What You Want Is Only a Bounce Away

Humans tend to think in large chunks instead of manageable pieces, and this is why many humans find it difficult to accomplish things like stopping smoking, losing weight, learning a new language, improving their relationships, and easing anxiety.

An African proverb teaches, ”The best way to eat an elephant in your path is to cut him up into little pieces.” I’ve also heard it as, ”The best way to eat an elephant is one bite at a time.”

Either way, it’s all about basketball.

I’m not a big sports guy, unless you consider archery a sport. Somehow in my childhood, I became really good at using a bow. I suppose bowling is a sport too, and I used to average 240. I never have enjoyed watching sports on television. I’ve watched one professional football game, a Super Bowl, only because a girl invited me to her party in high school.

Oddly enough, however, I was a trainer for a basketball team for several years focused on stretching and the mental side of the game. During those years I learned a lot about basketball and where players have challenges.

When a player falls into a rut and can’t seem to hit a basket if the lives of his family depended on it, the advice is not to focus more on basketball. There are many skills that have to be developed in order to become a great basketball player.

The strategy that is recommended and works 100% of the time is: Go back to the basics... the five fundamental skills of dribbling, passing, shooting, rebounding, and defense. Coaches don’t tell a player who hasn’t put points on the board for the last six games to get on the court and practice basketball. They say, “Get your ass on the court and practice shooting!”

When you want to make a change or improve something about yourself, focus on the basics. If you’re working with a client, help them design a strategy to get where they want to be by focusing on manageable pieces of the puzzle.

For example, a human says to me, “I’m depressed.” They learn to never utter that phrase again. I teach them to say, “I’m feeling depressed.” “I’m feeling depressed” allows them to gain control over their feelings; “I’m depressed” defines their identity. We then begin working on the basics, such as... discovering their life purpose, defining their meaning of life, creating goals, developing their life mission, and starting a daily journal to track their progress through this transformation. Writing your thoughts in a journal also allows you to objectively take a look at your actions and emotions as you write them down. Writing also defuses much of the energy that negative emotions tend to store.

Get back to the basics, focus on what can be controlled, and the rest will fall into place.