How To Get The Most Out Of Quarantine for Basketball Players

So I've talked about this a little bit, but I want to go back to how to maximize your quarantine. And this is something that we already have talked about a little bit. Being self disciplined, being holding yourself accountable. But you want to make sure that you get the most you can out of this in this time that we have. So like I said before, guys, it starts with knowing what your goals are. So I specifically want to talk about next season. So what are your goals for next season? What do you want to get out of next season? You know, and again, this is something that, like, you know, I won't tell you what your goal should be. That's something you got to think about for yourself. So what are your goals moving forward? And then it goes to, you know, what you want to do long term. Okay, so you have your next season goals and long term, what do you want those things that you should know? Write them down if you need to, but you got to know them for sure. And then you got to determine what it's going to take for you to actually achieve those things. Okay? It's not good enough to just know them. If you don't know what to do, then you're going to find it difficult to maintain that level of commitment to it because you don't know if you're actually getting closer to where you want to be. So it's important that you know that as well. And then you got to know, what am I going to do now to move towards those things? What can I do every day to move towards those things? So you got to figure out, today I'm doing this workout because I need to get better at this. Today I'm going to watch a breakdown on this player because I need to, I want to get better at this specific skill. That's something that's very important. And you can't, you, you can't skip that part. And that part becomes important because you have it written down. You know what you want to get to. And because of that, your commitment to it is going to raise up, is going to be higher. You're going to be able to hold yourself accountable more easily. Because now you know, like, okay, I need to do this today, like, I need to do this now. There's no excuse saying I didn't know, look, I didn't know what to do or I thought I was doing enough, but now you know what you need to do. Okay, so that's an important part too. And I think this goes to a bigger part where a bigger point, which is you know, the players who are going to succeed long term are the ones who don't need situations to be perfect for them to still get the work in. And this is, you know, I, I think about this too, with just myself, like, obviously it's not perfect for anybody right now. And I still think to myself, like, okay, you know what? I just want to wait till everything's better, back to normal, and then I'll do this. But you have to understand that the people who do things now when it's not perfect, those are people who are actually going to keep on doing things when things are back to being normal. Right? Because things will never be perfect completely. Right now it's obvious that things are not great. Okay, so it's obvious. But when, when, when the quarantine's over and, you know, school is back and everything is how, how, how it is, how it usually is, there's still going to be things that are going to be not perfect. And then at that point, the people who are making those excuses are going to find new excuses to make. Okay, so you want to break yourself out of that habit. Okay, so you can't wait for things to be perfect because they never will be. They never will be perfect. And, you know, I love, I love reading about guys who have overcome significant things to get to where they are. And, you know, I think one of the best examples of that is a guy like LeBron. You know, you look at LeBron and he grew up in Akron, didn't have a lot of money at all growing up. You know, he. There, There were days where he was hungry. And I think, I remember reading that he, at one point, when he was in, like, first, second grade, he missed like 80 days of school or something like that. And, like, it's just a bunch of craziness. And I read that he, you know, at some point, really, he was technically homeless, living on people on, you know, friends and family's couches and stuff like that. And when he was 9, his mom sent him to live with one of his coaches because it would just be a better situation for him. So, I mean, obviously that's just intense, right? Like, that's crazy that a kid that age has to go through all that before the age of nine. And you might think to yourself, like, wow, like, you know, that kid didn't have much growing up. Like, he probably, like, you wouldn't expect that that kid all of a sudden becomes the best, like, in my opinion, the best player in NBA history. And it's crazy to think about that. That sort of. That sort of revelation because, you know, everyone has to go through something, but not a lot of people have to go through all of that, right, in terms of just. Just all the poverty and. And all the stuff he has to go through as a kid at that age. So despite things not being perfect, though, LeBron overcame that and propelled himself forward to becoming an NBA legend, becoming one of the best players in the history of the game. And clearly, obviously, LeBron is physically gifted. There is no denying that. One of the most. One of the most gifted athletes we've ever seen, okay? But there's a lot of guys out there who are physically gifted. There's a lot of guys out there who are. Also have those. Those sorts of. That height, that athleticism. Maybe not to his degree, but. But there are guys out there who also have physical gifts, but they don't achieve 1% of what LeBron has, okay? And a lot of those guys have come from much better situations where, you know, they might have had a steady home, you know, steady family situation. They might have had access to, you know, whatever they needed. There was no shortage of money or anything like that. But despite having those advantages and things being more perfect, they don't achieve as much as the person who didn't have as much, didn't grow up in a. In a perfect situation at all. And I think the question is, is why is that? Like, why is that possible? Obviously, that's not every situation, but how is it possible that somebody who didn't have all the advantages growing up is. Is where he is now? And I think that having to overcome imperfect situations is one of the most important things that you can do to propel yourself forward. And the reason that it is because when you start to develop the mindset that even when things aren't ideal, you're going to get it done, all of a sudden, when things become better, you are able to just level up the way that you work, because now you have things you didn't have before, right? You're still working. Your work is like, listen, I don't care that someone might have more than me. I'm going to beat them. I'm going to be better than them. Then all of a sudden you get those things and you still maintain that mindset. Well, now the rate at which you're going to improve is just going to be astronomical. It's going to be crazy. And, you know, when you approach. When you approach everything, when you approach your work with the mindset, though, of, you know, regardless of the situation, regardless of anything on the outside, I'm going to get it done. That is such a powerful thing, such a powerful way to think. And that's why a guy like LeBron is where he is now. Because regardless of the circumstances that he had, regardless of all that stuff, the way he worked at it didn't change. It stayed the same the whole time. And I think that when the only option is to succeed, when you say, you know what, listen, my family, you know, we're in poverty right now. The only way to get my. To get my mom out of. Out of poverty is to be successful. I mean, that in itself, like, that's just crazy, right? That. That's a crazy drive that you're going to have just. Just from that alone, okay? So not everybody's gonna have that story, right? Not everyone's gonna be. Grow up like that. So. But that does not mean that you don't have to overcome imperfect situations. That's my point. My point is not that you have to go through everything LeBron went through. My point is that you need to go through. When you. When they come, when you get to them, imperfect situations, you need to get through those. You need to use that to propel you forward. This right now, great example, the quarantine, I mean, the definition of an imperfect situation for everybody, okay? But the way that you work right now is the way that you're going to work long term, okay? So if you can approach your work with saying, I'm going to get it done. If you can do that now, now think about when things get back to being better. All of a sudden it's like, wow, the way that you're going to be able to get things done at that point is going to be crazy. So you need to make sure that you embrace that. It's not perfect, But a lot of times the best players didn't have it perfect growing up, okay? But they were able to deal with the mindset that they're going to overcome it. And because of that, look at where they are now. So that's how we're going to be able to tell who really wants it, who doesn't is who was working when it wasn't perfect, who was still improving, who was still looking for ways to get better when it wasn't ideal, okay? So approach these. These imperfect and difficult times with the understanding that, you know, you can become significantly better if you choose to take action on those things. So that. That's very important. And. And a point that I want to bring up regarding the. The whole quarantine situation. I think that's going to be big going down, going down the line for a bunch of.