This Advice From Steve Jobs Will Change Your Basketball Career Forever.

There's a good chance you're watching this on an iPhone right now, or maybe an iPad or a MacBook. I want to talk about Apple real quick. Steve Jobs was the co founder of Apple, who, based on individual market cap, is the richest tech company in the world right now. And there's no doubt that Apple has completely changed the trajectory of the world as we know it. And I want to share a quote from Steve Jobs. He says, people think focus means saying yes to the thing that you've got to focus on. But the that's not what it means at all. It means saying no to the hundred other good ideas that are there. You have to pick carefully. I'm actually as proud of things that we haven't done as the things I have done. I want to talk about exactly what that means. Essentially what he's saying is that the things that he hasn't done are as much, if not more so responsible for his success, for all the money, for the popularity of Apple as a brand. All of that stuff is more so caused by the fact that he's chosen not to do some things instead of just being because of the things that he has done. Being able to pick and choose what to do and what not to do are equally important skills. And sometimes being able to decide what not to do can be an even more important skill. We live in a world that's all about doing. The more you're doing, the more you feel like you're accomplishing something, the more you're doing, the more people look at you and say, oh, congratulations, good for you. If you're out there working out for eight hours a day, people, you know, pat you in the back and tell you that such a hard worker, right? If you're out there being really efficient with what you're doing, people might look at you and say, oh, why are you not working as hard as that other person out there, right? We live in a world that celebrates doing and in reality, being able to avoid distractions and deciding what things you're not going to do is truly what's going to take you to that next level that you want to get to. I remember being a young player and wanting to become better at everything every single off season, right? I wanted to come back the next year and be the best shooter on the team. I wanted to come back and be the best ball handler, I wanted to be the best finisher, I wanted to be the best defender. I wanted to be the best everything, right? That was always, that was always the goal. That was always What I thought, I'm going to go and I'm going to work on all these skills and I'm going to come back and I'm just going to be a completely transformed player in every way. And instead, I usually came back feeling like I couldn't really hang my hat on any of those skills more so than I could the year before. Like, yeah, I gotten better at things, but not to a point where I really felt like, yeah, like, that's my thing. I can pinpoint that. I got significantly better at that. I took that skill from being okay to being great or from being great to being the best, right? Because I wasn't focused. And in reality, I was focused on doing right, because doing is what we're told is important. And I see so many players making the same mistakes. Here's the reality of basketball, right? Kind of to tie this back in. You have to be great at something to get to where you want to go. So whatever your goal might be as a player, you want to, you know, score more points, you want to start on your team, you want to have this role, you want to play this position, you want to make it to the next level. Whatever your goal is, right? In order to get that, you have to be great at something. You have to be a master of something, okay? Because being a master, having mastery at a certain skill is incredibly valuable. And usually when you're a master at a skill that's going to contribute to your team winning. If you're a great defender, that's a valuable skill that helps your team win. If you're a great shooter, that's a valuable skill to help your team win. If you're a great ball handler or a great facilitator, that's a skill that helps your team win, right? So when you do those things and you're able to add value to your team in that way, that means that you have to be on the floor because you contribute to winning, right? You have to play when you have to play because you contribute to winning your valuable when it comes to the ultimate team goal, which is to win a game, when you do that, you gain more opportunities, you play more, you get more opportunities. And when you have mastery, it's going to allow you to be prepared to take advantage of those opportunities. And when you do that, when you take advantage of those opportunities, you're able to gain more opportunities, right? And that's where you start to work towards those goals that you might have. I want to make it to the next level. I want to, you Know, get this sort of recognition or I want to achieve this or that, whatever it is for you personally that's going to come through. How much do I impact winning? And if I don't, it's probably because I'm not a master at a certain skill, right? It starts with doing something that's valuable, and that starts with being a master of something. There's a quote that you've probably heard, and I want to kind of talk about it for a second, maybe add to it, because you probably haven't heard it in this way before. You've heard the quote that says, jack of all trades, master of none, right? And I was looking at that quote earlier and actually, what a lot of people, I didn't even know this, I didn't hear this until I was looking at it. But there's actually a second part to that. It's jack of all trades, master of none, but oftentimes better than master of one. So essentially what that quote is saying is that, you know, you can be a jack of all trades and not really be great at anything, but a lot of times that's better than, you know, only being good at one thing and not really being good at anything else, right? So it's essentially saying, hey, you know, be, you know, diverse in the things that you know and things that you can do and don't worry if you can't master one. Because a lot of times that's better than having mastery of one thing but not really knowing anything about anything else. And in a lot of ways that's true, right? In life, it's great to know a little about a lot, right? That's going to allow you to be successful in a lot of different situations. If you kind of have knowledge about everything, you're kind of a Renaissance man, as they would say. But I think in basketball and in definitely other areas, but in basketball, I actually disagree with this. I think that there are a lot of. Of of points that come from being a master of one thing, having something you can hang your hat on, right? Value comes from having something that a coach can look at and say, hey, this, that is going to help us win. That player needs opportunities right there. That's how you gain those opportunities, is by having a skill that's valuable and that comes through mastery, right? I think a lot of players will look at these great players out there, right? You look at somebody like LeBron or Steph Curry or Luka, and you see guys who can do a lot of different things at a high level, and everybody Wants to become those players, right? So that kind of falls into the trap, what I was talking about, where players will look at, you know, somebody be like, oh, I want to get better at everything this offseason. I want to become back. I want to come back, be the best shooter, the ball handler, be the best this, that, the third, whatever. And when we actually break it down, all these guys, right? LeBron, great scorer, great passer, great rebounder. He is a master of many things, right? He's not pretty good at a lot of things. He's a master, meaning you could take away his passing ability, he would still be a great scorer and a great rebounder. He still would bring value to whatever team that he's on. Maybe not as much value, but because he master. He's a master at at least something. There's value there, right? You look at Steph, the best shooter of all time, right? But also he's an elite finisher, right? He's a great finisher. So, you know, you can. And he's a great ball handler as well. You can take away that ability to shoot, and he still can facilitate, he still can finish, right? Even if he was, you know, just a good shooter, he'd have other areas that he's a master at that he could bring value to the game. And that's why he's one of the best players of all time, right? But. And then we look at Luka Doncic, kind of same thing. Elite scorer, but also elite passer, right? You can take away his. His scoring ability, but he's still able to facilitate, get guys involved, pass the ball so well that he still would bring value because he's a master of something. And the whole point of me saying this is that we have to look at this and look at your own game and say, you need to ma. You need to master something, become great at something. Something that anybody can look and say, hey, what do they bring to the table? And people will know, oh, they're a great shooter, they're a great defender, they're a great facilitator, they're a great rebounder. What can you really hang your hat on? That's where value comes from. So what does this mean for you as a player? I think you first of all want to understand that it doesn't mean that you can only work on one thing in the offseason. Doesn't mean that, hey, I want to be a great shooter. So all I can do is work on my shooting. I can never work on my brain ball handling. I can Never work on my finishing, I can never work on my athleticism. I can never do any of that sort of stuff. That's not what I'm saying. Obviously. Basketball isn't just one skill. This isn't a three point shooting contest, right? You're playing a five on five game where there's, you know, dribbling and there's defense and there's rebounds and there's all these things happening. So you have to be able to do more than just one of those things. That's not what I'm telling you to do here. Skills are not isolated, right? So a lot of times they overlap. You might have to dribble before you can shoot. You might have to play defense in order to be on the floor enough, you get chances to shoot the ball, right? You might have to dribble in order to finish at the rim. You might have to, you know, be able to finish around the rim to stay on the floor long enough to be able to rebound, right? Skills kind of overlap. They're not isolated, right? But what this means for you is that you need to have an overarching purpose with what you're doing in the off season. So think to yourself, what is the one thing that you absolutely need to be better at going into next year, right? And make sure that you keep that one thing at the forefront. Because not every day that you work out, that you try and get better is going to be perfect, right? Maybe on, on a good day, you're in the gym for, you have an hour and a half workout, right? And maybe in that workout you cover a couple different things. Maybe there's a focus on, on two or three things, right? That's okay. But there's going to be some days where maybe you can't get in for that whole hour and 30, maybe you can only go 30 minutes. There's going to be some days where you really have to be focused. And in those situations, you have to say, hey, what is the most important thing for me to do right now, right? What do I need to be better at? What do I need to be able to hang my hat on next year? And that's what I've got to spend my time doing. I've got to make sure that I cover that because that's what ultimately is going to lead to my opportunities is me having mastery over this. All right? That's, that's what you have to decide for yourself right there. So maybe it's shooting for you, maybe it's ball handling, maybe it's something broader Right. Where maybe it's like, leadership. Maybe you're already a really good player, right? Maybe you're already one of. One of the best players on your team, and you. You have a skill that you've mastered that you're really good about. But maybe you're not a great leader. Maybe you're not a great teammate. And your focus in the offseason is, hey, I have to become a better leader. I need people to respect me more. I need to be a better teammate. Like, I need to be able to communicate better, right? And if I can be better at that, that's going to help our team win more, which means that my value is going to go up. So maybe that becomes your focus. Maybe that's the one thing that you have to keep at the forefront of everything right there, right? Maybe it's handling pressure, maybe it's getting stronger. Maybe it's rebounding. Maybe, like, you got to think about the one thing that you. You can feasibly think, like, hey, I could be. I could be really good at this. And that's got to be what your main thing is. Or maybe it's something that you're trying to add, right? So maybe you're already a master at shooting, for example, and you want to become a master as a ball handler or somebody who can attack off the dribble now, and that becomes your one thing right there that you want to master. But think to yourself, what is that one thing that if you got better at, it would take your game to another level? Or what's the one thing? Like I said, you absolutely need to be better at? And that's got to be your focus, right? And you would have to make sure that you stay focused on that one thing and let everything that you do kind of push you towards that goal, towards that one thing, towards that focus. I think ultimately what you have to understand is that sometimes doing isn't the most important part of being successful, right? I think a lot of times being able to stay focused on what matters most can be the number one thing that leads to your success right there. Right? And so, again, going back to what I said, I'm not saying to, you know, only work on one thing the whole off season, but keep the main thing. The main thing, the thing that's going to make you money, right? The thing that's going to get you your opportunity, that you're going to be a master at, that a coach can look at and say, hey, that's where they're going to provide value. So they need opportunities. That's what's got to be at the forefront of everything that you do for the whole offseason right there. And when you do that, that's going to lead to more opportunities, more success. And like I said, every goal that you have as a player, every achievement that you want, is behind the value that you bring to whatever team you are on or you want to be on. What kind of value do you bring? Keep that as your focus and great things are going to happen for you. So hopefully that gives you an idea, a sense of what to do, how to focus your offseason to get the most out of it. Right there. Make sure you click the top link in my description down below to get my free Elite Perimeter score program. It's gonna help you definitely take your game to that next level. I appreciate you for watching. Drop a like subscribe if you're new and leave a comment. Let me know what your focus is. You have any questions for me? If you got anything from this video, I always appreciate you guys. Leave comments thank you for watching. I'll talk to you soon. Peace.