Kobe Bryant is one of the best basketball players in the history of the sport. He had a mindset that he called The Mamba Mentality. It simply means, "Trying to be the best version of yourself." It means, "Every day, you are trying to become better."
One of the pillars of Kobe Bryant's Mamba Mentality is OBSESSIVENESS. Kobe was known for his obsessive work ethic. Kobe once gave an ESPY award speech where he talked about how his obsessiveness and 4 A.M. workouts led to his success:
“We’re not on this stage just because of talent or ability. We’re up here because of 4 a.m. We’re up here because of two-a-days or five-a-days. We’re up here because we had a dream and let nothing stand in our way. If anything tried to bring us down, we used it to make us stronger.”
Here is how Kobe defined being obsessive: "Whatever you are doing at that moment is what you are doing at that moment. Obsessiveness is having attention to detail for the action that you are performing at the time you are performing it, and if you can have that kind of focus, you can't help but have a certain level of obsession." When he was asked how he developed his level of obsessiveness and where he learned it, Kobe said: "Being obsessive is a matter of what's important to you. For whatever reason, I didn't feel good about myself if I wasn't doing everything I could to be the best version of myself. If I felt like I left anything on the table, it would eat away at me and I wouldn't be able to look at myself in the mirror. The reason why I can retire now and be completely comfortable about it is that I know that I have done everything I could to be the best basketball player I could be. You can't leave any stone unturned." Kobe Bryant was blessed with many great gifts, but there are many athletes with similar gifts as Kobe, just like there are 1,000s of students, teachers, executives, artists, musicians, etc. that have similar or more talent than you.
At the end of the day, sustained success and greatness come down to who is willing to make the choices others are not willing to make and who is willing to do what others aren't. Success comes down to finding something you are obsessive about and putting in the work. Are you willing to shoot baskets in the dark when everyone else is sleeping? Are you willing to wake up early to prepare for an interview, write a paper, or practice a speech for the 1000th time?
Finally, Kobe said that his high school teacher once told him, "Rest at the end, not in the middle. Have a dream, sacrifice for it, and never, ever rest in the middle."
REFLECTION QUESTIONS
1 - What is your biggest takeaway from the video?
2 - How do you define obsession, and what is something you are obsessed about?
3 - Can you be too obsessed with something? Is it okay if you can't turn off your obsessiveness?
4 - Kobe said, "Obsessiveness is having attention to detail for the action that you are performing at the time you are performing it, and if you can have that kind of focus, you can't help but have a certain level of obsession." How do you maintain focus and attention to detail when you get distracted?
