Winning

MJ had the most disciplined game-day routine I’ve ever seen, from the way he selected his timepiece to the way he laced his shoes. He planned and organized every detail of his day, from the time of his workout to the car he drove to the arena. He put his clothes on in a specific order, organized the game tickets for his family and friends, ate at t

Everything you do starts with your thoughts. How many times have you sabotaged your own goals and ambitions because your head wasn’t in the right place? You wanted to lose ten pounds, but the pizza looked so good. You wanted to quit drinking, but what the hell, it’s been a hard day. You knew you should have made that one phone call, but you weren’t

Distractions can be fatal to your goals, if you don’t manage them. Notice I said “manage,” not “eliminate.” I know, you’ve been told a thousand times to “eliminate distractions.” Not possible. You might be able to erase some, but people are still going to need you, there will still be tasks and chores to do, the phone and the TV and the refrigerato

He practiced and played in a routine as well. Every time he warmed up in practice, he started with a chest pass. The greatest player in the world, working on a basic chest pass. Why? Routine. Basics. Fundamentals. The court was his battlefield, and he knew where all the mines were planted.

I’ve dealt with so many athletes with brilliant talent, whose careers were completely destroyed inside their mental bomb shelters. They believed every gratuitous compliment about their greatness, every grandiose tribute to their excellence. From the time they were kids, they were told how special they were, which may have been true enough at the hi

If you can’t master the fundamentals, you can’t master anything else.

you can only function when things are done a certain way, at a certain time, that tells me you lack the ability to adapt to real-time variables.

When you know what to think, you’re ready to compete. When you know how to think, you’re ready to win.

When you start apologizing for who you are, you stop growing and you stop winning. Permanently.