Shoot Your Shot

by Vernon Brundage Jr

  Remain committed to your dreams. Follow through on your initial efforts towards your desired outcome. See your goal through until it is accomplished regardless of what may be thrown in your path along the way. That is the only way you can attain the life that you want. For you are blessed and rewarded when you stay on the course, not when you stop and give up.

  Whatever it is that you want to do and accomplish, remain true and committed to the process. Shoot your shot, and always follow through.

  HALFTIME

  First Half Highlights

  We are halfway through the book! Thank you for making it this far! Before we continue, I wanted to take a quick break (like halftime in an actual game) and briefly highlight a few key takeaways from the 1st half. We will have a section similar to this after the 2nd half of the book as well.

  Remove Limitations

  Your age, race, gender, demographic background, or socioeconomic status have nothing to do with what you are able to accomplish—only you do.

  Do not rule yourself out of attaining greatness without even attempting to tap into the unbounded potential that exists within you.

  Nothing outside of yourself has the power to dictate your outcomes in life. Do not downgrade your dreams to fit someone else’s reality.

  Take Responsibility For Your Own Outcomes

  Only when you accept responsibility for your outcomes will you be able to change them.

  You are where you are in life solely because of the decisions you made and the actions you carried out.

  Making excuses and assigning blame are means of avoiding responsibility. Take ownership of your own stuff.

  Put In The Work And Prepare Adequately

  In order to be successful at anything in life, you must prepare adequately.

  How you do the small things will be how you do the big things. No task is too minor. The degree to which you prepare is always seen in your results.

  It is better to be prepared for an opportunity and not have one than to have an opportunity and not be prepared.

  Use Your Unique Gifts On Your Unique Path

  You have talents that are unique to you. It is not enough to simply be aware of your talents, but you must cultivate them into skills.

  Comparison is the thief of joy. Don’t compare your life or your path to those of others. Protect your path and vision by any means necessary.

  Your life and what you do is not about anyone else. It is about making the most of your time on earth and doing what God called you to do.

  See Your Shot Going In Before You Shoot It

  Have confidence in yourself that you are able to attain whatever you put your mind to. Form a clear mental picture of success prior to attaining it. As you think, so shall you be.

  Act as if you are already where you want to be in life. Pump fake it until you make it.

  Have faith that a Higher Power is guiding you and moving you in the direction of living your best life.

  Shoot Your Shot…And Always Follow Through

  You miss all of the shots you don’t take. It is better to at least try than to not do anything at all. Keep shooting your shot until your shot goes in.

  Follow through on all of your initial efforts. By doing so, you will eventually accomplish your feat.

  You are what you repeatedly do. Consistency is key if you want to realize the life you have envisioned for yourself.

  THIRD

  QUARTER

  7

  Success Leaves Clues

  You’ve got to study all the greats. You’ve got to learn what made them successful and what made them unsuccessful.

  MICHAEL JACKSON

  13-time Grammy Award winner, double inductee into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, the ‘King of Pop,’ and mentor to LA Lakers great Kobe Bryant

  I mentioned earlier that the only people you should regularly concern yourself with are those who can help you accomplish your goals and objectives. While it is absolutely true that we were all born with unique gifts that are specific to us, it is also true that at some point in history, there has been at least one other person who has successfully accomplished goals that are similar, if not practically identical, to the ones that we have set for ourselves. Now, because of technological advancements, we have access to these individuals in one way or another. What a time, to be alive.

  In the pursuit of the successful completion of goals, experiences are shared. Knowing this truth, you should make it a priority to study the habits, the decisions, and the tendencies of those who have succeeded in the areas in which you aspire to succeed.

  What exactly is it is that you want to accomplish? What kind of life do you aspire to build for yourself? Once you’ve determined what your aspirations are and what it is that you want to do with your life, research the people who have effectively done those things. If you do so, you will essentially have a ready-made blueprint from successful individuals on what it takes to successfully complete that particular endeavor.

  There is nothing new under the sun. Individuals whose path was similar to yours have existed (or even still do) and they had to carry out specific steps in order to succeed. Why not use their successful model as a guide in your own personal pursuit of that similar goal?

  If we look at the NBA, the most obvious example of a player taking facets of another player’s game is Kobe Bryant.

  Since he first entered the NBA in 1996, Bryant has been compared to none other than the greatest to ever play the game—Michael Jordan. The patented fade away, the fist pump, the killer mentality; it was as if Kobe was Michael Jordan 2.0. But that particular MJ wasn’t Kobe’s most notable teacher. The person who Kobe deemed as the “greatest influence” of his life was actually the King of Pop—Michael Jackson.

  The summer after Bryant’s rookie season, Michael Jackson reached out to the younger Bryant to tell him that he had been studying him and wanted to offer advice, insight, and materials that Bryant would go on to utilize in order to mold himself into one of the greatest players to ever play the game. Jackson explicitly told Bryant the words used in the quote at the beginning of this chapter: “You’ve got to study all the greats. You’ve got to learn what made them successful and what made them unsuccessful.” That’s exactly what the self-proclaimed “thief” did.

  Kobe became the ultimate student of the game. He adapted Jerry West’s quick release, studied Elgin Baylor’s footwork, and stole Oscar Robertson’s pump fake. After a 33-point outing against Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls in December 1997, Jordan approached Kobe after the game and told him that if he ever needed anything, to give him a call. The rest was history. According to Bryant, “speaking to MJ was like getting my own college education at the highest level.”

  Further heeding the advice of Jackson, Bryant would go on to reach out to and build relationships with other NBA greats including Bill Russell, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, Hakeem Olajuwon, and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar—soaking up all the information and insight he could from these legends.[vi]

  Consequently, Bryant had one of the most storied careers in NBA history and was consistently effective over the course of his 20-year career. His success can be partially accredited to the fact that he studied and built relationships with select individuals who found success in the NBA prior to him entering the league.

  Not only can you learn from your predecessors, but you can also learn from your peers and some unlikely sources.

  If I was to do a survey and asked who had the deadliest crossover dribble in the NBA between 1996 and 2011, which player do you think most people would say? They would probably (hopefully) go with Hall of Famer and Philadelphia 76ers legend Allen Iverson. Iverson made defenders, including Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant, look silly with his patented crossover. But you’ll never guess from whom Iverson learned his crossover (unless you’re an avid A.I. fan and already know).

  Allen Iverson learned his crossover, not from a collegiate All-American or an NBA All-Star; he learned it from his college teammate at G
eorgetown University, walk-on Dean Berry. Berry was a member of the team yes, but he was also the last player on the team’s depth chart. Iverson often recounts that he used to have to guard Berry in practice and Berry would get him with the same crossover move every single time, even when he knew it was coming.

  Iverson realized how effective the move was and knew that if he incorporated the crossover into his repertoire, it could take his game to a higher level than it already was. So, Iverson eventually swallowed his pride and asked Berry to teach him the move.[vii] The result? Iverson made countless opponents look silly throughout the duration of his collegiate and Hall of Fame NBA career. All from a move he learned from his walk-on, end-of-the-bench sitting college teammate.

  Most basketball fans know that Berry didn’t create the crossover, however, he mastered his own version by taking different components of the crossover from other players, most notably NBA legend Tim Hardaway.

  Tim Hardaway created his own form of the crossover dribble by taking components of former Syracuse University standout Pearl Washington’s crossover.[viii] I’m sure Washington mastered his own crossover from observing the moves of other players and created his own version from there.

  Success leaves clues. There is always something you can learn from someone else, whether he or she is your predecessor or your peer, which will put you in a better position to be successful in your endeavors.

  Don’t allow your ego to deter you from learning something from someone that can ultimately change your life. Seek out guidance from someone who can help you and you will end up in a far better place than you were before you sought his or her counsel.

  Unfortunately, we live in a society where many people want to tout themselves as “self-made,” asserting that they’ve attained success all on their own, with no help. Too often we do not ask pertinent questions or seek insight and guidance because we think we know it all and our ego rationalizes that if someone else can do it on their own, we can do it on our own too. This rhetoric and way of thinking essentially discourages collaboration, limits the capacity for results, and devalues one of the greatest tools for success—mentorship.

  Like NBA players, you have your own unique gifts and your own lane in which you are most effective. But similar to how players have taken other player’s moves to incorporate into their game and use to their advantage, you can increase the likelihood of being successful in your own life by taking certain things from others who have achieved similar feats as those which you desire to achieve. Even renowned artist Pablo Picasso said, “good artists borrow, great artists steal.” (I bet you twenty dollars that he stole that line from someone else.)

  Take what you can from others that will help you to accomplish the goals you have set for yourself. If given the opportunity, spend as much time as possible in the company of those who are where you want to be so you can pick their brains, adopt their techniques, observe their tendencies, and use the knowledge they impart to you to your own benefit. Some of these individuals may be a phone call away. Some may be available for you to shadow at work. Some you may be able to message via email or through a social media platform. Others you may have to just follow their example from afar through YouTube videos, articles, books, or interviews.

  I have mentors who I am able to talk to directly via phone, text, and in person, and pick their brains and learn from them. I also have mentors, such as actor Will Smith, media mogul Oprah Winfrey, motivational speaker and author Les Brown, and music executive and entrepreneur Sean “Diddy” Combs, who I am currently unable to get in contact with but I have still gained tremendous insight from them via social media, interviews, books, movies, and podcasts.

  Whatever avenue is available to you, seek guidance from those who are where you want to be so that you can accomplish your goals in an efficient manner.

  If you want a stable, well-paying career, seek out those who work in the field that you aspire to work in, build a good rapport with them, and learn what it takes to obtain employment in that specific field.

  If you want a healthy marriage, build a relationship with couples who have been married for many years, have weathered difficult times, and who can offer advice and guidance on what makes a marriage longstanding and successful.

  If you want to lose weight, consult with those who have gone through a weight loss transformation, have consistently maintained their physique, stayed in good health, and can provide you with eating and training regimens that have proven results.

  If you want to run a thriving business, find someone who runs a profitable business, study their business plan, and pick their brain regarding what they did to keep their business afloat in an ever-changing economy.

  What about the individuals who you aspire to learn from but are unreachable? Read books and articles written by them or about them, subscribe to their blogs, email lists, and channels, follow them on social media, listen to their interviews, or watch their biopics. There are a myriad of mediums available for you to learn from those you aspire to emulate without it being a direct, personal interaction.

  Whether they are accessible or inaccessible, there are people who can help you on your path to attaining the life you want. You just have to do the legwork in gaining the beneficial insight from them in whatever manner you are able to.

  Where you are right now—mapping out your plan, trying to find an effective way to go about accomplishing your goals, and maneuvering past, through, and over obstacles—someone has been before. Most, if not all, people who have followed their dreams have encountered difficulties on their own personal journeys. They have received many bumps and bruises along the way. Who better to guide you than those who have been through the same challenges you have or may eventually face and have overcome them?

  Learning from successful people will provide you with the insight into how to avoid the obstacles that they have previously encountered on their path to success. Or at the very least, lessen the blows that you take. Find out what they have done to catapult themselves to their present state. Try to understand their thought process when approaching different circumstances and situations.

  Once you have an understanding of what they did and how they did it, begin incorporating what you’ve learned from them into your own life to help you along your way. Studying or being in the company of those who you can learn from, and finding out how they attained the things in their lives that you aspire to attain are important components in the formula to living your best life.

  Where there is one successful person, you can almost always guarantee that they’ve had a mentor or a person who has helped them get to where they are. The cycle of learning from those who came before us is continuous. Use it to your advantage. Mentorship is time-tested and proven to be beneficial.

  Make a conscious effort to learn from those who can help you get what you want out of life. Don’t go through unnecessary struggles just for the sake of being able to say you did it on your own. Especially when you have the resources available to you to help you on your journey. More often than not, people are willing to help you if they see you are serious about bettering your life. Rather than struggling when you really don’t have to, seek out guidance from those who are where you want to be so you can attain your goals in a more timely and efficient manner.

  There is no need to reinvent the wheel. Just learn from those who have already done it well and improve upon it.

  8

  Your Dream Is Only As Good As Your Team

  Five guys on the court working together can achieve more than five talented individuals who come and go as individuals.

  KAREEM ABDUL-JABBAR

  6-time NBA champion, 6-time NBA MVP, 19-time NBA All-Star, and a 1995 Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame inductee

  Only five players from each team are permitted to be on the court at one time throughout the course of a basketball game. The starting five players for a respective team are usually the five best players on the team at each position (point guard, shooting
guard, small forward, power forward, and center). Unless a team has employed a specific strategy tailored to the opponent they are facing, the starting five are usually the players who spend the most time on the court during a game in order to improve the likelihood of victory.

  Motivational speaker, author, and entrepreneur Jim Rohn once said, “You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with.” Who is in your starting 5? Who are the people you spend the most time hanging with, talking to, and consequently, are being influenced by? Does the presence of these individuals leave you better off? Or does their presence hold you back from realizing your greatest potential?

  As important as it is to seek out those who are where you aspire to be and who can help you along your path, it is extremely vital to surround yourself with peers who have the same degree of aspirations for their lives as you do. These are the people you interact with on a regular, if not daily, basis. These are the people you converse with about your life and your goals, issues you may be having, and everything else under the sun. At some point you have to do some inventory of your associations and ask yourself, “Are the people around me adding anything of benefit to my life?”

  It is very commonplace to see NBA players with an entourage full of their childhood friends everywhere they go. While some players have great friends who positively contribute to their lives, such as LeBron James and his lifelong friends-turned-business partners, there are an abundance of players who keep people around who are not adding anything to the players’ lives in any regard but instead, are taking away from it.

  Only sit at the same table with those who have the same appetite as you, not those who are solely at the table because they want what is on your plate. That includes everyone. Friends, family members, and significant others are not exempt.