Tuesday, February 16, 2016

Master the Boring



Former NFL Running Back, Herschel Walker (pictured above), is known for his legendary workout routine that he developed as a kid and used throughout his career. Walker, who attended the University of Georgia, would complete between 750-1500 push-ups and 3500 sit-ups every day before college practice even started. His daily discipline is an example of “Mastering the Boring.” After so many hours and repetitions, he became a master in his sport. 

In the book, The Talent Code, author Daniel Coyle discusses the belief that it takes 10,000 hours to master a skill. Let's break down those 10,000 hours into years:

If you have one two-hour practice every day, it takes 5,000 days to reach 10,000 hours.

5,000 days is 13.7 years (13 years and just over 8 months) if you practice 365 days of the year!

Now, there are only so many basketball drills a person can do with a time frame of 13 years and 8 months.  There will be a lot of repetitiveness
involved if you choose to dedicate yourself to intense training. 

Any basketball player that chases greatness and wants to excel will face the challenge of boredom. Most players get bored if they go to the gym and do the same drill every day. Most players don’t know that greatness has routine. The fact is, people don’t get bored. People choose to be bored.

Choosing an intense level of dedication means choosing to “Master the Boring.” Who will get worn down by the "mundane" repetition, and who will see the value in the process? Those that love the sport of basketball absolutely love the process of being in a gym alone and working on their craft. There are some athletes who want the recognition, rewards, and attention when playing for a crowd, but are not willing to do the work when no one is watching. 

“Master the Boring” means taking pride in the simplest of drills and putting your entire focus on one task until it becomes a habit and then continuing to practice it to maintain it at that level. “Master the Boring” refers to fundamental skills like making a certain number of three-pointers, working on form shooting, footwork, doing ball-handling, making free-throws, and choosing one or a combination of drills to repeat every day. Its not flashy or cool to work on these skills, but they will separate you from the competition and help you and your team win games. 

From the time I was a senior in high school, I used a 10-minute ball-handling routine. My focus was to pound the ball as hard as I could throughout different drills. I wanted to make myself lose the ball. I continued this routine consistently for the next 12 years of playing basketball (through college and professionally). At first, it was exciting, and I found myself getting better pretty quickly with my ball handling. Then, I hit a period where I felt like I was getting worse with my ball handling. I would begin to think to myself, "Why am I doing this? Why am I spending time on this?" I continued to push through this doubtful self-talk and stuck with my routine.

Additionally, during my career, I found myself wanting to take it easy on days that I was tired and not wanting to do my drills. I felt alone sometimes because it wasn't easy to separate myself from the standards that were set at practice. Sometimes it was easy to think that simply fulfilling the expectations set by my coaches or team leaders was enough to get better and even be successful. But, falling into that group mentality wasn’t always going to prepare me for excellence.

I trained myself to be different in my approach - putting time in alone at the gym when my teammates chose to spend their free time outside the gym.  I learned to talk to myself and convince myself that I was sticking with it. 


Steve Nash once said, “If I did what everyone else does, then I would be out of a job.”



Eventually, I reached a point where my routine became second nature to me. Even after 10+ years, I found myself excited to get to the gym early to go through my ball handling. I was excited to see how fast I could go and how good I could get. 

Honestly, the path to "Mastering the Boring" is not a smooth, joyful path the entire way. There are ups and downs that you will find you have to battle within yourself. There will be days when you don't feel like it. There will be days you don’t feel like going to the gym to shoot, or you will tell yourself "it's too cold, it's rainy, I am sore today, I have a game today, it's my day off...” This is where successful people separate themselves not only in basketball, but also in school, work, or really any other life challenge.  

"Master the Boring" is about developing simple routines and having the ability to get excited about accomplishing them every day--turning them into habits. Not all days are fun, but if you can push through this phase, you will reach a point when the “boring” becomes a part of who you are…and you will never go on a date again…

Kidding. Really, if you become a “Master of the Boring”, you will learn what it means to accomplish greatness.


Questions to ask yourself:

1. Do you want to choose the path to “Mastering the Boring”? 

2. If so, what is your daily plan/routine?

3. Who can you share your plan with? (It can be done alone, but if you share it with someone else, they can help you along the way and keep you accountable and motivated.)


Action Steps:

1.    Choose a skill that is important to your position on the court: ball handling for point guards, shooting for wing players, footwork for post players, or free throws.
2.    Determine the amount of time or the amount of reps you will do for that drill.
3.    Find a teammate to share your routine with so that they can either participate with you or hold you accountable to your daily routine.
4.    After completing your routine, use positive self-talk to reinforce your accomplishment: “I just got better,” “I am proud of myself for doing my routine today,” and, “I just prepared myself for the biggest game of the year”.


-Robby Bostain
@RobbyBostain

Blue Collar Basketball

#MasterTheBoring

No comments:

Post a Comment