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The Highest Level: The Beauty of the Struggle, Harden's Moment of Excellence, and LeBron's Advice for Ignoring the Noise
Actionable insights on coaching, leadership, culture, and teams May 12, 2023 Howdy Y’all, This week’s Highest Level includes:
Let's go! EB The Beauty of the StruggleHow is this Miami Heat team, that struggled through much of the regular season, winning so big in this year's playoffs? Simple. It’s the beauty of the struggle
After a big Game 4 win to take a 3-1 series lead, Coach Erik Spoelstra talked about the value of the regular season grind and how that experience has led to the playoff success. “We found the value in the grind of the regular season. And a grind in the struggle. We found a beauty in that struggle...Without that struggle where we had to find different solutions to win…If we didn’t do that in the regular season, you have zero chance to win in the playoffs.” Opponents may be a bit in disbelief at this postseason version of the Miami Heat, compared to the team they faced in the regular season. But opponents and fans alike need to realize that those are not the same teams. This playoff version of the team has been through the fire. They have changed as a result of going through that fire. And they have emerged as a true contender. Check out the full postgame remarks from Coach Spoelstra. James Harden’s Moment of Excellence“I’ve been let in on a dirty little secret: winning changes nothing. Now that I’ve won a slam, I know something that very few people on earth are permitted to know. A win doesn’t feel as good as a loss feels bad, and the good feeling doesn’t last as long as the bad. Not even close.” - Andre Agassi I'll be the first to admit I have been largely indifferent about James Harden's basketball career. That is, until the 76ers' overtime win Sunday in Game 4 of their semifinals series with the Boston Celtics. No, it wasn't because Harden hit the game-winning shot in the final seconds of play. It was because of what the above picture represents. The concept of how elite performers define success has fascinated me in recent years. More specifically, how their perception of success evolves as they rack up the career accomplishments they always believed would fulfill them. Andre Agassi wrote how "winning changes nothing" in his autobiography Open, and Kevin Durant "learned much hadn't changed" after winning an NBA championship. If the major career accomlishments don't matter, what does? That's why I believe many top athletes achieve more success and fulfillment when they focus on the "pursuit of excellence", an idea of focusing on daily goals instead of results, and ultimately creating achievements in conjunction with their athletic pursuits that give the journey true meaning. Enter James Harden on Sunday, and why his performance hit me in such an emotional way. Two months ago, James Harden spoke to Michigan State shooting survivor John Hao by facetime, sharing words of encouragement, gifts, and an offer to bring Hao to a future 76ers game when he got out of the hospital. Last Sunday was that day. With Harden's good luck charm in Hao in the stands, Harden showed out with a game-high 42 points, including the go-ahead three-pointer late in overtime to seal the win and even the series. But when I are talk about Harden's moment of excellence, the in-game performance merely acted as a prelude to his true heroics. It was the magnificent moments captured on-court directly after game, and the scene in the locker room between Hao and Harden are what it's all about. Great job James Harden on creating such a wonderful moment for this young man and his family, showing how special sports can be, and reminding us what truly matters in life. Why Every Coach Needs A ‘Philosophy Binder’In February 2023, The Daily Coach featured sports psychologist Bhrett McCabe in their "Saturday Blueprint” Q&A series. In his interview, McCabe mentioned something of particular note that I’ve been passionate about for almost two decades: Creating your own “Philosophy Binder” as a coach. I refer to mine as my ‘Portfolio Binder’, which is focused on how to run a program from A-to-Z, but they are the same thing. Here is McCabe speaking about the importance of solidifying your system and philosophy as a coach: I’ll give a talk to 5,000 coaches in an audience and ask, “How many of you have your system and philosophy written down?”
Coaches are all going to say, “Trust the process. Follow the system.” So you’re the expert and leader of your organization but don’t have your material written down? The mind can only remember so many things.
Then what happens is we go to a conference, watch something online and now we’re going to reactively teach our kids everything David Goggins does? Well, that may not be the right idea. Or we’re going to do everything Jocko Willink does? O.K. Then, we’re going to follow Brene Brown’s ideas and be vulnerable? Wonderful content, but those are just the seasonings of a philosophy.
What I tell every coach to do is what I call “Red Wine Therapy” or “Beer Therapy” or “Coffee Therapy.” Take out a piece of paper and just start writing. In-game strategy, what are we specifically trying to do in a given scenario? If we look at Coach Saban, we know what his philosophy is, and yeah, it’s written down. Coach Oats at Alabama basketball, it’s very clear what his philosophy is. If you meet with a surgeon about a hip replacement, I guarantee you there is a system in place. When pilots fly, they have a checklist. But as coaches, we’re just going to wing it?
My portfolio binder has been evolving for the past two decades with thoughts, experiences, articles and different materials. Having one is obviously something I feel is very important for both developing your own coaching principles, as well as for a coach to have the ability to walk into an interview and be able to sell themselves, and sell their program. If you do this right, creating a portfolio binder like this has two substantial benefits for any coach or leader. 1) A singular, organized place to store your most prized ideas, roadmaps to success, and coaching principles and philosophies. This is great for when you interview because it signals to the people that you are interviewing with that you are organized, can present the information, and possess a great knowledge about how you will run your program. 2) Thoughtful creation of the binder serves to challenge yourself on your beliefs and also creates a greater understanding of your principles that shape your coaching. This greater understanding of your own coaching philosophies allows you to be more steadfast and passionate about sharing your beliefs to someone in any setting, which helps when you are trying to get players to buy-in to your program or when you are interviewing with decision-makers. LeBron's Advice to Young Teammates: Get Off Social MediaLeBron James gave some great advice to younger teammates about how to stay locked in during the playoffs, which applies to any athlete or high performer looking to focus on the things that truly matter. “Stay off social media. … When you watch the other playoff games, watch them on mute and play some music in the background. That’s what I do.” When it comes to controlling the things within our control, no place is better to tune out than what people are saying or doing on any social media platform. There are times when social media can be beneficial to share thoughts or build a brand, but in the end primarily serves to distract us. In times when we need to focus on giving our best, let's take LeBron's advice and ignore the noise, avoid what others are saying, and shift our attention to things that determine our highest level of performance. Thanks for reading and see you next time at the highest level. Dominate Today, Evan Find me on Twitter or my website. Thank you for subscribing to The Highest Level. If this newsletter was forwarded to you, you can sign up for the newsletter here. |
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