Playbook for Success: Using the Lessons of Sports to Win in Everything Else (eBook)

PLAY #1

Work Hard And Focus On Process, Not Outcome

I spent my last semester at USC as the editor in chief of the Daily Trojan student newspaper. That experience provided my first opportunity to truly be responsible for something. And from that, I learned two critical lessons:

(1) As a leader, in order to engage your team members, you better have a vision with which they can identify.

(2) No two people are alike, and you can’t expect anyone to think exactly like you do, or to care the same way you do.

After graduation, I worked for a small weekly newspaper in Arcadia, California, for six months, then had the opportunity to interview for a new position in the Promotions Department at the Disneyland Resort, part of the Marketing Division. This came about because of a relationship that was built while I was editor of the Daily Trojan.

As a kid, Disneyland was one of the only two places I dreamed of working when I grew up. The other was the Los Angeles Dodgers, mostly because of my childhood hero, Sandy Koufax, and my love for sports.

It was a blessing when I was hired to work at Disneyland, and I continued to work for Disney for nearly forty-four years until my retirement in 2019.

During my career, I always sought to demonstrate the strong, old-school work ethic I learned from my father, a blue-collar maintenance worker with Los Angeles Unified School District. And, of course, from many a successful sports hero.

Legendary Green Bay Packers football coach Vince Lombardi once said this about success:

“The only place success comes before work is in the dictionary.”

Three of the most successful basketball players of all time have been Michael Jordan, who won six NBA championships, Kobe Bryant, who won five, and LeBron James, who, by the end of the 2019-2020 season, had four.

Not coincidentally, they were also known as the most hardworking players on their individual teams, setting examples for their teammates to follow. In Kobe’s case, there was actually a phrase for it—Mamba Mentality—based on his nickname as the Black Mamba.

Michael Jordan once did a commercial where the catch phrase was “Be Like Mike.” And LeBron James’ accomplishments have earned him the moniker “The King.”

After Kobe Bryant died in a helicopter crash on January 26, 2020, the Los Angeles Lakers’ next game, a home game, was canceled. Instead of covering that game, the TNT network sent the crew of their Inside the NBA show to L.A.’s Staples Center to produce a TV special they called Remembering Kobe.

The hosts of that show (Ernie Johnson, Charles Barkley, Kenny Smith, and Shaquille “Shaq” O’Neal) were joined by numerous other NBA athletes that played with and against Kobe.

Among those who appeared on the show were Derek Fisher and Rick Fox, who like Shaq, played alongside Kobe for three successive championships (1999-2000, 2000-2001, and 2001-2002). Fisher paired with Kobe for two more championships during the 2008-2009 and 2009-2010 seasons.

Fox described Kobe’s incredible work ethic. “We were all chasing him, even his teammates. He was passionate, driven, wanting to win at all costs … Kobe needed that drive and pain to work hard every day—constantly, constantly, constantly.”

Fox recalled how Kobe’s work habits as a young player motivated his older teammates to work harder.

“We (his teammates) were working out, lifting weights before the game. He was lifting weights before and after the game. We thought we were beating him to the gym. He’d been there since two o’clock in the morning.”

At Kobe’s memorial service, Michael Jordan shared how Kobe had reached out to him early in his career to ask for advice, and how, over time, the two of them had become good friends.

“As I got to know him, I wanted to be the best big brother I could be,” Jordan said. “To do that, you have to put up with the aggravation, the late-night calls or the dumb questions … we talked about everything. He was just trying to be a better person.”

During the crazy 2019–2020 NBA season, which was halted and then restarted in a “bubble” at the Walt Disney World Resort in Florida, the Los Angeles Lakers lost their first playoff game of the opening round to the Portland Trailblazers, the NBA’s hottest team during the eight seeding games that preceded the start of the playoffs.

A follow-up Los Angeles Times sports story detailed the sleepless night experienced by Lakers’ star forward Anthony Davis, after a sub-par 8-for-24 shooting night.

In the story, Davis said he knew who would have helped him get through that night—Kobe Bryant.

Kobe was the first NBA player to mentor Davis, which began when Davis was nineteen years old and chosen to play on the 2012 U.S. Olympic team.

“I thought about: what would he say to me in this moment if I could text him and ask for advice?” Davis was quoted as saying in the LA Times story. “What did you see on the floor? What would he say? And the only thing I came up with that I know he would say is, ‘Play harder. Leave it out on the floor. Did you play hard in Game 1? Did you leave it out on the floor?’”

What all of these anecdotes have in common is a basic theme—having the right process in place.

While only a small number of people will play sports for a living, doing things the right way should be a standard for all of us in our pursuit of individual excellence.

And the best coaches know you set expectations for effort, not outcome.

If we do things the right way, and put in the proper effort, we can live with whatever outcome we achieve.

On the contrary, psychologists tell us that too much emphasis on the outcome leads to the “ego trap.” The ego trap occurs when you are more focused on the outcome than the process.

A good example would be the high expectations put on a child by an overbearing, unrelenting parent who tries to push his or her child to athletic super-stardom.

This creates a negative environment permeated by the fear of failure and commonly leads to an intentional lack of effort by the trapped individual, who may wither from constant pressure and criticism.

John Wooden, the ultra-successful basketball coach at UCLA, was a master at teaching process, even with the enormous pressure his program endured to sustain championship outcomes.

Wooden was known for engaging in a process so basic, he actually began with teaching his players how to tie their shoes.

He also developed a series of principles that he placed into a “pyramid” that outlined his beliefs for attaining success.

The pyramid included fifteen building blocks featuring a five-part foundation upon which everything else was held up. That foundation was anchored by the cornerstones of “industriousness” and “enthusiasm.”

In describing industriousness, Wooden believed, “There is no substitute for work. Worthwhile results come from hard work and careful planning.”

He said enthusiasm “brushes off upon those with whom you come in contact. You must truly enjoy what you are doing.”

The other three elements of the pyramid’s foundation were friendship, loyalty, and cooperation.

Wooden thought if you like what you are doing, and the people you are doing it with, and add some hard work and cooperative team spirit, you are laying a solid path for success.

It all sounds good to me. Besides, how do you argue with that philosophy when it comes from a man who won ten national championships in a twelve-year period?

AFTER FURTHER REVIEW: What makes this play work?

Nothing long-lasting is easy to accomplish. Long-running success requires extensive commitment and hard work, and the more difficult the task, the harder it is to accomplish.

An NBA championship requires a team to win four seven-game series after a long season, with each series bringing a tougher opponent.

Every human does a cost-benefit analysis when deciding what a goal is worth. Standing in a long line to vote may not appeal to some and may result in certain people passing up the opportunity, but for others, there’s an incredible desire to have their voices heard. For those individuals, no matter the time involved, voting is worth the effort.

When we look at the athletes we’ve respected over the years (such as Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, and LeBron James), the one common denominator for their extraordinary success is their willingness to put in the work.

Athletes live by a routine, and establishing the right process lays the path to...