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Saturday, January 24, 2026

Get in Your Basketball Notebook

Basketball is a thinking person's game. Top players track development of:

  • Skill (technique)
  • Strategy (tactics, basketball IQ)
  • Physicality (strength, quickness, endurance)
  • Psychology (resilience, emotional control)
 They monitor knowledge and performance over time in a notebook or "commonplace book." Winners are trackers. 

What belongs? 

  • It's YOUR journal. You curate what resonates for you. 
  • Quotes
  • Tips
  • Articles
  • Video links (personal - cellphone and other)
  • Philosophy
As a student, athlete, or a professional, you own your work, your growth, your education, and ultimately your results. 

Sometimes it helps to "show your work." Here are five highlights abstracted by AI from Austin Kleon's "Show Your Work." 

1. Process beats product

Don’t just share the finished masterpiece. Share the work in progress: drafts, notes, failures, revisions, questions. People don’t connect to polish first - they connect to process. Seeing how the sausage is made builds trust and curiosity.

Think: practice clips, whiteboard photos, marginal notes, ugly first drafts.

My take: Jump start your creative and critical imagination. 

2. You don’t have to be an expert — just a few steps ahead

Kleon pushes back on impostor syndrome. You don’t need mastery to share value. If you’re learning something today, someone else needs it tomorrow.

Teaching-as-learning is legitimate. Humility + clarity > authority.

My take: "share something great every day."  

3. Share something small, every day

Consistency matters more than volume. A paragraph, a quote, a sketch, a drill idea. Small daily signals compound into a recognizable voice and body of work.

This is Atomic Habits before Atomic Habits: identity is built by repetition.

My take: Win the grind. Press on.

4. Be generous, not promotional

“Show your work” is not self-marketing. It’s contribution. Credit sources. Link freely. Celebrate others. Make your corner of the internet useful.

Generosity is the flywheel. Attention follows value, not hype.

My take: Make your work championship quality. 

5. Build a home base

Social platforms come and go. Algorithms change. Have a place that’s yours - a blog, newsletter, archive - where your work lives and accumulates.

Rent attention, but own your library.

My take: Your thoughts and ideas have value. Write them down. 

Big takeaway:

Show Your Work isn’t about visibility. It’s about participation - joining the conversation by letting people see how you think, struggle, revise, and grow.

Lagniappe. Talent alone is not the Golden Ticket. 
Lagniappe 2. Anyone who's played a lot has played for a coach in whom your belief was so great that you never wanted to disappoint them. 

 

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