Happy Sunday Everyone:
At this point we all know the GS Warriors won the NBA Championship, 3 of 4 years, which is a pretty amazing accomplishment to say the least. Game 3 is what I’m writing about. It’s the game Steph Curry had 11 points, went 1 for 9 on 3 pointers, and Klay Thompson had 10 points. Anyone that watches basketball at all knows how good these guys are, the other 3 games Steph Curry scored 29, 33, and 37 points. Game 3, as terrible as Steph/Klay played, Kevin Durant locked in his MVP award with scoring 43 points, and taking the team on his back.
Although I’m amazed by the athletic skill set these guys have, I’m more amazed with their mindset. The gal interviewing Kevin Durant after game 3 on the court (which can often be painful to watch) asked him what he thought about Steph and Klay having such terrible games. His response was “Those guys just play with so much joy, sometimes they just have no conscience at all. They’re just out there having fun, if they miss, they’re just in a next play mentality”. I re-watched it 10 times, literally, “they’re just in a next play mentality”. I can’t do it justice in this but to watch it, he meant they’re unconscious to failure. They are unaffected by failure. They’re out there playing their game and if they’re not on, they keep playing their game, and they do it with joy, and at some point it will hit. They flush the last shot. They’re not in their own heads, and if they are, their heads are telling them to keep shooting. For me, I often have this belief that people like them don’t experience failure, where in fact it’s the exact opposite, it’s how they deal with the failure that means everything. They experience more failure and take greater chances, which puts them on the stage they’re on. I think it’s amazing and awesome to witness.
For me, I need to continuously focus on getting out of my head as it relates to both failure, and what it means in my own head. When you flip failure on its back, and you change your mindset that you’re one step closer to success, you’re winning. Success doesn’t exist without failure. I’ll admit, my role at work is not as much fun as playing professional basketball, but it is in fact a game, and in those moments when I treat it as such, is when I’m in fact at my best. My guess is the same applies to you. With all the things I think about, this is what I need to allocate a lot more time/energy to. Figure this one out consistently and anything/everything is possible.
Please get off to a great start this week, and enjoy your Sunday.