.png)
You were born useless.
No skills.
No way to survive.
You couldn’t walk, talk or chew.
You’re lucky you had someone to protect and feed you.
Now you can read, write, communicate, dance, shoot hoops and hopefully look after yourself.
This is thanks to Neuroplasticity.
Neuroplasticity is your brain's ability to reorganize itself by forming new neural connections throughout life.
In simple terms, your brain is designed to learn.
To adapt.
To grow.
This is the greatest skill given to mankind.
A growth mindset.
You have been given unlimited power.
But you don’t feel powerful.
You blame genetics for your situation.
You blame coaches, teammates or your parents for why you don't play.
Blame. Blame. Blame.
No accountability.
This leaves you feeling helpless.
You're afraid of the future.
I was the same.
I bounced from coach to coach, team to team.
There was no improvement.
All I did was blame others for my mistakes.
In 4 years I didn’t improve at basketball.
At age 22 I was the same basketball player as I was 18.
The reason is simple.
I didn’t have a growth mindset.
Luckily I stumbled across some coaches who knew about this.
Luckily I was fed up with my results.
Luckily I was willing to change.
This single decision to build a growth mindset altered the course of my life.
Here is the most important lesson you can learn.
Growth Mindset vs Fixed Mindset.
On the mountains of an old Chinese village stood two trees.
A tall strong bamboo shoot, and a young small willow tree.
One evening, in the distance a dark storm loomed, the trees had never seen such anger in the sky.
Green clouds and fierce clacks of thunder.
The bamboo knew exactly what it had to do, standing firm, strong and rigid like always.
“This will keep me safe” the bamboo smirked to itself
The willow tree on the other hand knew it had to learn how to survive such a ferocious storm.
It looked closely at the trees below the mountain, enduring the winds and rain.
He saw rigid trees snap from the ground, while the older wiser trees danced in the wind, adapting and learning as the storm ran through them.
The storm finally hit the two trees.
It was a long, tough night.
As the sun rose in the morning, the willow tree stood grounded, wiser and stronger than before.
The bamboo lay shattered, never to recover again.
A fixed mindset will get you killed.
This is the belief that your abilities are something you are born with and can't be developed or changed.
It leads to:
Fear of failure
Lack of resilience
Stagnation
Negative-self-perception
Impaired Relationships
Performance Anxiety
Narrow Perspective
Not only will a fixed mindset kill you, but it also isn't true.
Have you ever improved at anything?
The answer is yes.
It's as simple as that.
That's a growth mindset.
Believing you can improve.
Your ability to improve is only limited by your beliefs about yourself.
Some people are naturally better at certain traits but all humans can improve.
All humans are capable of excellence.
It starts with the right mindset.
The belief that you can improve.
A growth mindset.
In college, I trained a bunch of hoopers.
One of the players was frustrated at himself for missing free throws.
“No matter how hard I try they won't go in.”
You’ve been there.
I've been there.
Everyone has.
“Maybe I wasn’t born to play basketball.”
This was a pivotal moment in this young boy's career.
I sat him down.
“Everyone struggles when they start something new. Yes, some people have it easier than others, but I guarantee you, that if you are dedicated and believe you can improve, you will.”
We started tracking his free-throw shooting at the end of every session.
In 4 months he went from a 40% free throw shooter to a 70% free throw shooter.
There were moments he wanted to give up.
There were days when it felt like he hadn’t improved at all.
He proved he could improve.
The belief that he could improve was vital.
It doesn’t matter how hard you work.
If you don't believe you can improve, you won't.
Your mind will make excuses for why you failed rather than learning from it.
Your mind will tell you that you will never be good, no matter what.
A dangerous place to live.
You hear it all the time.
I am no good at singing.
I am no good at public speaking.
I am no good at shooting.
Your mind will do whatever it can to confirm your beliefs.
This is called confirmation bias.
Your mind looks for or creates its own evidence to confirm your beliefs.
In the example of learning how to shoot.
If you believe you will never be a good shooter, you will sabotage your ability to improve at shooting so your beliefs are correct.
This is the power of the mind.
Luckily a growth mindset can be developed.
With a growth mindset, your possibilities are endless.
Here are 3 ways I built a growth mindset:
Seek Out Challenges.
Search for challenges that make you uncomfortable.
When you encounter difficulties or setbacks, view them as a chance to learn and grow rather than a sign of your limitations.
Design a 10-minute ball-handling circuit you can do every day.
Get uncomfortable.
Film every session.
After 30 days compare the first day and the last.
I guarantee you will have improved.
Cultivate a love for learning.
“Until you make the unconscious conscious, it will direct your life and you will call it fate.” Carl Jung
Awareness is power.
Learning something new changes your life trajectory.
Focus on learning that benefits your life.
Don’t keep up with depressing news or random celebrity facts.
Put your attention into areas that will improve your life.
Get up your notes.
Write down something you learned every day.
Reframe your self-talk.
Pay attention to the way you talk to yourself.
Change “I’m not good at this,” to “I’m not good at this yet, but with practice, I will improve.”
In the morning, practice daily affirmations.
“With relentless effort and a growth mindset I am capable of achieving anything I set my mind to.”
At the end of your day, review your self-talk.
You can also use journaling as a powerful tool to reinforce the language you want to use.
Be kind to yourself, this step can take some time.
But with practice, you will improve.
If you’re still not convinced about a growth mindset.
Use yourself as an experiment.
Get on a basketball court and track 100 close-form shots.
If you're not sure what that means, read this article.
Get your score out of 100.
For the next 10 days shoot the exact same amount of shots.
Go into every session with the mindset of improving and learning.
Don't try to beat your old score.
I guarantee you will improve over the next 10 days.
This will prove that you are a human capable of learning.
You are a human capable of growing.
Never let anyone impose their limiting beliefs onto you.
With a growth mindset, you are capable of achieving your goals.
Build a growth mindset by:
Seeking out challenges
Learning
Reframing your self-talk
Your ability to improve is limitless.
Never forget that.