“Intuition is really a sudden immersion of the soul
into the universal current of life.”—Paulo Coelho
A consuming
interest is the wellspring of mastery and genius. It is the attribute responsible
for turning an unknown man—Bill Bradley— into one of the best in history at his
game: the game of basketball.
Bradley was the
definition of obsession. He was always fixated on getting better at his craft. And
as a result he was rewarded in many great ways including winning an Olympic
gold medal in 1964.
However, Bradley
started his game on a low tone; he lacked many essential tactics of the game at
the beginning of his journey. But with dogged determination, he made up for
every skill he was deficient in.
All by
himself, he developed an intensive training routine that involved hours and
hours of practice in the gym—every blessed day.
He earned his glory with grit and focus like the German born theoretical
physicist, Albert Einstein who said: “I know quite certainly that I myself have no
special talent; curiosity, obsession and dogged endurance, combined with
self-criticism, have brought me to my ideas.”
Bradley’s
self-directed training went far beyond the gym. He would continue his training
at home. He would drill over and over again to improve the quality of his act.
He created a chance to practice any where he found himself: in the gym, at home
and even when he was on vacation with his family.
He stuck to this
pattern until he became so good that not only his fans but also his critics
would marvel at his remarkable display of skill, style and balance. He is now one of only two players with the
rare honour of winning an NBA championship, an Olympic gold medal and Euro
League title.
Read on to
learn the main point of today’s writing and how it applies to you.
Get the Point and Use It.
The obvious
point of this article is that achieving greatness has less to do with being a
natural but more to do with the level of one’s dedication and discipline. This is
the blessing our Creator has bestowed on all of us. So we can choose any path
that we want and commit to improvement in that direction.
Bill Bradley
became what he became only by taking full responsibility—despite the odds— for
his mastery. He used the power of immersion to develop and to unleash all the amazing
skills he had.
His mantra
was: "When you're not practicing, someone somewhere is."
This is what
transformed him into one of the best at his game. And when we commit to our own path with the
same amount of passion, we can achieve something far greater. Therefore, to
become a star in our own game, all we need to do is: focus on getting better,
making progress, and constantly working on ourselves, each day.
On this, the
social entrepreneur and author of ‘the Blue Sweater,’ Jacqueline Novogratz counsels
us as follows: “May each of you live lives of immersion. “Though she warns us
too that it, “…won't necessarily be easy,” yet she assures us it is totally
worth it. It is better to be immersed in something meaningful than to live untouched.
Beginning
today, let’s make a decision to live the rest of our lives with purpose and passion
for a good cause that is far greater than ourselves, our jobs and our careers
for the betterment of mankind as a whole.
