How Michael Jordan Made Himself Impossible to be Ignored
Writers: Be Like Mike!
The Last Dance, the 10-part docuseries about the Michael Jordan era, is on Netflix now.
Full disclosure: I knew almost nothing about MJ prior to this documentary.
Fuller disclosure: I almost never watch sports.
Still, I couldn’t look away. The writer in me — who would love it if people couldn’t look away from me — took note. Why do I always want to be watching Michael, even when he is just shooting the breeze?
My takeaways are completely applicable to writing. You don’t have to be the GOAT (is that right?) for them to work. There are plenty of great athletes who didn’t get a 10th of Mike’s fame. His mindset is what captured our collective attention.
Here is how you can get unlimited attention, like Mike:
Don’t Be Afraid to be The “Asshole”
One of the only things I knew about MJ going into this was that he was supposedly an asshole.
It became clear why pretty soon in.
He was not afraid to toss his weight around. He seemed to know and deeply understand his aggressive side. He took it out on his teammates constantly.
The strange thing is, all his teammates seemed to love and respect him anyway.
And he loved them, too. In a touching moment, he even wrote a poem for them.
In a powerful moment of the documentary, he explained himself, while tears formed in his voice and eyes.
“I don’t have to do this. I’m only doing it because it is who I am. That’s how I played the game. That was my mentality. If you don’t want to play that way, don’t play that way.”
Think about what he is saying. It’s powerful if you understand him.
I don’t have to do this. Right! He doesn’t. He is showing you every bit of the true him, and that man wants to win. And he wants his teammates to win, too.
He could just be nice. But who wants that? What is the real value of niceness?
Your true self is probably not the most competitive man on the planet. That’s not who I’m saying you should be, but you should unapologetically be yourself.
Stop trying to figure out what everyone around you wants and figure out what the hell you want. Play that game.
If people don’t want to play that way, they don’t have to play that way.
All That Zen Buddhism Shit
In a funny moment after his last big win, cigar in his mouth, big smile, banging on a piano he clearly can’t play, someone says something to him about the future.
“Be in the moment!” he says. “All that Zen Buddhism shit.”
Everyone who knew him saw how present he was.
I could see it through the screen. There was never a moment where he was somewhere else. When he was talking to a fan, he was talking to a fan. When he was chatting with Seinfeld, he was looking into his eyes and talking about the show. He was always there.
“A Zen Master,” he was said to be.
Most importantly for his career, he was incredibly present on the court, but he was truly present everywhere.
How you do anything is how you do everything
Remember this. You can’t be somewhere else in your mind when you’re talking to your neighbor and expect to suddenly be a Zen Master when you sit down to write. It doesn’t work that way.
If you want to become a great writer, you have to practice presence all the time.
Never Think About Missing
“Why would I think about missing when I’m shooting the ball?”
I don’t know, Mike, it just sort of pops in my head.
MJ apparently never thought about missing. He only thought about making it.
Stop thinking about how you might fail, and think about all the ways you can succeed.
You know the phenomenon when motorists crash into the very thing they are looking at? We head towards where we put our attention.
Give no power to missing. Give all your power to making it.
It may seem like just thoughts, but they matter.
What are you thinking about when writing?
Use Your Shadow Self, Instead of Repressing It
MJ had a funny habit. When someone talked shit to him, he would go, “OK! That’s what you think…” And then he would smash them to pieces.
Mike was perfectly integrated with his shadow. He knew how to control his dark side better than I have ever seen anyone do, ever. Makes sense why he was so great.
He could take a vengeful, negative feeling, and turn it into pure, unstoppable power on command.
God help you if you said something negative to him. He would make you eat it.
Then, you were forgiven. He had no reason to hold on to grudges. He never repressed any feelings, so they never lingered in him. He was purely himself, dark and light, at all times. Fuck what you think.
Take The Game of Life Seriously
Mike enjoyed life. He liked the game, he liked the stakes, and he liked the highs and the lows. He was fully invested.
But it’s still a game. Know that on some level.
On all other levels, do everything in your power to win. It’s more fun when you take it seriously!
Find any part of you that is ironic or distant or pretending to not care and get rid of it.
Until It’s Time to Quit
When he was ready to quit, that was it. There was no hemming and hawing about it.
He was ready to slow down and enjoy his life. He loved to play the game to win, but he also seemed to realize that it wasn’t everything.
When he played, it was full force. When he stopped, it was a full stop.
Play this game so hard and fully that when you’re ready to quit, you’re happy that you left nothing behind.
Write When You Feel Like Shit
Of course, we all know that famous game when he played with the flu.
Turned out that it wasn't the flu, it was intentional food poisoning. Locals tried to take him out.
“He found something deep inside of him,” remarks his teammate Pippen.
He played as good as, if not better than he normally played.
There are powers dormant inside of you, waiting to be found.
When you power through the days when you don’t want to write, those are the days when you find a whole new layer of yourself. You are forever a more powerful person.
The most important days to write are the ones when you don't want to.
Bottom Line
Through a combination of pure presence and total integration with the shadow, Michael Jordan was destined for god-like status. Remember, the gods were flawed.
In order to take control of your little corner of the written word, take ownership of yourself, shadow and all. Be present in everything you do.
The words themselves are secondary. Become a person who we can’t look away from, and we will read your words, no matter what they are.