Category: Everything else

I shared a few reflections after watching “The Last Dance” – the documentary on Michael Jordan’s career. I ended up watching it again over the past weeks and had a few more notes to share.

Today’s reflection is about my favorite story from the series.

MJ had just made his comeback for the Bulls late in the 1994-95 season. After a loss in the Eastern Conference Semi-Finals, he realized he needed to train very hard to get back the muscles needed for basketball (vs. baseball).

But, he had also committed to Space Jam. So, he started by requesting Walt Disney Studios to set up a training facility. And, so they did. They had a well equipped gym and full length basketball court ready when he arrived.

As the shoot lasted between 7am and 6pm, he spent all the free time in between with his trainer. In addition, they also decided to invite top NBA players for pick up basketball with Michael Jordan every evening.

So, the summer leading up to the 1995-96 season involved starting the day at 7am, shooting till 6pm with training in the breaks and then ending the day with the equivalent of an NBA All Star game every evening between 6pm-10pm.

The Bulls went on to both win the title next season while also setting a regular season record of 72 wins out of 82.

I like to think of myself as someone who isn’t afraid of hard work. Good performance takes skill. And, developing skill tends to take time.

But, even with that mindset, I found this to be awe-inspiring.

Of late, every time I see mentions of “the new normal,” I’ve begun mentally replacing “normal” with “abnormal.”

Just because we’re having to deal with this longer than we ideally would doesn’t mean we need to call it “normal.”

PS: Another observation – the better the business impact of the pandemic/physical distance/remote-everything, the sooner the executive team came out with policy changes and statements to support “the new normal.”

I was responding to a question from a few business school students today about how folks can make the most of the experience.

As I thought about the question, I was reminded of an observation from my final quarter before graduation. In this final quarter, I took only 1.5 credits (I had 4 on average in the past 5). I did this for one primary reason – the past quarters had been relatively intense and I wanted a more relaxed spring quarter.

As a result of the extra time this afforded me, I caught up with a lot of folks I hadn’t spent much time with. We typically went on walks and, during these walks, I asked about their reflections on the experience. And, as I did a few of these, I began noticing two kinds of narratives.

The first kind involved high expectations on what they wanted to get from the experience. This was totally rational – after all they’d invested $200K+ for this 2 year experience. So, these narratives focused on ensuring a high return on this investment investment and, for the most part, folks felt they’d done okay in this regard.

The second kind, however, tended to focus on what they attempted to give to the experience. They typically had a powerful anchoring experience they’d dedicated time and energy to and looked back at the fun and learning from that experience fondly. While this group were the minority in the student body, they consistently seemed happier, more fulfilled, and a whole lot more grateful.

Somehow, in the act of attempting to give, they had gotten far more than they realized. That happened to be my experience as well.

I’ve since come to observe this in all avenues of life. The more we focus on what we can give, the more learning and happiness we find along the way.

Inc. magazine once asked executives at 600 companies for an estimate of the percentage of their workforce who could name the top 3 company priorities.

The average executive estimate: 64%.

Actual: 2%.

While this could be a discussion on executive disconnects, the truth is that such disconnects are the default state for all of us.

As a consequence of spending most (all?) of our time in our own heads, we overestimate how many of our users understand our product, how many of our key stakeholders understand our priorities, and how often we make a point that sticks.

The only path forward: when we attempt to build or communicate something, simplify + over communicate by a factor of 10.

“In any game, there are always two currencies required to play – will and resources.” | Simon Sinek in “The Infinite Game”

It is natural to focus on the more tangible “resources” when we think of accomplishing what we want to accomplish.

But, will counts for a lot. Impact driven by great teams is as much a result of their collective will as it is from the resources they possess.

And, at elite levels of performance, it is often will that makes the decisive difference.

Much of our ability to build the habits we want to build and thus design the life we want to have relies on our willingness to begin again.

We don’t need to wait till the end of a calendar year or for a birthday or some other “significant” date to renew our commitments.

Today can be just as significant if we simply begin again.

As every habit worth building will likely require us to recommit to it, building the mental flexibility to begin again turns out to be among the most powerful habit building tools we have on our hands.

A question for the day – is there a habit more detrimental to our happiness than habitually comparing ourselves to others?

(I am yet to find one)

“This is not a book to be read from cover to cover and then put away. Live with it, pick it up frequently, and more importantly, put it down frequently, or spend more time holding it than reading it. Many readers will feel naturally inclined to stop reading after each entry, to pause, reflect, become still. It is always more helpful and more important to stop reading than to continue reading.” | Eckhart Tolle in his book “Stillness Speaks”

“It is always more helpful and more important to stop reading than to continue reading” is a beautiful way to think about learning from what we read.

HOBBES: Do you have an idea for your story yet?

CALVIN: You can’t just turn on creativity like a faucet. You have to be in the right mood.

HOBBES: What mood would that be?

CALVIN: Last-minute panic.

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Spot on. :-)

Someone I know believes that a key part of their role as a manager is as a therapist. Their reasoning is straightforward – “Everybody needs a shrink. And, it is often the manager’s role to be that person.”

I’ve come to believe in the “everybody needs a shrink” idea over time.

We all have work through complex situations and heady problems as part of our day-to-day. And, we benefit when we have someone in our lives who is committed to listening and helping without judging. Some of us hire a therapist or psychologist. Others are fortunate to have someone who plays that role in their lives during periods of need.

I’ve also come to believe that the most accessible form of therapy is writing.

If you’re feeling stuck or stressed, try writing about it.

If you’re feeling unclear about something, again, write (or type).

Don’t worry about writing well. Just put your thoughts down.

The act of doing so will clarify the situation.

While writing doesn’t and cannot replace the role of an effective therapist to a patient in need, it offers a great starting point. More regular writing is definitely a step that leads to better mental and emotional health. And, perhaps most importantly, it is an easily accessible step.

The onus is just on us to start.