5 Life Lessons to Learn From One of the Greatest Basketball Player of All Time
35 Years old, 10 NBA Finals Appearances and he is not done yet…
This man is an excellent role model in multiple disciplines as a great leader, team player, husband, father, philanthropist, businessman, sports icon…
He has been an influential person for many, including for myself.
He is the ambassador of Nike and many other sports brands.
Every summer, I would be in front of the TV on the sports channel or on my friend's computers to watch the NBA Finals games together.
During the break, as the NBA final theme song played in the background, we got all pumped up and we just couldn’t wait for the commercials to end to get back into the games.
I would be rooting for the team this person is in, and my friend would choose the opposite team.
I have been a loyal fan unlike some friends of mine jumping on the bandwagon to join the Warriors when they seem staked with the addition of KD. (cough cough)
And this man that has made 10 NBA finals appearances in his career.
Currently, he is 35 years old.
This special superstar is about to BUILD another historical moment for himself and for the team he is playing now..
For
t h e
This fabulous superstar is .
.
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LeBron James.
Even though he's already 35 years old, at the age where many athletes would have already retired by now.
He seems to be doing even better, year after year, just like a good old wine that tastes better the longer it ages.
LeBron James is considered one of the greatest athletes of the current generation and the numbers and percentages during his playoffs games are just unbelievable.
His career accomplishments include:
- 4 x NBA Most Valuable Player Awards
- 9 x NBA Finals Appearances
- 3 x NBA Championships Title (2 in Miami Heat with his best friend D.Wade, one for his hometown Cleveland, one incoming with the Los Angelas Lakers this year 2020)
- 2 x Olympic Gold medals
- All-time NBA playoffs scoring leader
- 14 x NBA All-Star game appearances
- 5 x Defensive First Team honors
Let’s dive into the five keys that help Lebron remain as one of the top athletes now, even at age of 35.
1. The key to Success is Consistency
Lebron James told Tim Ferris on Tim’s podcast that he has always been very consistent with training his body, rehabbing his body, eating, having his body be very clean throughout this journey because he always wanted to have a long career.
And he is a man with his words. Even though at age 35, he is still able to perform at his peak state while many other professional players have already retired or been long gone by now.
Lebron always avoid eating any fried food during the season, and he had always stayed away from artificial drinks and artificial sugars.
“Yesterday, I had an egg white omelet with smoked salmon and gluten-free pancakes with berries(natural sugar) That was my breakfast. For lunch, I had whole wheat pasta, salmon, and vegetables. And right before the game, I had peanut butter and jelly sandwich. And at halftime, I had sliced apples with almond butter on top. Right after the game, Mike gave me a protein shake to put in my system right after. I downed that right after the game last night. And then for dinner, I had chicken parm with a rocket salad and a beautiful glass of cabernet.”
If we want to have longevity in our career as an athlete or stay at peak with what we do, we need to cultivate discipline and consistency with a rigid routine that we have to stick with, that will move us towards our end game.
The same principle can be applied to other areas of our life.
LeBron has a long career as a top athlete.
For a business to increase revenue, the business owner needs to have the discipline to consistently avoid the temptations and distractions of entertainments and prioritize doing the important tasks at hand.
”Discipline is consistency of action.” — James C. Collins
2. Ignore the Naysayers
We know there is always a portion of people that would always criticize everything we do, no matter how well we have performed. Lebron had built a strong immune system against the naysayers by constantly reminding himself this quote from Theodore Roosevelt:
“The Man in the Arena” — Theodore Roosevelt
Lebron was once studying some great leaders of our time and came across this quote by Theodore Roosevelt. It right away resonated with him. He would write that quote every time on his shoes before every game to help him stay focused during the game.
Lebron said the quote means “it doesn’t matter what other people say about you because they’ve never stepped inside the arena. They’ve never had the blood and the sweat and the tears or paid their dues in the arena so they can’t really understand or critique you about what's going on in your life.” And that hit home for James and still stuck with him until today.
So remember to always ignore the naysayers and stay focused on your own craft because they are not likely to know what you have been up to and you don’t need to waste your energy explaining things they don’t understand because they haven’t been in your situations.
“No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.”
— Eleanor Roosevelt
3. Give the Best You’ve Got and Have Fun in the Proccess
“Play hard, have fun and stretch” is the principle Lebron adopted in the beginning of his NBA career. If that helped Lebron become one of the greatest athletes of all time in the sports of basketball, we can also apply that in other aspects of our life to be successful as well.
For example, on Medium if we give the best we’ve got in writing and injecting passion to have lots of fun in the process we can also become a successful writer no matter our background or experiences.
And instead of stretching, we can probably switch it to reading so we gain more knowledge and have more ideas to produce better content for our readers.
“When you play, play hard; when you work, don’t play at all.” — Theodore Roosevelt
4. Sleep 8–10 Hours Every Night for Optimal Performance
Our body adopts differently when it comes to sleep. Some people only need 6 hours or less, while most of the adults need 7–10 hours every night to be healthy.
You can experiment with your body, and see how many hours suit best for your need based how you feel the next day.
For me, 8 hours of sleep and a 18-minute afternoon nap seems to work the best. If I get any less than that, I can easily feel tired during the day. Thus my productivity would decrease.
So set your alarm clock and find out for yourself. The hint should be how you feel after you wake up, then set the time and stick to it.
James told Tim, “There’s nothing more important than optimal REM sleep. And that’s exactly what we’re talking about right now. That’s the best way for your body to physically and emotionally be able to recover and get back to 100% as possible.” He told Tim that if he doesn’t get at least 8 hours of sleep he would take a 2 and half hour nap to catch up with this sleep.
5. Never Forget Where You Come From
LeBron is from Akron, Ohio. He took pride in that and always referred himself as “a kid from Akron” to remind himself to be humble. He was selected by his hometown team, the Cleveland Cavaliers, as the first pick of the 2003 NBA draft.
LeBron always had a mission in him to bring a championship title for his hometown team and he did walk the talk and made it happen.
After winning 2 championship titles with his best friend Dwyane Wade in Miami Heat from 2011–2013, he made a decision to come back to his hometown team Cleavland Cavaliers where he promised to win a championship title for the team, and he delivered his promise in 2015. It was the most intense NBA series I have ever watched in my life.
Cleveland Cavaliers was down 3–1 and ended up winning the champtionship title against the best NBA team during the time the Golden States Warriors in the best out of 7 series. Making it a historical moment in NBA, and becoming the first team in NBA history to come back from a 3–1 series deficit in the NBA Finals.
“There is a lot of pressure put on me, but I don’t put a lot of pressure on myself. I feel if I play my game, it will take care of itself.”
— Lebron James
Bottom Line
Lebron James is a true role model that you and I can take inspiration from.
Here are the five key lessons we can implement in our daily life to be successful just like LeBron had with his career.
- Consistency is the key to success
- Ignore the naysayers and focus on improving ourselves
- Play hard and have fun
- Sleep 8–10 hours every day to function physically and emotionally at 100%
- Never forget your roots, it will help you to stay humble.
