Don’t Get Bored with Basics (ft. Alan Stein Jr., NBA Basketball Coach, Keynote Speaker, Author)

Don’t Get Bored with Basics (ft. Alan Stein Jr., NBA Basketball Coach, Keynote Speaker, Author)

From Kobe to Curry, Alan Stein Jr.’s lessons from the greats

OPENING QUOTE:

“You have to learn to accept what is, and then decide on a response to it. And ever since I've adopted that mindset, my overall stress level has gone down significantly. And anytime I'm feeling stressed, I remind myself that I'm the one that's creating that stress because I'm resisting what is, and that goes back to the ownership component.”

—Alan Stein Jr.

GUEST BIO:

A highly acclaimed basketball performance coach, Alan Stein Jr. spent 15 years working with the highest performing athletes on the planet, including NBA superstars Kevin Durant, Steph Curry, and the legendary and late Kobe Bryant.

Today, he is blazing trails through the corporate keynote space on how leaders and teams can utilize the same approaches in business that elite athletes use to perform at a world class level, as evidenced by his clients—  American Express, Pepsi, Under Armor, Starbucks and more. Alan is also a bestselling author of Raise Your Game and the recently released Sustain Your Game: High Performance Keys to Manage Stress, Avoid Stagnation, and Beat Burnout.

Show Links:

CORE TOPICS + DETAILS:

[3:32] - 4:00am with Kobe Bryant

An unforgettable lesson from an unmatched worker

Alan shares an incredible story about having the opportunity to attend a workout with late Lakers superstar Kobe Bryant. After setting a 4am start time, Alan showed up to the gym at 3:30am hoping to beat Bryant there, only to find Kobe already in the gym in a heavy sweat, working on absolute basics. His explanation? “Why do you think I’m the best player in the world? Because I never get bored with the basics.” May we all never get bored with the basics.

[19:31] - Self-Awareness: The Foundation for Change

You can’t improve something you’re oblivious to

The first chapter of Alan’s book is about awareness, calling it “the foundation on which everything else is built.” That’s because you’ll never improve on something you’re unaware of. Sometimes it’s as simple as bringing something that’s in our subconscious up to the conscious level, moving things from our blind spots to center stage in our mind. What might you be blind to that could be holding you back from your potential?

[28:55] - Using Stress

Can our stress be harnessed like a tool?

Alan uses the definition of stress as “the desire for things to be different than they are in the present moment.” We want to put ourselves in environments that are going to challenge us, that are going to keep us sharp, that are going to give us a little bit of butterflies and excitement before we take that stage or before we lean in to kiss a new partner or whatever it may be. Those things keep us sharp. We just don't want it to go to the point that it immobilizes us, or undermines our ability to perform.

[38:20] - The Treadmill You’re On

Paul’s transformative lesson

Paul recounts the day a mentor told him, “The easiest thing to do in life is stay on the treadmill you’re on.” For you, it might be a job, a relationship, a career path. Maybe you’re on the right treadmill. But maybe you’re not, and often when you’re on a treadmill it feels like the pressure is on to just keep running. But you’re in control, and the hardest step will always be that first step off the treadmill and onto a new one.

[51:31] - The Best Advice

The #1 tip Alan’s received

Alan leaves us with a lesson he received from his middle school coach, who said: “Find what it is that you love to do, find what it is you’re naturally good at, and find where those two things intersect. The more time you can invest in your strength zone, the higher you’ll perform, but the more fulfilled you’ll feel.”

Let’s all go find our strength zones, and attack them with all we’ve got.

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SHOW PARTNER:

The WHY Institute

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The best part? It’s completely free for Playmakers listeners. Are you ready to find our WHY in just five minutes? Take your assessment now.

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ABOUT THE HOST:

Paul Epstein may not be a hard charging running back on the actual football field, but his list of high-profile wins in the world of sports will have you thinking that he could be.

Paul has spent nearly 15 years as a pro sports executive for multiple NFL and NBA teams, a global sports agency, and the NFL league office. He’s transformed numerous NBA teams from the absolute bottom in league revenue to top-two in financial performance. He’s broken every premium revenue metric in Super Bowl history as the NFL’s sales leader. He opened a billion-dollar stadium, helped save the New Orleans NBA franchise, and founded the San Francisco 49ers Talent Academy.

He's since installed his leadership and high-performance playbook with Fortune 500 leaders, Founders and CEOs, MBAs, and professional athletes.

Now, as a global keynote speaker, #1 bestselling author, personal transformation expert, turned senior leader and advisor to PurposePoint and the Why Institute, and host of the Playmakers: On Purpose podcast, Paul explores how living and working with a focus on leadership, culture, and purpose can transform organizations and individuals anywhere to unleash their full potential.

Learn more about Paul at PaulEpsteinSpeaks.com

ABOUT PLAYMAKERS: ON PURPOSE:

The Playmakers: On Purpose podcast is an all-access pass to a purpose-centered tribe of leaders in business, sports, and life who are on a mission of meaning and impact. The show takes purpose from an out of reach North Star to a practical and tactical exploration of how we can step into each day, ON PURPOSE, where life no longer happens “to us”, it begins to happen “for us”. 

From the Why Coach of the San Francisco 49ers to your coach, take a seat at the table with sports industry executive, #1 bestselling author, personal transformation expert, turned senior leader and advisor to PurposePoint and the Why Institute, Paul Epstein, in this inspiring, yet immediately actionable podcast. 

From formative stories pre-purpose to personal and professional transformation’s post-purpose, each show will share a high-energy, prescriptive blueprint to ignite impact and drive inner success, fulfillment, and purpose no matter your starting point. It’s time to meet Paul at the 50 and get ready to live and lead ON PURPOSE.

Learn more at: PlaymakersPod.com

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As a nod to the past, Detroit Podcast Studios leverages modern versions of Motown’s processes to launch today’s most compelling podcasts. What Motown was to musical artists, Detroit Podcast Studios is to podcast artists today. 

With over 75 combined years of experience in content development, audio production, music scoring, storytelling, and digital marketing, Detroit Podcast Studios provides full-service development, training, and production capabilities to take podcasts from messy ideas to finely tuned hits. Here’s to making (podcast) history together.

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CREDITS: