With the start of basketball season upon us, one of the first fundamentals we’ve started with on my son’s 3rd grade team is shooting mechanics. If you research coaching shooting mechanics, it’s a consistent recommendation to have players start shooting close to the basket and then move further away. Even if you analyze the best shooter of all time, Steph Curry, you’ll see his warmup starts close to the basket and then eventually moves to his famous logo 3 spot.
When we watch the highlights of Steph’s warmup routine, naturally we all gravitate toward the long distance 3s. What us viewers typically don’t appreciate is what it takes for Steph to get to the famous logo 3. It takes shot after shot closer to the basket to prepare for what all of us fans go crazy for.
It never fails that before practice starts, most of the kids are out beyond the 3-point line heaving up 3-point shots. They want to imitate what they see on the highlight reel. But the highlight reel is far from reality. There’s an incredible amount of time, effort, and energy behind the scenes that create this highlight reel. So, when I call kids in to start working on form shooting close to the basket, I get plenty of moans. I get it. But for us to be successful on the long shots, the short shots need work first.
When we think about our growth journey, we often have a similar issue. We look far ahead to our destination of what we want and expect to be able to go there and have immediate success. Social media after all gives us plenty of highlight reels to think why can’t I immediately get what I want. These highlight reels are a distorted view of reality. The highlight reel won’t shape the story on all the small steps it took for someone to reach success. They won’t go through in detail about how slow of a start it may be or how the steps sometimes seem to only be inches forward.
If we skip the process and ignore the reality that progress takes a lot of small steps, we typically set ourselves up for failure. And even if we do find success, it won’t be sustainable. Plenty can go out and throw up 3-point shots and make some. But there’s no consistent or sustainable success with this approach. Steph has perfected all the small steps of short and midrange shots to then excel at the long-range shot.
If we are to create sustainable success, we must be willing to take the small steps to work towards long-term success. We must withstand the monotony of repeating the short and midrange shots to create success with the long shots. And most importantly, we can’t forget to enjoy the journey.
Take your step: reflect on a goal you’re seeking currently. Are you trying to fast forward to the end and skipping steps? Take a step back and think about what small steps you feel like you can integrate into the journey. Stay focused on the journey to build sustainable success instead of being teased with short term success.