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2 personal stories about basketball and the lessons that apply your business
(4 min read)
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My tragic success with basketball
I moved to a new town 1.5 years ago and was thrilled to learn that there was an indoor basketball court 6 minutes away.
And I was allowed to play there for FREE.
And it wasn't crowded. I was pinching myself. It felt like a dream come true.
Except...
There were no people there, and I knew nobody in this town.
So what did I do?
Little by little, I started meeting people who liked basketball.
I’d say “I’m starting an email list so we can all coordinate and get some games going.”
You know what happened?
It worked.
It worked TOO well.
I attracted 60 people to the email list.
And probably every person on the list was telling other people who weren’t on the list, so the reach was far more than 60.
I don’t even send emails anymore.
Why?
To say that the court is too crowded now is an understatement.
You only get to play 10 minutes for every ~2 hours of waiting.
It’s full of people who are now frustrated and feeling impatient. They get aggressive and loud.
It’s chaos.
And it’s unenjoyable (so I won’t be going anymore).
I’ll figure out a new solution for basketball.
But that’s not what this post is about.
It’s about momentum.
Exponential growth.
With physical resources (like a basketball court), scarcity can become a real problem.
But in the online world, momentum works in your favor.
That’s why I’m excited to collect subscribers here on my REAL email list (not the basketball one).
One by one, it will grow.
And people will start to spread the word.
The growth could become exponential.
There’s no scarcity in the digital world.
The more, the merrier.
Your growth is UNLIMITED.
So if you’re just starting out (like I am), remember that OF COURSE the first steps look small.
But your progress can accelerate even without additional effort. Just consistency.
What Alex Hormozi gets wrong
I’ve been a big fan of the Hormozis for years.
I’ve taken so many notes when watching their videos.
But I disagree with him on lots of issues, too.
For example, he regularly talks about waking up before dawn and working late into the night, 365 days a year.
He once talked about how inspired he was by Jesse Itzler and Itzler’s kids.
They’d run a marathon and look to a camera and make a zero with their hands, and the zero meant that they’d run as fast as they could, giving it their all, so that by the end they had absolutely nothing left in the tank.
“Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside in a cloud of smoke, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming "Wow! What a Ride!”
— Hunter S. Thompson
There’s something appealing about that mindset.
Fully committing.
Leaving it all on the floor.
But I’ve noticed that “leaving it all on the floor” has actually not made my life better.
It’s worse.
In basketball, I’ve taken pride in hustling more than anyone else.
My attitude was:
I may not be the most skilled, but I will play harder than anyone.
My lungs will burn.
My toenails will crack in half (not kidding).
My feet will bleed.
I’ll be scratched and bruised everywhere.
But no one—especially not I—can doubt my effort.
What was the result of this effort?
To be honest, I don’t keep track of wins and losses.
But my body keeps track of a different score.
Of going too hard.
Each time I played that hard, I was so beat up and worn out that I couldn’t lift weights for the rest of the week.
I couldn’t go on my enjoyable daily neighborhood walks with Katie.
And sometimes instead of playing basketball 2+ times a week, I’d need more recovery time before I could even put shoes on.
So I’d end up playing only once every week or 2.
In other words, the intensity of my basketball playing severely constrained how much basketball I got to play.
And totally threw the rest of my life off track too.
These days, before each basketball game, I literally read a note to myself to try to REVERSE my natural tendency to go all-out.
I’ll share the beginning of the long note with you here:
Don’t go 100% because you don’t want to be unable to go on walks with Katie and you don’t want cramped legs in bed and you do want to be able to play or exercise many times per week. Only your feet touch the floor. No diving to the ground. Your knees and wrists get hurt too easily. Never worth it. […]
It’s embarrassing that I need to read reminders like this (and that they don’t always work, and I still come home injured).
But it’s true that chronic turbo mode is a bad idea.
How this intensity gamble applied to my career (and yours)
You may not care at all about pickup basketball, but I share the story because:
The level of effort that you decide is appropriate has a huge impact not just on the activity but also the other areas of your life.
In my software engineering career, I was the same way.
Like a fighter pilot trying to use after-burners the entire time instead of just for short bursts.
Every. Single. Day.
I woke up and worked my ass off for my employers.
Not just on my own responsibilities.
Thinking like a true owner of the whole company and trying to achieve the goals.
Demanding excellence of myself and others.
Wondering how anyone could ever phone it in.
You’re probably less naïve than I was, so you probably know how this went.
How do you think this mindset affected my sleep over those years?
My romantic relationship?
My social life?
And here’s the worst part, which you probably also predicted:
How much do you think any of my employers appreciated my commitment?
Right.
You won’t be surprised to hear that I got laid off as part of the 2022 crypto crash.
And then laid off again as part of the 2023 general tech crash.
Working for other people (at least in the US economy that I’m familiar with) is generally thankless.
One possible pivot would be:
“OK, given my character and inclinations, I should run my own company. That way, none of the effort I invest will ever be underappreciated.”
But wherever you go, there you are.
(I like how Kenny wrote about this recently.)
You take your issues with you.
Although I did decide to create a company for myself (as a solopreneur) instead of look for another job, this time around, I want to be sure not to brute force anything.
Hence creating a newsletter called “Work Less, Profit More”.
And focusing on leverage and alignment (and savoring).
Katie and I want to live lonnnnnnng, fun, meaningful lives.
So we’re focused on figuring out habits that are enjoyable and self-sustainable.
How we eat, how we stay fit, who we hang out with, how we earn money.
Stay tuned, because I share all about it here!
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Ryan, a huge fan of the game myself, I'd invite you to play one on one.
I played against 17-year-olds in February this year. I'm 37. To say I was in pain the next four days is an understatement. I felt every little muscle in my legs and feet and even soles. But it was worth it.
I love reading the excitement in your voice! Sounds like you are on the right track. I love my life because I am creating it myself.