YouTube video by Ethan Khoza advising basketball players to switch from "performance mode" to "learning mode" during the offseason. Core claims: performance-focused workouts (trying to look good and avoid mistakes) limit growth; learning mode requires deliberately creating challenges/constraints and accepting failure to force adaptation. Two actionable steps: (1) Use the Goldilocks principle — train at the edge of ability (target ~30–70% failure/success rate) by increasing difficulty or adding constraints; (2) Be intentional with clear practice goals and constraints (e.g., force driving to the rim instead of taking open shots) so practice targets weaknesses. The video includes a DM anecdote from a college player (already seeing improvement) and ends with a promotional CTA for Basketball IQ Academy.
Questions this video answers
March 28, 2025
Approximately 30–70% (fail 30 to 70% of the time).
The speaker says the player once hit 12 three-pointers in a high school game.
Ethan Khoza
Chapters
Most Hoopers waste their entire off season and they don't even realize it. So I got a DM the other day from a college player who's just started with basketball IQ Academy, and he explained how one mindset shift that he's applied to his pickup runs and his workouts has helped him already start to get better, even though the offseason has just started. He said been pretty busy, so only just starting the IQ Academy stuff, but I already feel like the whole learning mode approach to playing pickup is helping me a lot, focusing on driving and using my strength to get to the rim. In this video, I'm going to show you what that mindset shift is, what why it matters, and how you can use it to come back next season a completely new player. Most Hoopers approach the offseason the same as they approach games, which is in performance mode. And a lot of times they stay stuck in performance mode for the whole offseason, which basically just means that they go into every workout, every pickup run, trying to dominate, trying to look as good as possible, trying to make the least amount of mistakes that they can, which is the exact same approach that you take when you're playing in a game that matters, right? You want to look good, you don't want to make mistakes, you want to stick to what you do well and avoid the things that you don't do very well. Also, lot of times players will approach their offseason drills, their workouts, their pickup runs, as if there's a trophy that's going to get awarded if they go 9 for 10 in a shooting drill or something like that. Now, that approach is a huge mistake. And not being able to change out of performance mode when you get to the offseason is a big reason why you're not going to make a lot of progress throughout the offseason when you're constantly trying to perform, which means doing things you're already good at, already comfortable doing, and and you're avoiding the things that you're not good at or that you're not very comfortable doing. You're not going to grow. So when you get back to basketball season next year thinking that you put in all this work and you're going to be way better, you're actually going to show up the same exact player that you were because you kept yourself in performance about the entire time, you only grow when you switch and you put yourself into learning mode instead. That means that you're trying new things, you're willing to work on, things that you're not completely comfortable doing. And it means that you're self assessing and you're asking questions. It means that you're failing sometimes on purpose, or you're putting yourself in a position to where you might fail repeatedly in order to figure out what works and what doesn't work. And it means that you're making decisions based on development and what's going to be best for you long term and not just the short term outcome of a specific drill or a specific workout or a specific possession in a random pickup game. Now, over time that adds up. And if you spend your whole season in learning mode instead of performing performance mode, you will come back a completely new player. So here's the exact two steps you need to take this offseason to make sure that you put yourself in learning mode and that you come back the next year way better. Number one is you need to use the Goldilocks principle. Whenever you train or whenever you play, you need to be constantly at the edge of your ability. And that's really how you get better is training at the edge of your ability. Now what this means is that in your drills and your workouts, in your pickup games, you should be failing like 30 to 70% of the time is about the general rule that I use. So if throughout all your shooting workouts, you're shooting 80, 90% every single day and every single drill, well, you need to find a way to make that drill harder in order to mess up and miss more. So it might mean that you need to shoot from farther away. It might mean they need to add a certain constraint like mixing up the way that your feet look, or giving yourself shots, coming off of bad passes, or trying to shoot faster. Anything that is going to be another variable into that drill going to make it harder for you to make that shot. You can also make it even simpler by changing the target or the goal that you have. So if normally you shoot really well, when you only have to make three shots, maybe change that to having to make three in a row, or you have to make five in a row, or you have to make six shots without missing two in a row, if we're talking like a ball handling drill, maybe you need to go faster. Maybe you need to add another layer to your drills. When you do this, when you add those mistakes and those mess ups and those failures into your training, what that does is it signals to your brain. It says, oh, wow, I'm not succeeding, I'm not doing very well. I need to find a way to adapt. And that's actually how growth and how improvement happens. Like, that's the mental process that you go through when you're actually improving. But if you're always succeeding and your workouts are easy, your drills are easy, and you never adapt, you never forced to adapt, then that improvement process doesn't happen. So you're going to come back the next year not having challenge yourself at all, and you're not going to be any better because you weren't to forced, forced to get better. If you want to get better, you need to force your brain to improve because improving is one of the most mentally taxing things your brain will do. That's why a lot of times I say to players, you should sometimes feel bad when you leave the gym after a workout. You shouldn't always feel good. Usually when you feel bad, that's the sign, the signal that your brain is saying, wow, that was really hard. That was difficult, like I had to work. And that's where growth comes from. In those moments where you leave the gym and you don't feel very good about yourself or about your performance, you. You probably got better that day. And if you want to be great, you have to consistently put yourself in that over and over and over again. And that's why, on one hand, it's frustrating because in order to be really good, you have to be willing to make yourself uncomfortable a lot. But it's also something that should be a really encouraging thing to you because it means that the majority of people aren't going to be willing to do it. So if you are, you're going to separate yourself very quickly. And the second thing you need to do this offseason to make sure you put yourself in learning mode as much as possible, and you get as good as you possibly can get is you need to be intentional and you need to go into your workouts and into your pickup runs with a very clear goal and intention in mind. So going back to the example of the player who reached out to me about what he's doing this offseason, he mentioned that he was focusing on putting himself in learning mode and really focusing on driving to the basket more this offseason. Now, I happen to know this player. I've known him for a few years and I've kind of followed him along. He's a really, really good shooter. Like he had a game in high school where he hit 12 threes in a game. So shooting the basketball, something that he's very comfortable doing, is very good at. So for him, he's saying, well, how can I Expand my game. He can do that by focusing on the next area, which would be driving in the basket. So you go into your pickup game saying, hey, you know what? I could shoot the ball. That's my best strength. If I was in performance mode and this is a real game, I probably look to shoot more, but because I'm in learning mode and I'm trying to get better, I'm only going to drive during this pickup game. Even if I have an open shot, I'm going to pass it up so that I can work on driving to the basket. I can work on making mistakes and not knowing when the best time to drive is or the best way to do it. And, and when I make those mistakes, that's when I make the adjustments, my brain adapts. And that's how you become better at it, by giving yourself what's called a constraint, which basically just means that you're forcing yourself to do something or not do something. And that is a huge part of being intentional and putting yourself in learning mode. And so this player, he gets it. He's not trying to impress anybody right now. He's not trying to look good right now. He's trying to get better. And a lot of times, looking good and getting better are not two things that go together. In fact, a lot of times, especially in this case, there's. They probably are at odds. You probably can't do both. You got to tell yourself that you're more concerned with getting better than you are with looking good or succeeding every single time if you truly want to improve. The off season is for growth. It's not for showing off. You've got to choose to be in learning mode. You've got to choose to want the struggle, to want the difficulty, to want the fatigue that's going to come along with not feeling great every single day when you leave the gym. Because that's how actual growth happens and that's how long term you. You're going to get way better than most players who don't even understand this concept and are not willing to put themselves through it. Now, that college player that I mentioned, he's already seeing growth and changing the way that he approaches things and does things, just with some of the mindset shift that he's gotten from Basketball IQ Academy already. And this stuff is just scratching the surface of what he's going to get out of it and what he's going to learn inside of Basketball IQ Academy. I'll teach you how to read the game at a high level, how to train your mind and how to become a better decision maker so that you can increase your points per game and the amount of plays that you make for your teammates, so you can play with unshakable confidence, so that you can finally translate the things that you work on and practice into your games. And so you play with way more freedom and way less stress and pressure. It'll give you the exact steps to take so you stop second guessing yourself and that you know the right decision to make, and you know that you're going to be successful every time you step on the court. So check out the top link down below in the description to check out Basketball IQ Academy. And by doing that, you're going to guarantee that this is the best offseason that you've ever had. I appreciate you for watching Talk Soon. Peace.
