hard. Apply analogical tools that anyone can understand. 

1. Focus. Bob Woodward had a sign on his desk at The Washington Post, FAA. Focus and act aggressively. 

2. Give. "Basketball is sharing," says Phil Jackson. The most successful givers combine giving and ambition. Whom is it about?

3. Write it down. On a one page sheet of paper, write our basketball essentials.

4. Edit. "Advance the story." Reduce the page to an index card. 

• "More and better shots..."
• "Be here now...this possession."
• "Make good decisions."
• Build winning habits.
• Process over results

5. Make it indelible. Religions emphasize commandments or pillars. What absolutes must players must learn and embrace? Don Meyer advised, "you can't use everything." Teach to the audience. Don't try to teach sixth graders differential calculus. TIA...teamwork, improvement, accountability.

6. Buffett has the 25-5 rule. Write out twenty-five priorities; whittle it down to our top five. 

7. Use "Commander's Intent." Make the objective clear with a desired end state. Be sure the team understands the necessary steps

8. Win with better habits. Pick, stick with, and check habits. On many basketball sites, coaches ask for or preach about the best offense. "What offense will work best for my fifth graders in Lompox, Idaho?" They can't make layups, shoot, cut urgently, or block out. Shakespeare learned the alphabet and grammar before he wrote eternal prose. 

Crabbed age and youth cannot live together; Youth is full of pleasure, age is full of care; Youth like summer morn, age like winter weather; Youth like summer brave, age like winter bare. Youth is full sport, age's breath is short; Youth is nimble, age is lame; Youth is hot and bold, age is weak and cold; Youth is wild, age is tame. Age, I do abhor thee; youth, I do adore thee.

William Shakespeare

Our favorite team lost their last game by a point. Check the film.

• Did they miss one layup? 
• Did they miss two free throws? 
• Did they surrender an offensive rebound that led to a basket?
• Did they close out poorly leading to a basket?
• Did they get beaten on a pick-and-roll pass or a slipped pick? 
• Did they commit a bad foul leading to free throws? 
• Did they gamble on a steal that translated into a basket? 
• Did they turn the ball over leading to a transition basket? 
• Did they allow a transition basket because of lack of awareness?

"Every day is player development day." Skill is king. 

The rundown Spartak Tennis Club in Moscow turned out more top twenty tennis players than the entire United States. The teaching produced players with exceptional fundamentals honed by years of repetition...imitatsiya. Players practiced for years before permitted to compete. "The magic is in the work." 

We want results. Now. That's not how sport (or music, chess, or writing) works. Getting people to abandon the short-term for the lung pull is tough. 

We have to be able to see the possibilities before we can execute them. 

Lagniappe. "The help can never be beaten." St. Peter's beats the help. 

"Draw 2." 

"One More" pass forces the long closeout. 

Practice a variety of finishes with either hand off either foot (or two feet) from either side of the basket. 

Lagniappe 2. "Chop wood, carry water."