Ryan Holiday shares Stoic questions. They deserve our attention, especially as Stoicism has a foothold in professional sports. Stuff trickles down.
Who are you spending time with? "You become like your friends." Balance time for family. Whom do we read and listen to? We will never meet Abraham Lincoln but learn from his passion for education...and winning (see Team of Rivals).
Is this in my control? Focus on controllables. Decide what to study and its impact on our process. Mastery follows fundamentals.
Defense:
No easy baskets.
Pressure the ball. Attack, create chaos and discomfort.
Deny penetration, deny the lane.
Good defenses communicate. "Silent teams lose."
One bad shot. Rebounding finishes the defensive stop.
What does your ideal day look like? Knowing our ideal day, work to reproduce it within the context of our time and responsibilities.
Mine includes watching video.
To be or to do? Find our motivation." Are we building a program or a statue?" Colonel John Boyd (OODA Loops) advocated for doing over being.
If I am not for me, who is? If I am only for me, who am I? Return to Phil Jackson's, "Basketball is sharing." Care about the person first and stay engaged to help change lives through collaboration and networking. Remind players and families that we enthusiastically write recommendations.
Help program graduates go places professionally. Help them find canvases to paint.
What am I missing by choosing to worry or be afraid? Chase success not loss avoidance. Fear dampens our experience and diminishes our relationships.
Are you doing your job? To do our job, we have to know it.
- Teach.
- Get everyone on the same page.
- Check.
- Analyze results and revise.
- Revisit step 1.
What is the most important thing? "Always do your best." Our best leaves no regrets. Review success and failure; reinforce the former and edit the latter. Our best will vary.
Excellence exacts a high price. Are we willing to pay it? "Leaders make leaders."
Who is this for? Who is our audience? I write for anyone who loves basketball and loves learning, relating both to other domains.
Does this actually matter? Each of us has a 'this'. Basketball needn't be the most important thing in your life. But it should be while on the court.
Will this be alive time or dead time? Investing or spending our time? Be present and live in the moment.
Is this who I want to be? Represent our values. At home, at work, on the court, we shape culture. Urban Meyer at Ohio State defined 'crossing the red line' (onto the field) as where excellence had to happen. We all need our red line.
Lagniappe (something extra). "Leaders can let you fail and not be a failure."
Lagniappe 2. It's harder to contain our emotions than to go off on officials, coaches, and others. Mental toughness is a skill.
Lagniappe 3. Expanding range may relate to 'sequencing'