Written by: Derick Grant, Executive Contributor
Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise.
Being in the athletic world, we are all told to be great. Having played 8 years for the Harlem Globetrotters myself, I’m not a stranger to what it means to be great. We took pride in saying we were the greatest form of family entertainment around. Now that I am in the world of coaching world-class athletes, coaches, and high performers, I’m seeing that there is a distinct difference between good and great. More importantly, there’s an unseen level that comes after great, it’s the elite level mindset.
Everything in life is a mindset. Our mind is what allows us to perceive all situations, and it’s based on the lens we view through our subjective point of view. How we perceive that experience will ultimately determine our behavior in that situation. For you to become an elite-level performer, there is a perspective that must be obtained. It’s simple, yet not easy.
Most of the population has a pretty good mindset. All this means is that when a situation happens, they use it to their benefit so long as it’s perceived as a positive situation. When an undesirable situation occurs, they view it as negative, forcing them to play the role of a victim. When you have a victim consciousness, you view life as if it’s always happening to you. You have no control, life is just doing what it does, and you are just a participant with absolutely no influence on the situation.
The mindset of the great performers understands or views life from the perspective that every situation happens through them. They see everything happening because of them. But they at times fail to see the undesirable situations as lessons to learn and grow from. Life is happening through them. If you have the mindset of being great, then chances are, you are going to be more successful than 98% of the public. You realize that life happens because you are putting your stamp and influence on it. Your ability to consciously manifest and create in your life is well above the general population.
There is another level though, this is what the greatest of the greats all achieve. Their mindset is that life is happening for them. They view every situation as an opportunity for them to grow, learn, and improve. So instead of being upset when they encounter hardship or a problem, they have the perspective of, this test was needed for them to become aware of a weaker area in their life. In essence, they welcome resistance. Resistance is what builds muscle if we were to think of it as weight lifting. The struggles, hardships, setbacks, disappointments, etc. are all needed because it brings awareness to a facet of their life that was not fully developed.
The late great Kobe Bryant shot 4 airballs in the 1997 playoffs during the Western Conference Semifinals that would have sent the Lakers to the Western Conference Finals if they had won. I remember watching him shoot airball after airball and feeling bad for this scrawny little guard trying to prove his worth. I could only imagine the embarrassment he must have felt. At the time, I didn’t realize that Kobe’s mindset was different. He was the epitome of having an elite-level mindset. His mindset allowed him to use those 4 airballs as a sign that he needed to improve his conditioning and leg strength so he would have the power to get the ball all the way to the basket that late in the season. So that upcoming offseason he began a rigorous weight training program to improve leg strength. He took a perceivable negative situation and used it to his advantage. Kobe went on to say that the moment “helped shape me,” and develop an elite-level mentality that was unshakeable.
Elite-level performers have an uncanny way of transmuting a situation’s energy that seemed like nothing good could come from it into the very catalyst that propels them to reach new heights. When you have an elite-level mindset, you’ll realize that life is always happening for your benefit. This is a choice we all have the opportunity to make, but it takes a conscious decision to perceive life’s glass as being half full. Make the choice to perceive every situation as a teaching lesson to mold you into a better version of yourself. When you can do this, you’ll see that life has always been for you!
Be your best,
DG
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Derick Grant, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine
After traveling to 70 different countries, and playing 8 years for the Harlem Globetrotters, Derick Grant set out on a mission to help hundreds of athletes, coaches, and people tap into their infinite seed of greatness. His client base consists of but is not limited to the NBA, WNBA, NFL, executives at Fortune 500 companies. He is an author, TEDx speaker, and revered as one of the most powerful performance mindset coaches in the athletic world. His revolutionary approach to mindset by teaching what the mind is, and how to use it as a tool has helped influenced high achievers across the globe. His podcast, “The Pathway to Your Results”, helps teach people how to find this seed of greatness we all had inside of us.
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