After reading hundreds of books on success, leadership and personal development I have finally come across the answer I have been searching for. It is the secret to success and yet it is easy to do – and easy not to do. It also can work against you or for you without ever knowing it until it hits you hard! The great thing though is that we ALL can harness it’s power. We can all choose to use it each and everyday.
See the problem is that we don’t necessarily need more knowledge. With the information age there is an abundance of knowledge out there on blogs, Twitter, YouTube, DVDs, books and coaches clinics. If you’re like me you have pages and pages of notes from attending practice sessions, workouts and coaches clinics. We all have the knowledge and some of us use it – for a short amount of time.
5 years ago I attended the Coach K and Duke Fuqua School of Business Leadership conference in Durham, NC. There I met a successful, middle age man from South Carolina who started his own investment agency. We struck up a conversation on the second day when I said to him, “ I don’t mean to sound conceited, but a lot of the topics these presentations are on I’ve already heard or read before in books.” He response was, “Most of us probably have, but few choose to take action with what we know. That’s the hard part.” What he said is absolutely true, but there was more to it than that.
While some people do take action with their knowledge few people take action with their knowledge consistently. Why do you think a majority of people on exercise programs or diets fail? They start out great, but when they don’t see results immediately they quit. Success is not a Lean Cuisine meal ready in 3.5 minutes on high.
A perfect basketball example is when we have a player come to us that needs to change his shooting form. We film their shot, break it down and send them home with a program to use. A week later they come back and it looks GREAT! Sometimes I can’t believe how much better their shots look in only a week. Then another week goes by and they come back for an evaluation. Their shot looks like garbage. The first thing I ask them is if they followed the program that they did the first week and the first thing I hear is “ Well…” or “I was but…”. Why is this? I’m sure you guessed it but they didn’t consistently follow the program that we gave them. At this point you are essentially back at square one.
Remember at the beginning I said this secret could either work for you or against you.
At the start of week 2 the player decides they are going to take Monday off. It won’t matter, I’ll make up for it Tuesday” they say. And you know what? Does it really matter that they took off Monday? Can you significantly tell that there is a difference in your shot from Sunday to Tuesday? Probably not. But Tuesday you don’t make up for it and only do the required amount. Wednesday you really really try to make up what you missed on Monday, but you only get 25% of Monday’s workout done. Thursday rolls around and in Math class you “suddenly realize” that there is a big test on Friday so of course you can’t go to the gym that night, even though you also realize that your teacher announced the test 2 weeks ago. You miss Thursday as well and since you were up all night and exhausted from studying from the exam you decide that it’s ok that you take off Friday because “Academics come first”. It’s a series of small choices that add up over time which amount to success.
I tell my players, when practice is over, if you get a teammate or setup the Dr. Dish, you’ll get up approximately 200 shots. It will only take about 20 minutes and it’s easy to do (and easy not to do!). Most teammates will leave and go home, which is easy to do. If they decide to stay and get up the extra 200 shots by the end of the week that will be 1,000 extra shots. At this point you probably will not be much better – you might not even see a difference. Don’t quit though because at the end of the month that will be 4,000 extra shots if you do this just 5 days per week. You can even shoot before games on game day.
By now you probably are going to see a positive change, you feel much more in rhythm and your confidence should be up. But think – what if I just did this for the entire season – approximately 4 months. By the end of the season you would have shot an extra 16,000 and if you bring 3 other teammates that’s 64,000 shots for your teammates come playoff time!
This secret is called the Compound Effect (@DarrenHardy) or Slight Edge (@yourslightedge). You are either getting better or getting worse – you don’t maintain.
Take the same example with ball handling
1 Ball Stationary Dribble Moves – 20 of each move – 100 total moves
1-2 Inside Out Right
1-2 Inside Out Left
1-2 Crossover
1-2 Between the Legs
1-2 Behind the Back
Tight Cones – 4 Trips – 5 Moves per trip – 20 Total Dribble Moves Per Move – 100 total moves
200 total moves x 5 days/week x 50 weeks is 100,000 dribble moves.
Will you get better if you do this workout? Absolutely! Will 95% of people choose not to do it? Most likely. This simple ball handling workout would take you 12-15 minutes each day. Simple to do and simple not to do.
Call it persistence, call it consistency, call it the compound effect – whatever you want. It’s the key to success and most people choose not to do it. In the end it’s a choice – YOURS.
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Mike Lee Basketball Services trains thousands of middle school through NBA players each year in their skill development training, camps and coaches clinics. The owner, Mike Lee, is also a Nike Girls Skills Academy instructor and the assistant director for the Stephen Curry Skills Academy. Recently the company has authored 7 skill development DVDs and created miSkillz Online Basketball training. To host an event in your city or learn more please visit www.mikeleebasketball.com.