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Saturday, May 10, 2025

Basketball - The Power of Now

"That which we are, we are, and if we are to be any better, now is the time to begin." - Tennyson

Everyone gets stuck in procrastination mode. "I'll get to it." Escape that trap. 

Eat that frog. That means complete the most unpalatable tasks first, paying bills, hard conversations. Then move on. 

"What does my team need now?" - Brad Stevens  Needs often mean hearing what we don’t want. Sometimes it's working harder...or a day off. 

"If you don't have time to do it right, now, when will you have time?" - John Wooden  Intrinsic motivation is a gift. It's the "Get to" not "Have to" mentality. 

Literature includes knowing Your Next Five Moves by Patrick Bet-David which emphasizes "think like a chess grandmaster." 

1) Reflect  Solving hard problems begins with understanding the problem. Our defensive problem was ball containment. And I was too stubborn to change easily to zone to mitigate the issue. 

2) Root cause (leading to decisions) if we’re allowing too many points, is it personnel, strategy or operations? Operational failure such as fouling or poor transition defense are discipline problems. 

3) Trust - leaders establish trust with communications and actions. Trust forges loyalty.

4) Anticipate - what if and what can go wrong? Build anti-fragile operations with depth and training. Every team must handle pressure or pressure will handle them. 

5) Negotiation - there is always give and take. Work to provide solutions for both sides. Some 'leaders' see negotiations as transactional with a winner and a loser. That produces delays and acrimony. 

Lagniappe. Get advice over feedback. 

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Lagniappe 2. Let players know what we value most. 

Happy Mothers' Day to the women who make every day special for the rest of us.