The Playbook for Becoming an Elite Level Player in Life

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[Welcome Screen: Today I give you my Playbook for becoming an elite level player in the video game of life. Without further ado—grab your portal gun. I'll catch you on the other side.]

*Read Time: 12 minutes

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For The Quietly Ambitious — A Letter to Myself & To You

If I was a basketball player, I would definitely be a point guard. The silent (but lethal) playmaker that sets everyone up and makes sure everyone shines (and gets their points). Leading the league in assists.

I make sure everyone feels seen. I make sure everyone feels heard. Team first type of mentality.

That’s always been my personality (enneagram 9 if you’re into that).

That’s why I’m here. I created a playbook for us. You read the title; you know what’s up.

I don’t believe 100% in astrology, but I am a Capricorn and my sign fits me to the tee. I’m steady, loyal, driven, and very ambitious. Once I achieve something I’m looking for the next mountain to climb. I don’t like feeling stagnant.

But before I allowed this energy to flow through me. I used to suppress it. Many years ago, I was the type that always went with the flow. I never wanted to rock the boat or stand out from the crowd. I wanted to fit in. I was terrified of what other people thought of me.

As an enneagram 9 personality type, I worry about making sure everyone else is comfortable so I would make myself small and shut the f up.

‍A few years ago, I started sharing my running journey online, and this was terrifying for me. I thought I was being too much. I thought I was being too intense. I thought my ambitious energy was overwhelming for people, so I was extremely self-conscious of sharing.

‍But elite level players (and high-performers) have always fascinated me. I might actually be obsessed with them. Maybe because, on some level, I knew that another part of me existed. The part that wanted to do more, to be more, the part that wanted to push my potential (even if it seemed extreme to others).

‍Little by little I’m learning to channel this energy, my natural energy, that wants to move through me and climb mountains. I’m learning to allow it instead of suppress it.

‍It’s okay to be ambitious, to have big dreams, and big goals. Anyone who is uncomfortable around you because of that is just upset because you are shining a light on what they believe they cannot do.

‍I won’t get too spiritual in this post, but we are all mirrors reflecting back to each other something.

‍It’s their own insecurities being triggered. It has nothing to do with you.

‍Some might call you crazy; delusional even. It’s their problem, not yours.

‍If you’re an ambitious person, chances are you don’t know many (if anyone) in ‘real life’ who share your desire with the constant quest to pursue your potential. I know because I have this same issue. You’re not alone and you’re not crazy. Most people just settle because they fear the unknown.

‍They go to a job they despise and they numb themselves every night, scrolling on social media, binging on Netflix, gorging on junk food. On the weekends, they drink themselves mad. Instant pleasure. Instant gratification. It’s a coping mechanism. Numb yourself from what you feel inside so you don’t have to deal with it.

‍This isn’t a judgement but an observation. I get it because I used to be one of them. What I’m trying to say is… they aren’t genuinely happy inside, so don’t let them get to you.

‍This playbook is for you as much as it is for me.

‍It’s a reminder to myself.

‍It’s possible to create the life you want and to self-actualize. Don’t let it be game over before you even start playing. Allow your true energy to move through you and become the elite level player you came to be in this video game of life.

‍It’s time to unlock your true potential.

‍Preface:

‍Warning: if using this playbook correctly you might find that:

• you are unlocking your true potential

• reality opens up to you and it feels like life is on your side

• you are living a fulfilling life in a constant state of evolution

In this playbook, I take lessons from elite level basketball players and teach you how to apply them to your life and to your desired craft.

‍Introducing The Playbook:

What does it actually take to be an elite level player in the NBA (and in life)?

Here are the deets.

1. ) Basketball IQ

‍Elite players:

• play daily

• study film/study the greats

• study or read books on basketball skills and performance

They know the game inside and out.

‍Chris Paul, the point god, arguably one of the best to ever play the point guard position, is well known for his basketball IQ.

‍On JJ Reddick’s podcast, he was discussing how if you get fouled in the middle of the court, you can choose which side you want to take the ball out on. He was explaining how he wanted to take the ball out the left side, “so when I get the ball I’m coming to my right hand.”

‍He knows if he takes it out on the left side x-y-z play is gonna happen, but if he takes it out on the right side a-b-c play is gonna happen.

‍Most players don’t think the game to this level. Most players don’t think about why it matters which side you take the ball out on. They don’t think about which plays will unfold as a consequence.

‍Chris Paul thinks the game like he’s playing chess. He pays attention to the details. He can read the floor and anticipate the next move.

‍“When you out kickin it, playin’ video games, or doing whatever— I’m watching games. You know what I mean? I always say this, each game is decided by like 1 point, like each possession, so don’t it matter?” — Chris Paul

‍“I watch every game, every night.” — Chris Paul

‍Basketball IQ - Application to Life

To apply this lesson to your life, you need to practice your craft daily. Study the game tapes of those in your chosen field who have reached what you might call mastery (or your desired level). Read books on it. Listen to podcasts. Acquire the necessary skills. Master the fundamentals. Learn your craft inside and out. Think differently. Play your craft like chess. Obsess over the details. Eventually, you’ll reach a high level of IQ in your chosen field. Plan to be in it for the long haul because mastery takes years.

‍2.) Competitive Stamina

‍Elite players are playing an infinite game. They aren’t playing to win. Their goal is to keep playing the game.

Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant, two of the best basketball players to ever play the game, were in an elite class of their own. They both had competitive stamina. They were both well known for their work ethic and their ability to outwork, outlast, and ultimately outperform their competitors.

Most guys get to the NBA and they slow down and get comfortable because they’ve ‘made it’ and this is why Kobe knew he could crush in the NBA.

“It was easy to size other players up in the NBA. I found that a lot of guys played for financial stability. Once they got that financial stability, the passion, the work ethic, and the obsessiveness was gone. Once I saw that, I thought, this is going to be like taking candy from a baby. No wonder Michael Jordan wins all these fucking championships.” — Kobe Bryant

From the Michael Jordan biography with a similar tone:

"Jordan had been surprised to learn how lazy many of his Olympic teammates were about practice, how they were deceiving themselves about what the game required."

Both of these quotes are absolutely incredible to me. I realized even at the highest level there are people who get comfortable and slow down a bit. I realized no matter how hard you may think you are working, someone is always working harder than you.

They both had unwavering focus. They had competitive stamina and would not let others outwork them. They had an obsessiveness about being the greatest in their craft.

‍Competitive Stamina — Application to Life

Understand that you will never ‘arrive’. The game is infinite. You can always get better. You can always improve some aspect of your game. Never let yourself get comfortable where you are. Fall in love with the process, not the end result. Constant evolution should be your ultimate goal.

3.) Elite Scoring - Become A Sharpshooter‍

Elite players can shoot the ball with surgical precision.‍

Steph Curry, one of the greatest shooters of our generation (if not the best), is well-known for his stunningly high efficiency. He’s currently leading the NBA’s list of all-time 3-pointers made after snatching up the title from Ray Allen earlier this season (Sept 2022).

‍“There’s a level of obsession about the details, when it comes to footwork, when it comes to balance, when it comes to how the ball is entering the rim at the right angle, the arc, and all that type of stuff. There’s a legit obsession around that.” — Steph Curry‍

Many credit Curry with revolutionizing the way the game of basketball is played. The 3-point shot is an essential part of the game now. In the 1979-80 season, there were only 2.8 3-point attempts per game. In the 2017-18 season, it was 29! A significant increase.

‍Elite Scoring — Application to Life

‍Set up your tasks for the day and then knock them out. Andy Frisella (the creator of 75Hard) has this thing called The Power List, similar to 75 Hard but you make your own daily tasks.

Pick 3-5 daily tasks.

No more than that.

Why?

Because there’s no way in hell you’re going to get 10 things done in a day. It never happens.

Keep it short.

Execute those tasks daily. When you complete those tasks, cross them off. After crossing every single one off in a day, give yourself a ‘W’. If you don’t complete them all, give yourself an ‘L’. Ultimately, the goal is to get more ‘W’s than ‘L’s.

According to the author of '12 Week Work Year', completing 80% or more of daily tasks leads to achieving goals.‍

In a 30-day sprint, this means you have to win 24 days out of 30. Don’t let this get to you too much in the beginning. In the NBA play-offs, you need to win 4 out of 7 games to advance to the next round, so if you win 4/7 days, that’s still a win.‍

But yes, ultimately you need to shoot for winning more days. You can’t lose weight if you’re only following the meal plan 60% of the time. It just doesn’t work like that.

Just start and then worry about building momentum and becoming ultra consistent later.

With enough momentum, eventually you’ll become a sharpshooter like Curry.

This means winning 6/7 days.‍

Knock your shots down every day and maintain an 80% shooting percentage and you’re well on your way to elite levels.

P.S. Do this in sprints, for example, go hard on a project for 30 days, 60 days, or 6 months. Then take off for a few days, a week or two where you aren’t worried about winning or losing the day. The reason why is because you need to have an ‘offseason’ so you don’t burn out.

4.) Elite Defending

Defending in today’s NBA might be a lost art, as you see the end score of games frequently going over 100 points compared to 20 years ago. Even getting 40 points (or more) in a game is happening more often for individual players. Still, there are players in today’s league that are doing the dirty work, like Marcus Smart, who won ‘Defensive Player of the Year’ for the 2021-2022 season.

“Nobody wants to play defense. Nobody wants to battle like that every single night. Possibly injure themselves by throwing their bodies around. Sacrifice their bodies for the betterment of their team and teammates. That’s what makes a great defender.” — Marcus Smart

An elite player knows that the game isn’t just about going on the offensive attack, but about defending the rim from your opponent. And if your opponent is gonna get the bucket, you at least better make them work for it.

Elite Defending — Application to Life

‍Defend yourself from distractions. They are everywhere.

To defend against distractions when working on your projects, here’s what you need to do:

• Put your phone on do not disturb mode and put it far away from you.

• Block or shut off any other apps on your computer that may be distractions (slack, gmail, etc.)

Deep work is defined as working on one thing continuously, without distractions. Shallow work is when you are working on something but you stop in between the work to check your phone, your messages on slack, gmail, etc. Block all that stuff and focus on the task at hand for a couple hours.

Distractions require your brain to reorient back to the original task, resulting in longer completion times.

What you will find when you block off time for deep work with no distractions is that you can actually get a lot of work done in less time. It’s seriously amazing to me how much writing I can actually do in just an hour or two when I am completely immersed in the task.

Also, if you use social media for work, I recommend creating time blocks for usage. This is more ideal than randomly opening it up throughout the day and getting sucked in. There are some apps for your phone that will block social media at certain hours for you.

For YouTube, I highly recommend the chrome extension ‘Unhook’. This blocks the recommended videos, so when you go to YouTube, your home screen is completely blank. Now you can search for whatever you need for your research rather than getting sucked into the algorithm. I’ve been using this one for a few years now.

5.) Strength & Conditioning

‍Basketball players’ condition themselves to play an 82 game season (& beyond). Many superstars play 40+ minutes in playoff games. They have the ability to sprint up and down the court. To play at this level day in and day out requires a lot of training and conditioning before the bright lights even come on.

In Kobe Bryant’s rookie year he shot airballs in the playoffs.

‍Why?

Well, he was drafted straight out of High School. In HS he played 35 games with plenty of rest in between. In the NBA? It’s an 82 game season back to back.

He realized, “I didn’t have the legs. If you look at those shots—every shot was on line, but every shot was short.”

He knew he needed to take a different approach. “I gotta get stronger. I gotta train differently. The weight training program that I’m doing—I gotta tailor it to an 82 game season so that when the playoffs come around, my legs are stronger and that ball gets there.”

Steph Curry, not only known for his 3-point shooting, but for his endurance and off-ball movement. He will tire other players out by running around the court and it seems near impossible to keep up with him. He puts himself through incredibly difficult drills to stay in peak conditioning.

His trainer, Brandon Payne, had this to say, “Every drill is a game. Every drill is competitive. And everything we do is against time and score. There’s always a time to beat. There’s always a number to beat. If you beat the number and you don’t beat the time, you still lose.”

His trainer was also on the podcast ‘Basketball Illuminati’. He told a hilarious story about how an anonymous NBA player trying to keep up with Steph Curry in a workout. After the first five minutes, he sits down on the floor, gets up, goes outside, throws up and is done.

Anthony Edwards, who is now on the Minnesota Timberwolves, recalls doing a Curry drill pre-draft with the Warriors and coach Steve Kerr. He said he was tired mid-drill. He thought he was going pretty fast, but Kerr asked him a few times, “You can’t go any faster?” Afterwards at dinner Kerr tells him, “If we’re gonna draft you at No. 2 you gotta be a hard worker. You ain’t working hard enough.”

He says it was a reality check for him. He later calls up his trainer and tells him that they gotta switch their workouts up.

‍Strength & Conditioning — Application to Life

Condition yourself to do deep work sessions for long hours. In the book ‘Deep Work’ Cal Newport says that at maximum one can do is 5-6 hours of deep work.

If you can’t focus for a long period, try the pomodoro technique. Work for 30 minutes, then take a 10 minute break. Get up, stretch, etc. Do this for a couple rounds. As the weeks progress, try to focus for longer. Work up to 45 min with 15 min breaks. Eventually, you will condition yourself to focus for longer hours.

For example, during one of my research & writing sessions, I went for almost 2 hours before I had to stop because my brain started to feel like mush. You want to push yourself to this point where it gets a little uncomfortable, but after you tiptoe over this point, stop. Take a break. Come back refreshed. Otherwise, you end up with diminishing returns.

Bonus — (for highly advanced players.)

Meditation is a great practice to strengthen your focus. If you’re new to meditation, it definitely won’t be easy at first, but with practice, you strengthen the muscle. Work on focusing on your breath and every time your thoughts wander, bring them back to the breath.

Another way to practice is by observing the thoughts that pop up and watching them without judgement. Watch them pass like clouds in the sky.

If you are new to meditation, start with just 5 minutes a day, then work your way up to longer sessions. You don’t even have to sit down in a lotus position, you can practice becoming present any time during the day.

‍The Recap

‍Here’s the TLDR:

1. Basketball IQ — Learn your craft inside and out.

2. Competitive Stamina — Realize that you never arrive. Don’t get comfortable where you’re at. Constant evolution should be your ultimate goal.

3. Elite Scoring — Pick out 3-5 daily tasks. Execute those tasks daily. Every time you knock those takes out, give yourself a ‘W’, if you don’t give yourself an ‘L’. Maintain an 80% shooting percentage. Meaning you win way more than you lose.

4. Elite Defending — Defend yourself from distractions. Keep your phone on ‘do not disturb’ mode when in deep work sessions. Schedule time to use social media. Block other apps as necessary.

5. Strength & Conditioning — Condition yourself to do deep work sessions for long hours. Allow yourself to work until you reach the point where your brain feels a little like mush. Break. Come back refreshed. Go again. Eventually you’ll condition yourself to focus for longer hours. Bonus — Meditation.

‍If you take this playbook seriously, you will be well on your way to becoming an elite level player in the video game of life. Especially if you are hitting 80% shooting consistently for a long period. Nobody will reach your level.

Make constant evolution your ultimate goal‍

Until next game.

— your friend and teammate, Player 2

‍[Game Over: Thank you for giving me your most valuable commodity, your attention. I truly appreciate it. I hope you found this playbook useful.]

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