Coach Intensity

The coach stays intense and focused the entire game…but the players ebb and flow. The players get frustrated and dejected and let the emotion of the moment cloud their actions.

Why?

Experience counts. It helps declutter the moment when you’ve gone through a bunch of moments kinda like this one.

College basketball players are young and easily swayed by circumstances. Coaches are older and their strength and zeal isn’t as tethered to circumstances.

»» This is why as players retire after their pro careers they say ‘Mentally I’m stronger than ever but I just can’t quite move like I used to’. If only the young could have the wisdom of the old.

Like the Faces song…I wish that I knew what I know now when I was younger.

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Tired Free Throws

If you can make free throws when you’re exhausted you have a chance.

That muscle memory has to be deeper than your tired.

Refining those skills and instincts to such a degree that your mind and body can put together a score even when your mind and body are stacked against you.

What kicks in when you’re exhausted?

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We Shoulda Had It

It isn’t rare for the score to be pretty close at half time for the 16 seed vs 1 seed games in the college basketball tournament.

But then by the final buzzer it’s a blow out.

The 16 seed says ‘we shoulda had it’ because during the first half they showed they could hang. They found out what it looks and feels like to run with an elite program. And if they did it for one half they should have just been able to repeat it for the second half.

But that elite level of play is something the 1 seed has been doing for thirty games…while the small school only has that kind of gas in the tank to handle twenty minutes.

It’s good for us to find others who show us what greatness looks and feels like, and to show us what we’re capable of if we’re willing to do the work.

The 16 seeds play as hard as they possibly can…and often learn that pure effort isn’t enough to get the desired result.

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Walking And A Little Faster

It takes about twenty seconds to walk the length of a basketball court.

Speeding up to a slow light jog cuts the time in half.

If you’ve been metaphorically walking for a while, this change will work wonders.

»» Worth noting…it’s not a concept that can be rolled over and over forever…because ultimately you can’t sprint all the time.

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Work On The Real Thing

It’s foolish to share fake success when you could be using that time to work on the real thing.

All that emotional energy and time editing the pictures and deciding on the perfect background and scripting your language just vague enough. You can do better.

Go back to work.

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Just Make It Up

When you go to the grocery store you don’t worry about what you’re going to say to the deli guy and you don’t write a script for your interaction with the cashier. You just make it up.

So we know you can do it.

But at the grocery store if you fumble some words you still get your roast beef…and are allowed to come back next time.

When it comes to creative pursuits…you’re just as able to make it up but it’s easy to get tied down in what you think the consequences might be if this doesn’t go perfectly. When the truth is whatever happens, you’re allowed to come back next time.

Hum Love on Spotify and Apple