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- one minute blog: kobe's excuse
one minute blog: kobe's excuse
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This is the One Minute Blog (OMB). An email of good stuff for you to think about over the weekend, that takes a minute to read.
Today’s word count: 417
It took me 1 min 15s to read this.
I’m wearing this shirt today:
I love this shirt. Not just because it’s Kobe (rip) but because the story is inspiring.
The story goes like this:
Back in 1999, Kobe had a rivalry with a teammate. (No, not Shaq)
A guy named John Celestand who played for the Lakers.
Actually, “play” is generous. He averaged 2 points, and the coach didn’t even put him in for 80% of games.
So John focused all his energy on practice. He took pride in being the first guy to the gym.
But one guy was always there first…Kobe.
So John started coming earlier.
But it didn’t work. Kobe was still there earlier.
This bugged the shit out of John. This continued, until a pre-season game in 1999, when Kobe broke his wrist.
In his words:
“I am ashamed to say that I was excited the day after his injury because I knew that there was no way that No. 8 [Kobe] would be the first to practice,
As I walked in…I heard a ball bouncing. No, no, it couldn’t be!
Kobe was already in a full sweat with a cast on his right arm and dribbling and shooting with his left.”
That’s where this iconic photo (the one on my shirt) comes from:
That’s the difference between good and great.
As my friend Mike Posner once told me: “you can use an excuse to give up, or an excuse to keep going.”
Mike had a mission to walk across America. He got all the way to Colorado, but then got bit by a rattlesnake (!!)
He went from THIS to THIS:
Doctors told him:
he might not live
he might have to get his foot cut off
it will take 8 months to heal
But he recovered. And when he did, he made a powerful decision: he would go back to the exact spot where the snake bit him, and finish the walk.
Think about that. My guy had a hall-of-fame excuse (getting bit by a rattlesnake) – and instead of using it to quit, he used it as a reason to double down.
He finished the walk with a sprint into the ocean:
Note to self: The excuses are always there. Broken wrist. Rattlesnake bite.
But it’s up to you to decide: is it an excuse to stop, or an excuse to keep going?
That’s all folks. Back again next week. Every Friday, with the One Minute Blog.
-Shaan
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