Phil Jackson once was quoted as saying, “I gave it my body and mind but I have kept my soul.” I think the newly retired Lakers coach also said after Dallas swept his squad that he was kind of glad the season was over and only a man still possessing his soul could say that. Not only should he have been tired after amassing 11 world championships but after doing so and figuring out how to motivate grown, rich men for 21 seasons. He has this ranch in Montana apparently where he finds solace and from what I understand that’s where he retreated to decide if he’d even coach the Lakers in 2010-2011. Perhaps another of Jackson’s quotes provides insight as to how one remains engaged in the gruel and grind en route to fulfilling a mission:
“Wisdom is always an overmatch for strength”
– Phil Jackson, Los Angeles Lakers
Sometimes it’s the uninhibited first thoughts that make you feel the most alive. When upon walking you feel refreshed for maybe the first time in months and you’re geographically so far from accessing the problems you daily try to solve, it’s worth writing something down. I landed in Kahului, Maui, Hawaii last night and everybody looks forward to an island reprieve. But my first thought on arrival had to do with sleep and sleep again. But a buddy met me at the airport to pick me up and on the way home he started sharing the stuff that revives.
I’m here on basketball business, if you wanna call it that, helping NBC Camps and Basketball Maui host a second year of camp directed at building community by equipping youth to elevate their view of potential. All year my two friends who started the camp have burgeoned what began as a camp into an island-wide initiative. It’s bigger than basketball now as my buddy shared on the ride from the airport. And I began to feel the breath reenter my lungs. Fatigue and exasperation sap life. And therein lies the importance of stepping away from the mundane, listening to outsiders who are motivated to effect change and involving yourself in a servant role to their cause.
My first thought this morning was, “I think I see the clouds moving.” After that, I reached for this thing and started writing more from feel and less from thought.
Knowing what to write is sometimes hazy. But who the heck reads 6ixthman.com anyway? Why not write what you’re feeling. So let’s see if anyone is tuned in. I can’t sleep and desperately need to sleep at the same time. I have to tell the truth this week in a way I’ve never done. Have you ever been in this position? And I’m not frightened of the opportunity per se. If anything I’m just tired. You ever been tired? I mean have you ever been tired in that way where time is indistinguishable and hours and irritability becomes a defining character trait?
I’m guilty of not having a sabbath. I’ve not had a day off in months. And only now do I see the effects. It’s not hard to rest; it’s hard to avoid worshiping work. There is a busy hum to life that for me has become deafening. So many good causes, so many great initiatives exist. And I reckon I’m involved in them all. So on this couch, at this hour I’m trying to escape the haze of busy-ness. there must be more than this. There must be a way to arrive to a place where I value rest enough to schedule it. I’m confident that there’s a softer landing than the strip I’ve used ending one week and beginning another. On that note, a post any longer than this and I’m responsible for my own haze. Here’s to telling the truth…to yourself first. Norman get a life by getting some rest.
The set-up move isn’t the move you’re using to exploit your opponent. It’s the move you use to create an opportunity to exploit your opponent. The shot-fake, the inside-out dribble, the crossover-double-crossover, etc. are those types of moves. The greats master the set-up moves because they lengthen your career long after your athleticism is in decline. The masters of set-up moves know that if I can get you to leave your feet, get your shoulders to shift outside of your balance base, shift your weight from the balls of your feet to your heels…I GOTCHA.
Set-up moves occur outside of basketball too though and they look harmless. Imagine you have an enemy. Now imagine that enemy wants you to fail in as many ways as possible. He/she wants you penniless, wants to defame your character, wants you injured, wants you depressed to the point of suicide and wants you to be the very portrait of what people hope they will never become. If that enemy is crafty, he’ll have to set you up because your inclination may not lean toward vice. For example, if your enemy wants you to fail but you’re committed to preparation, he’ll tempt you toward distraction. If you’re a character guy or girl, he’ll look for a weakness or a deep felt need. Have you ever wondered how the girl headed the four-year college of her choice wound up pregnant two months before her freshman year? Easy answer, the void for companionship and affirmation trumped the commitment to academia, The set-up move is always a play on one’s deepest most fundamental sources of self-worth. If you want to know what people value most, look at where they have failed. You will find that concessions are made when the promise of having a need met is presented.
All this to say, be vigilant, be accountable and be honest. Even the best defenders in the NBA get taken off the dribble sometimes. Simple science says that if you lean too far, react to swiftly, fail to slow down in time, you’ll usually blow your assignment. The same could be said for the daily life practices. If you had an enemy, he’d want you to ruin your prospects of impacting the world around you. But he’d start subtle and graduate to the significant. Dating someone and not sure why? It’s a set-up Move! It creates the habit of settling and soon you settle for something that moves your life in a direction you don’t wish to go. You think that your incapable of making the bad choices some of your friends have made? It’s a set-up move! You’ve been deluded into thinking you’re cut from a different cloth, hewn from rare stone. That’s a great way to be blind-sided later when temptation knocks and you answer thinking your above it. The bottom line is that set-up moves can work for or against you. Today matters. Limit the turnovers today and tomorrow. Pay attention to the details that seem small. They never are. Every move you make is a set-up move for your benefit or your demise.
There’s still good NBA playoff basketball being played. I should be watching. But I don’t care – not since the Lakers were swept last week by Dallas. This was a difficult admission to realize I’m still a bit of a sore loser. But what’s comical is that the guy people love to hate, Kobe Bryant himself, isn’t even one…not necessarily. Bryant is arguably one of the fiercest competitors in any sport of any era and when his quest for a sixth championship ended, he had to sit in front of reporters and provide quotes and soundbites that sounded deferential and dignified. I know he didn’t want to say a word. Would you have?
See I’m a sore loser and chances are you might be to if you do the following five things:
- Move to blaming others or circumstances when your demise is realized.
- Pout when you can’t have what you want when you want it.
- Allow your mood to be dictated by wins and losses.
- Insist on a rematch when you’re not equipped to win one.
- Cease pursuing a goal because you’ve failed at it.
Muhammad Ali is famous for many things not the least of which is this quote:
“Champions aren´t made in the gyms. Champions are made from something they have deep inside them – a desire, a dream, a vision.”
It’s the vision that propels or should propel us. The beauty of your life is in the commitment to detail, to training, to maximizing to getting up off the mat when you’ve just suffered an embarrassing defeat. And that defeat comes at the hands of various opponents. If it’s not your exhaustion from school work, it’s work itself that’s about to give you a cat nap to the canvas. You may have lost financially, morally, physically but sore losers are one dimensional. Kobe couldn’t stop being a husband and a dad because the Mavericks are moving on and his Lakers aren’t. Dare I say it? Even Tiger Woods doesn’t have time to be a sore loser and that dude has lost his reputation and his wife.
Some inventory would be good everyday. When the day ends, check yourself against the list:
- ______ (Yes) ______ (No) Blamed others or circumstances when your demise is realized.
- ______ (Yes) ______ (No) Pouted when I couldn’t have what I wanted when I wanted it.
- ______ (Yes) ______ (No) Allowed my mood to be dictated by wins and losses.
- ______ (Yes) ______ (No) Insisted on a rematch when I was not equipped to win one.
- ______ (Yes) ______ (No) Ceased pursuing a goal because I’ve failed at it.
There’s still good NBA playoff basketball being played. I should be watching. But I don’t care – not since the Lakers were swept last week by Dallas. This was a difficult admission to realize I’m still a bit of a sore loser. But what’s comical is that the guy people love to hate, Kobe Bryant himself, isn’t even one…not necessarily. Bryant is arguably one of the fiercest competitors in any sport of any era and when his quest for a sixth championship ended, he had to sit in front of reporters and provide quotes and soundbites that sounded deferential and dignified. I know he didn’t want to say a word. Would you have?
See I’m a sore loser and chances are you might be to if you do the following five things:
- Move to blaming others or circumstances when your demise is realized.
- Pout when you can’t have what you want when you want it.
- Allow your mood to be dictated by wins and losses.
- Insist on a rematch when you’re not equipped to win one.
- Cease pursuing a goal because you’ve failed at it.
Muhammad Ali is famous for many things not the least of which is this quote:
“Champions aren´t made in the gyms. Champions are made from something they have deep inside them – a desire, a dream, a vision.”
It’s the vision that propels or should propel us. The beauty of your life is in the commitment to detail, to training, to maximizing to getting up off the mat when you’ve just suffered an embarrassing defeat. And that defeat comes at the hands of various opponents. If it’s not your exhaustion from school work, it’s work itself that’s about to give you a cat nap to the canvas. You may have lost financially, morally, physically but sore losers are one dimensional. Kobe couldn’t stop being a husband and a dad because the Mavericks are moving on and his Lakers aren’t. Dare I say it? Even Tiger Woods doesn’t have time to be a sore loser and that dude has lost his reputation and his wife.
Some inventory would be good everyday. When the day ends, check yourself against the list:
- ______ (Yes) ______ (No) Blamed others or circumstances when your demise is realized.
- ______ (Yes) ______ (No) Pouted when I couldn’t have what I wanted when I wanted it.
- ______ (Yes) ______ (No) Allowed my mood to be dictated by wins and losses.
- ______ (Yes) ______ (No) Insisted on a rematch when I was not equipped to win one.
- ______ (Yes) ______ (No) Ceased pursuing a goal because I’ve failed at it.