#340

I think it's important that M 'n' m understand something, a simple concept, but easy to dismiss, easy to ignore. I ignore it sometimes; I forget. We don't see and applaud it like we do outcomes, awards, trophies, the knockout, the finish line. We celebrate victory and celebrity. And I suppose that makes sense. We don't have parades for hard work by itself; not many headlines, posters, championship belts just for effort (although CrossFit and other endurance and strength events come close). So yeah, this 'important something' – as I have so stirringly and ingeniously described it :) – is just really, really hard work. That's it. But it's essential for greatness. And – more importantly, if you can believe it – it leads to fulfillment and self-respect, which, at times, are elusive in life (I've suffered periods without them, at least, chasing, grasping, floundering; but I shouldn't speak for anyone else) ... Man, I'm on a roll! SERMON ALERT! ...

Bluto: ... Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor? Hell no!
Otter: Germans?
Boon: Forget it, he's rolling.

So – you could've skipped the first paragraph – what I'm trying to say is:

I think it's important that M 'n' m understand that behind every Lebron, DiCaprio, Jennifer Lawrence, Zuckerberg, Rihanna, whoever impresses us, is a TON of hard work. These people work very, very hard. Hugh Jackman hits the weight room at 4 AM – or some ungodly hour – when filming. Stephen Curry makes hundreds of shots a day. Kobe Bryant routinely came to practice early. Like three hours early. Elon Musk works 100-hour weeks when he has important projects, and he has a lot of important projects. By all accounts, the others I mentioned have unrelenting, tireless, powerful work ethics. I don't mean to plagiarize Gladwell and the ten-thousand-hours camp. I just want M 'n' m to know that superstars work like dogs. They work like dogs, and they suffer countless moments of discomfort, struggle, defeat, drills, repetition, tedium, terror, pressure, and grueling physical challenge. They lose games, bomb auditions, make mistakes, fall, fail, but they earn their place at the top with hours, days, months, years, and decades of getting better, and staying better. They have physical gifts, sure, but we all do; we all have strengths, skills, some piece of ourselves we can push to the highest levels of achievement if we put in the work. Okay, I'm done. What a preachy, eager-beaver, go-get-'em burst of pulpit-pounding today! It's for the kids :) Get out there and kick ass, kids! And remember: hard work is its own reward! (Although, I have trouble mocking any of this, because I know my best days are the busy, grinding, uphill ones that take guts and send me to bed pleasantly exhausted. Maybe I'll have a day like that today.)

According to his teammates, Michael Jordan had a legendary work ethic. The Manning brothers (Peyton an Eli) subjected themselves to extra practice at 4:30 or 5 in the morning, in high school. Aaron Rodgers would show up every morning in his coach's office before class to study offensive and defensive schemes. And Kobe Bryant... whether he was a jerk or not, I don't know, but he was a great basketball player...

"Even more than his prodigious scoring output and crowd-pleasing style, Bryant's most defining trait would come to be a work ethic that seemingly had no off switch." – Dan McCarney, NBA.com

"He was always in the facility by himself, working out in the gym or practicing on the court. He was always the first one to show up. I don't know when he slept. He would call me at 1 or 2 in the morning to go over something and then be at the gym by 5 a.m." – Ronny Turiaf, former teammate of Bryant

"He's in a full sweat 10 minutes before we're supposed to meet and be ready to go. That's when I realized 5:30 a.m. meant 4:45 a.m. with Kobe." – Rasheed Hazzard, former Lakers scout

"I heard one time in a workout that he practiced a shot for an hour. The same shot. For one hour. And it wasn’t like a three-pointer, it was a little shot in the mid-range area. Do you know how tedious that is? Do you know how locked in you have to be to do one shot for an hour? To trick your mind that way? That’s unbelievable." – Jamal Crawford, NBA player, speaking of Bryant

"What do you mean, how do I know? I know because I counted them." – Kobe Bryant, after he told reporters he went spot to spot until he made 400 shots that morning, and they asked how he knew it was 400

"There's a choice that we have to make as people, as individuals. If you want to be great at something, there's a choice you have to make. We all can be masters at our craft, but you have to make a choice." – Kobe Bryant