Mamba Mentality: You Too Can Be GREAT

Talent matters, but discipline is what most people underestimate. It would be unfair to say that Kobe Bryant was untalented, but it was not the talent that set him apart from the others. It was his discipline. He was more than disciplined, he was obsessed at becoming better at his craft. That translated outside of the game, in his personal life as well. He was the embodiment of discipline and hard work. There are numerous stories how when his teammates partied - he worked, when they were on vacation - he..worked. So it was no surprise that he was one of the best.

Do not be afraid to start something new. Because the first step to being good at something is to be bad. Nobody starts and becomes the best at anything - this is simply not how life works. Hence, why you should not limit yourself and instead try new things and do not be afraid to fail. There is this cliché, that the successful people failed more times than the unsuccessful even tried - but I can't emphasise enough how true this is.

To be successful you just need to win more than you lose - that's it. It doesn't mean that you should never lose or that you should mostly win. No, you should just win more than you lose. It might be 60% (win) - 40% (lose) but surprise, surprise this is still very good. Imagine that you bet 1,000$ and you have 60% chance of winning and 40% of losing, in the long run you will easily see how far you can go with this mindset. 

There was a study made that compared accomplished people (winners) vs not so well-accomplished people. The results were incredibly insightful. It is not really that the so called winners didn't lose. They still won more than the other group, but it was not by much. The difference was elsewhere:

When the "winners" lost, they didn't lose that much testosterone, but when they won they gained a lot. The other group was the opposite - their testosterone levels dropped a lot when they lost, but didn't increase that much when they won.

This was all caused by their perception of the reality, instead of the reality itself. The reality was that both groups lost relatively the same amount of times. However, the perception in the groups was different. The first group viewed the loss as something normal and insignificant, but the win as big achievement that they deserved. The second group perceived the situation differently, they "suffered" a lot more from the loss, than they were "happy" about the win.

In order to make yourself a winner, change your perception about the winning & losing dynamic.