Alan Stein Jr. watched Kobe Bryant practice in 2007 and expected flashy drills. Instead, Kobe spent hours on fundamentals, saying his dominance came from never getting bored with the basics. That moment changed how Stein approaches everything.
But my opening story almost all of the time is about the first time I met Kobe Bryant. And the reason I start with that, certainly the name recognition of an icon like Kobe increases my credibility and gets people to lean in a little bit. But more importantly was it really was something that fundamentally changed the way I saw the world. And, you know, the short version of it, and I know you've heard this story several times, but I got to meet Kobe in 2007 and watch one of his early morning workouts. And at the time, he was the best player in the world. So, I made the faulty assumption that he was gonna be working on some pretty wild and crazy drills. And instead, he was just drilling down on the basic fundamentals over and over. And when I asked him why a player at his level would focus on the basics, he said something that really changed my perspective on everything. He said, "The reason I'm the best in the world is 'cause I never get bored with the basics." And I've really tried to apply that lesson to every area of my life.
