If I work the right way, see the right route, and do the right things, then go this way and go the right way, you'll have it made in business! You can work as hard as you want to work. You can work, in theory, as smart as you think you are working. If you are not working right, it doesn't matter. Got it? I learned the importance of this when I was playing high school basketball. I learned this when I was a junior in high school, right after my junior year in high school. I learned that the 3-point shooting line will be used in high school. Therefore, my goal was to get a basketball scholarship being good at the 3 point line shots!
I thought, "Well, I'm not the quickest. I am not the fastest. I do not have a talent like a lot of these other kids." I thought to myself, "What if I became a pretty decent shooter? This new 5-point thing, of course, I think every team might need someone who can make one from that distance if the game is on the line kind of thing, so what if that became my unique selling proposition." I did not know there was a business factor called a unique selling point aka USP back then, but I did think what if that became my uniqueness, my talent, my skill?
Therefore, I would go out right by my house in Monessen, Pennsylvania to Shawnee Playground. I acquired some paint, a tape measure, and a brush, and I went down there on the court to measure off and paint a three-point line. I'm out there working my butt off all day long in the hot sun in the summer before my senior year. I'm out there just shooting balls, you know, shooting, working hard shooting, getting used to this new 3-point thing. I am out there for, I don't know, maybe six weeks, and I'm not making a shot
Finally, one sunny afternoon, I had enough. I stunk. I couldn't make the shots. Shoving the ball across the court, I kicked the fence. I think I took my jersey, flinging it to the side, and spewed a few things I shouldn't have said. I didn't notice him, Mr. Mason, the gentleman who would sit on his porch swing every afternoon watching me out on the playground, until he called me over.
Mr. Mason saw this took place. He got up. He came over to the court. He said, "Hey, kid, come over here to the fence. I know why you're missing your shots. You're hitting a wall on improving, and I can tell you why!"
I said, "Well, OK, how many years did you play basketball?"
He said, "Basketball? None."
I said, "Did you coach?"
He goes, "Coach, nope."
With that comment, I was thinking, "Whatever, who are you who never handled a basketball or coached a basketball team to tell me why I'm missing my shots when I've been playing for years! Sarcastically, I muttered, "Go ahead, Mr. Mason. You go ahead and tell me what I'm doing wrong!"
He said, "You are working hard I will give you that because I see you out here in the hot sun. You're out here all day and all night." I used to shoot at night because my theory was if I can make the basket when it's dark, I can make the basket with the gym lights. I would shoot all day and all night.
He said, "Well, son, you are sweating, working pretty hard, and theoretically, working pretty smart doing reps from the painted 3 point line. Also, I see you come out here time and time again working on your strength for your legs and arms by shooting over and over again. But, sorry to say it, you are just not working RIGHT!"
Put off from frustration, I said with just a little bit of attitude, "What do you mean? How am I not working right?"
He said, "You have your elbow sticking out for every shot you throw!" Now, if any of you know anything about basketball, there's an old line that is been around for 100 years in basketball. Where the elbow goes, the ball flows. If the elbow is sticking out here to the side, the ball flows to the outside. You will miss the basket each time. He said, "I'm watching you shoot one curve balls after the other." He said, "It is not about making a significant change. You just have to make a small adjustment. Get that elbow in some and you will be throwing the ball the right way. Bet you money, you will start shooting those baskets."
"Oh! Wow! Actually, it is not even that hard. I mean I got to work at it, but it is not as hard as I was because here I am just not making anything. You know what? If I do it the right way, if I sequence it the right way, dribble, pump, shoot, dribble, pump, shoot, catch, face, pump, shoot, I do it the right way, the right sequence, I can make some shots." There's a basketball magazine that came out talking about the new guys coming into college basketball called Blue Ribbon Basketball Yearbook. I was honored at the nice cool things they said about a young steel mill town kid who ended up shooting 74% from the three-point range!
I thought, "Well, I'm not the quickest. I am not the fastest. I do not have a talent like a lot of these other kids." I thought to myself, "What if I became a pretty decent shooter? This new 5-point thing, of course, I think every team might need someone who can make one from that distance if the game is on the line kind of thing, so what if that became my unique selling proposition." I did not know there was a business factor called a unique selling point aka USP back then, but I did think what if that became my uniqueness, my talent, my skill?
Therefore, I would go out right by my house in Monessen, Pennsylvania to Shawnee Playground. I acquired some paint, a tape measure, and a brush, and I went down there on the court to measure off and paint a three-point line. I'm out there working my butt off all day long in the hot sun in the summer before my senior year. I'm out there just shooting balls, you know, shooting, working hard shooting, getting used to this new 3-point thing. I am out there for, I don't know, maybe six weeks, and I'm not making a shot
Finally, one sunny afternoon, I had enough. I stunk. I couldn't make the shots. Shoving the ball across the court, I kicked the fence. I think I took my jersey, flinging it to the side, and spewed a few things I shouldn't have said. I didn't notice him, Mr. Mason, the gentleman who would sit on his porch swing every afternoon watching me out on the playground, until he called me over.
Mr. Mason saw this took place. He got up. He came over to the court. He said, "Hey, kid, come over here to the fence. I know why you're missing your shots. You're hitting a wall on improving, and I can tell you why!"
I said, "Well, OK, how many years did you play basketball?"
He said, "Basketball? None."
I said, "Did you coach?"
He goes, "Coach, nope."
With that comment, I was thinking, "Whatever, who are you who never handled a basketball or coached a basketball team to tell me why I'm missing my shots when I've been playing for years! Sarcastically, I muttered, "Go ahead, Mr. Mason. You go ahead and tell me what I'm doing wrong!"
He said, "You are working hard I will give you that because I see you out here in the hot sun. You're out here all day and all night." I used to shoot at night because my theory was if I can make the basket when it's dark, I can make the basket with the gym lights. I would shoot all day and all night.
He said, "Well, son, you are sweating, working pretty hard, and theoretically, working pretty smart doing reps from the painted 3 point line. Also, I see you come out here time and time again working on your strength for your legs and arms by shooting over and over again. But, sorry to say it, you are just not working RIGHT!"
Put off from frustration, I said with just a little bit of attitude, "What do you mean? How am I not working right?"
He said, "You have your elbow sticking out for every shot you throw!" Now, if any of you know anything about basketball, there's an old line that is been around for 100 years in basketball. Where the elbow goes, the ball flows. If the elbow is sticking out here to the side, the ball flows to the outside. You will miss the basket each time. He said, "I'm watching you shoot one curve balls after the other." He said, "It is not about making a significant change. You just have to make a small adjustment. Get that elbow in some and you will be throwing the ball the right way. Bet you money, you will start shooting those baskets."
"Oh! Wow! Actually, it is not even that hard. I mean I got to work at it, but it is not as hard as I was because here I am just not making anything. You know what? If I do it the right way, if I sequence it the right way, dribble, pump, shoot, dribble, pump, shoot, catch, face, pump, shoot, I do it the right way, the right sequence, I can make some shots." There's a basketball magazine that came out talking about the new guys coming into college basketball called Blue Ribbon Basketball Yearbook. I was honored at the nice cool things they said about a young steel mill town kid who ended up shooting 74% from the three-point range!
About the Author:
James Malinchak, Featured on ABC's Hit TV Program Secret Millionaire, is known as by many people specialists as the World's #1 Big Money Speaker Coach and Trainer. For Absolutely free Video Trainings regarding how to get paid to speak and the ways to be a motivational speaker, try more and learn more.
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