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Monday, January 27, 2025

Basketball - "Don't Miss Twice"

"We make our habits and our habits make us."

Want to be an impact player? Improve your habits. It starts when your feet hit the floor in the morning. 

  1. Ask "how am going to get better today?"
  2. Eat that frog. Do what you don't want to do - the hard conversation, school assignment, or five minutes of mindfulness. 
  3. "Win the morning." Have a consistent routine. 
  4. Eat better. Protein, fiber, and less processed food. 
  5. Be focused. School matters. Put every fiber of your being into it. If you can learn the skills and the playbook, you can learn geometry. 
  6. "Don't Miss Twice." In James Clear's best-seller Atomic Habits he reminds us that habits only work when we stick to them. I say, "pick, stick, and check." Pick better habits, stick to them, and check them. 
  7. Dot B. Stop and take a breath. 
  8. Be on "Dean Smith Time." Be early. UNC star Phil Ford said that he set his watch ten minutes fast. Respect other's time. 
  9. "Don't cheat the drill." The best players go full-tilt, full-time. 
  10. Be a great teammate. The best players make everyone around them better. 
  11. Impact winning. Put the scoreboard over the scorebook. Winning 50-50 balls, deflections, blocking out, setting great screens, taking a charge, getting a hockey assist, talking on defense, or forcing a turnover may not show up "in the book." But they win.
  12. Share. "Basketball is sharing." 
  13. Say "thank you." People remember.
  14. Recover. Develop a recovery program after training. That may be a protein drink, thermal contrast (heat/cold), a nap. 
  15. Be a tracker. Measure your progress. Seek personal bests. 
  16. Share and deflect credit. Humility doesn't mean thinking less of yourself but about yourself less. 
  17. Keep a gratitude journal. Find something for which to be grateful.
  18. Sleep on it. Work to get eight hours. LeBron gets twelve! Shakespeare wrote, "sleep that knits up the raveled sleave of care." Sleep allows physical and mental healing. Sleep consolidates memories. Sleep washes toxins out of the brain. 
That's a big list. Focus on a few that you can control. Then don't miss twice. 

Lagniappe. Steal great ideas. 

Lagniappe 2. Another horns gem. 

Lagniappe 3. Choose humility. 

 


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