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Saturday, January 31, 2026

Basketball - The Seven Habits Applied

Many here have read Steven Covey's The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People.

Let's start with a simple list, apply a basketball principle to each, and focus on one today. The list comes from Brave AI. Of the seven habits, “Sharpen the Saw” may matter most in a long season - and a long career.

Be Proactive
Focus on what you can control, take responsibility for your actions, and choose your responses rather than reacting to circumstances. 

Basketball - This is core Stoicism. "Control what we can control." Become both more efficient with time management and more effective. Coach Saban says, "Are you investing time or spending it?"

Begin with the End in Mind
Define your vision, values, and long-term goals to guide your decisions and actions. 

Basketball - In 1970 my coach, Ellis Lane, in his first varsity job, had a broken program without much talent. He first organized updating an outdoor court, including a sign "Tech Tourney 1973." He knew that you can't turn an ocean liner around rapidly. Three years later our team won a sectional championship amidst a series of upsets. 

Put First Things First

Prioritize tasks based on importance, not urgency, and organize your time around your highest priorities. 

Basketball - Brad Stevens asks, "What does our team need NOW?" Successful individuals, families, businesses, and communications have an operational "North Star." Identity is key - "This is who we are. That is what we do. We know our WHY." 

Think Win-Win

Seek mutually beneficial solutions in relationships, emphasizing fairness, respect, and collaboration.

Basketball - Coaches depend on getting "buy-in." Communication, adding value, and positivity matter. You've heard coaches tell teams that they're worthless, lazy, or selfish. But you've heard few good coaches berate their players. 

Seek First to Understand, Then to Be Understood

Practice empathetic listening to fully grasp others’ perspectives before expressing your own. 

Basketball - There is always an "inside view" that operates "within the building" and an "outside view" of community, fans, and critics. Belief always starts within while skepticism arises outside.

Synergize

Leverage diverse strengths and perspectives to create innovative, collaborative solutions greater than the sum of individual efforts. 

"I can go faster alone, but we can go farther together." - African Proverb  Find ways to become a "force multiplier." Teaching, conditioning, and teamwork are all force multipliers. 

Sharpen the Saw

Continuously renew yourself in four key areas - physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual for sustainable competitive advantage.  

"If I had six hours to chop down a tree, I'd spend the first four sharpening the axe." - Abraham Lincoln

The remainder of the piece focuses on 'sharpening the saw'. 

The human body and mind have a remarkable capacity to upgrade both the hardware (strength, conditioning, neuroplasticity) and the software (learning capacity and resilience).

There are only a relatively few core notes that produce the greatest musical compositions. Three primary colors produce all magnificent paintings. Five primary senses allow us to experience the world. 

As Kevin Eastman says, "you own your paycheck." Our will and access to training and experience allow us to expand our portfolio of skills. 

1. Work-life balance. 

Few areas challenge coaches and players more than work-life balance. More work encroaches on family and relationships. The biggest tips are first, awareness, and second, where my wife excels, "How can I help?"

2. Reading. 

You're here with a "growth mindset" seeking to acquire and modify information. If your house were on fire and you could save one basketball book, what would it be? I'd grab Dean Smith's "Basketball: Multiple Offense and Defense." 

3. Personal care. 

Machines need fuel and maintenance. Players need quality fuel, hydration, conditioning, sleep, recovery. Coaches need self-care, too. Habits, such as morning routine, study, and mindfulness fall within. 

4. Learning. 

The breadth of available resources for players and coaches is breathtaking. 

  • Books 
  • Online video on every imaginable subject
  • Artificial intelligence  
  • Study of individual (e.g. cellphone) video and team video
  • Online clinics
  • Mentoring - "Mentoring is the only shortcut to excellence." 
  • Blogs 
"There are none so blind as those who will not see." Having the will to be open to coaching is vital. "Everyone benefits from coaching," says Sean McVay, including himself. 

5. Analogy. 

Few areas offer more area for growth than learning across domains. Everything is up for exploration. 
  • Leadership - business and military study are personal favorites. "The Leader's Bookshelf" is a magnificent, inspiring work. 
  • Science and Technology - innovation in one field might trigger possibilities in another. 
  • Failure - studying failure, often through case studies, reinforces that understanding failure can help prevent or limit it. 
Expose ourselves to the firehose of information and work to learn how to regulate it. 

Lagniappe. Sets are "lines on the page" that can trigger a myriad of actions. 

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