Kobe Bryant and the "mamba" mentality

I want to start this post talking about one of my main hobbies: NBA. I was a basketball player in my childhood. Since then, I like to watch basketball games on TV with a special attention to NBA games. Obviously, I can't follow the whole season but when playoff time arrives, I try to pay more attention than usual.

One of my last books has been the biography of Kobe Bryant written by Roland Lazenby (link to the book). The book is called "Showboat". This was the nickname that Shaquille O'Neal gave to Kobe when they played together for Los Angeles Lakers.

Kobe Bean Bryant was the successful basketball player that always dreamt to be the best ever player. His idol was Michael Jordan and he always wanted to be better than him. And he had this dream since he was a child.

With this goal on his mind, he dedicated all this basketball life to become a better player, a better professional everyday of his life. Most likely, he was the most talented player in the different rosters of his teams (not only in the NBA years, even in the High School or the USA Olympic team). The most talented and the most hard-worker in all those teams.

He trained everyday. He used to wake up early in the night to reach the court and start training even when his teammates were still in bed. He practiced a thousand times every movement that the had to use during the games. When he had an injury, he focused all his efforts in the quick and safe recovery working everyday on that. The way of being prepared for the challenges that he faced should be a lesson learned for all the people.

His mentality and personality was also special. He demanded the same level of dedication to his teammates.  This fact created too many problems during his professional life because not all people can be measured with the same level of exigency.

He learned how to become a leader. He knew that he was a reference for his teammates and the lighthouse to guide them to the success for them. He always assumed his responsibilities on the court because he had a goal. He sometimes failed but most of the time he succeeded.

But he had a lot of defects as well. Literally we destroyed his personal life with an incident in 2003 in a Colorado's hotel. But after each failure, he demonstrated the willpower needed to recover from every stone along the way.

Courage and determination. If I have to define Kobe Bryant's mentality, I'd use these two words. Looking forward always with a clear life's goal and the strength and the work to achieve it.

At this time, I'm also reading Elon Musk's biography. Most of these personality traits are also present in a person who is changing the world from a clear goal and a determination to do so.

Showboat - Kobe Bryant's biography


Thanks for reading ;-)

Location: Madrid, España

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