 I opened up my talk with the Kobe Bryant Skills Academy back in 2007. What I didn't share with you was one of the college counselors there was Stephen Curry. Visualize where you want to be and what you want to accomplish. You kind of get lost in the process of day-to-day, you know, grinding it out, working, pulling on ours if you have to. You know, it's just about not losing vision and not losing sight of what you're trying to accomplish no matter what hurdles you have to go through. So, I think that kind of relates to whatever you're doing. Stephen's on that level now as a global icon that I think most people have heard of who he was. If you do the math in 2007, this was after his freshman year at Davidson. This was before he blew up on the scene. This was before anyone knew who he was. In fact, he was so unknown at this camp that the coaches didn't even call him by his name. They called him Dell's son because his dad played in the NBA for a dozen years and was a great long-distance shooter. Yeah, that's Dell's son over there. That's Dell's kid. But what he lacked in physical stature and what he lacked in resume, he more than made up for in a few different ways. But the most impressive of which was at the end of the first workout. This was a mini-camp. This was two three-hour workouts a day for four straight days and they were incredibly intense. At the end of the very first workout, just based on proximity, we had never formally met or been introduced. He said to me, Coach, will you rebound for me? Because I don't leave the gym until I swish five free throws in a row. Swish five free throws in a row. For those of you that have never personally shot a basketball before, let me tell you that is an incredibly high standard. A swish by definition is a perfect shot. It does not touch the rim. It does not touch the backboard. It gets its name for the sound it makes by going nothing but net. It is the standard of perfection. And he would not leave the gym until he swished five in a row, which means he could swish four in a row, hit a little bit of the rim on the fifth one. It still goes in. He's still mathematically perfect. He's still five for five, but that was not good enough for Steph. He would start over. And if memory serves, it never took him longer than 12 to 15 minutes to swish five in a row. Steph and Curry will go down in history as the greatest shooter that the NBA has ever seen. And it's not by accident and it's not by luck and it's not because his dad played in the NBA. It's because he's willing to hold himself to an unparalleled standard. And that is the thought that I'll leave you all with, that the standards that you set today, they'll determine who and where you'll be tomorrow. It's about visualizing whether you write it down, put it on the wall, do something with what your goals are and get lost in the process of day-to-day grind, day-to-day getting better every single day, asking questions, aligning yourself with people that have been through it before, that are experienced and leaning on that advice and just trying to outwork the next person. And that's the biggest thing. The first time I met Kobe Bryant, my life changed forever. See, back in 2007, Nike flew me out to Los Angeles to work the first ever Kobe Bryant Skills Academy. Nike brought in the top high school and college players from around the country for an intense three-day mini-camp. With the best player in the world, and for any of you that don't follow basketball as closely as I do, just know that in 2007, Kobe was the best player in the game. Well, an important fact about me is basketball was my first identifiable passion. I fell in love with the game at five years old, and here, 40 years later, basketball is still a major pillar of my life. And having grown up in this basketball bubble, I had always heard the urban legend of how insanely intense Kobe's individual workouts were. Well, when I found myself on his camp staff, I figured this is my chance. This is my shot, so at my earliest opportunity, I walked up to Kobe and asked if I could watch one of his private workouts. He was incredibly gracious and smiled and said, sure, man, no problem, I'm going tomorrow at four. Well, I got a little bit confused, because I had just got done looking through the camp schedule, and the camp schedule clearly said that the first workout with the players was the following day at 3.30. Well, Kobe recognized that confused look on my face and clarified that with, yeah, that's four AM. Well, I couldn't think of a reason on why I couldn't be somewhere at four in the morning, so I'd committed myself to being there, and I figured if I'm going to be there anyway, I may as well show Kobe how serious of a trainer I was. I may as well leave my mark. So I came up with the idea to beat him to the gym. So I set my alarm for three AM. The next morning the alarm goes off, I jump up, I get myself dressed, I hop in a cab, and I head to the gym. Now when I arrive, it is 3.30 in the morning, so it is pitch black outside, and yet the moment I step out of the cab, I can see the gym lights already on. From the parking lot, I could faintly hear a ball bouncing and sneakers squeaking. I walk in the side door. Kobe's already in a full sweat. See, he was going through an intense warm-up before his formal workout with his trainer started at four. While out of professional courtesy, I didn't say anything to Kobe, and I didn't say anything to his trainer. I just sat down to watch, and for the first 45 minutes, I was shocked. For the first 45 minutes, I watched the best player on the planet do the most basic footwork in offensive moves. Kobe was doing stuff that I had routinely taught to middle school-aged players. Now don't get it twisted, this was Kobe Bryant. He was doing everything in an unparalleled level of intensity. He was doing everything with surgical precision, but the stuff he was doing was incredibly basic. When his workout went on for a couple more hours, and when it was over once again, I did not say anything to Kobe, I did not say anything to his trainer, and I just quietly left. But my curiosity kept nipping away, and it eventually overwhelmed me to the point that I had to know. So later that day at camp, I went up to Kobe again and said, Kobe, I don't understand. You're the best player in the world. Why are you doing such basic drills? And he flashed that million-dollar smile and he gave me a very friendly wink, but he said in a serious tone, why do you think I'm the best player in the world? Because I never get bored with the basics. Kobe Bryant, the best player on the planet, and someone that has truly mastered his craft, said that his secret is that he never gets bored with the basics. And as obvious as that may be to you all right now, that was a life-changing moment for me. See, in that moment, I realized that just because I'm the best player on the planet, it doesn't mean that it's easy. Those are not synonyms, and yet people often use those words interchangeably. Just because something's basic, it doesn't mean that it's easy. If it was easy, everyone else would be doing it. And you all know that we live in a world that tells us it's okay to skip steps. Tells us we should always be looking for a shortcut or a hack. Tells us we should always be looking for a shortcut or a hack. Tells us we should be chasing what's new and what's shiny and what's flashy and what's sexy and just ignore what's basic. But I'm here to tell you, if you do those things, you are making a huge mistake. That's because the basics work. They always have, and they always will. And the very first step to you improving performance in any area of your life, whether it's personal or professional, whether it's individual or original, individual or organizational, the very first step is to admit that the basics work. But it's also having the humility to acknowledge that implementing the basics every single day is never ever easy. One of the things that made Kevin unique is he had incredible vision. I think he could envision himself being an NBA player one day, which is why he was thinking to himself, this is what I need to do. You know, I started working with Kevin when he was 15 years old. Kevin taught me every bit as much as I ever taught him. I mean, the lessons, and I look back on some of the stories and things that I remember from him, he didn't know that he was teaching me something. So the first time I saw Kevin play, he was playing for Oak Hill at the time. I watched him play for about five minutes, and it became crystal clear a few things. One, this kid loves to play the game of basketball. He was playing his tail off, but he was smiling the entire time. Two, he's fundamentally sound. His footwork and his shooting mechanics are pristine. I mean, for a 15-year-old, this kid has, I mean, he's developed his skills. Three, he has a really, really high basketball IQ. He understands the cerebral nature of the game to the level that most coaches do, and this is when he's 15. So it was clear to me that the only thing that would prevent him from being a great college player and then eventually an NBA player was lack of strength and power. Well, that's exactly what I wanted. That's what I did. I helped players get stronger and gain weight. So I started reaching out to Kevin and his wonderful mom, Wanda, and starting to say, look, you need to let your son come in for some workouts. And very understandably, they were cautious. It took about three months of convincing before she finally said, Kevin can come in for a workout. And we went to, it used to be called the run and shoot. Met him over there, and now, I mean, I was hyped up. I mean, this was a potential McDonald's All-American coming in for a workout. This is everything that I'd ever wanted as a coach. And I absolutely hammered him. I mean, within 30 minutes, Kevin was laying in a pile on the floor and he was sweating profusely and his muscles were twitching. So he didn't say two words the entire workout. So I didn't know whether or not he even liked it. And I just asked him, and I just remember as serious as can be, he looked up and said, no coach, I didn't, but I know this is the stuff I need to do to make it to the NBA. So when can I see you again? And I remember being blown away that a 15-year-old had the maturity to realize that he was going to have to make a change and that that change was going to come with a tremendous amount of mental, physical, and emotional discomfort. But he was willing to make that sacrifice because what he wanted to play in the NBA, he wanted so badly that he was willing to do that. I think he could envision himself being an NBA player one day, which is why he was thinking to himself, this is what I need to do, that yes, I'm better than most high school kids now, but that's not good enough for me. Because next year when I go to college and then if I go to the NBA after that, I won't be heads and shoulders above everyone else. I won't be naturally more athletic or more skilled because everyone at those levels is athletic and skilled. So I think he was able to see down the line that this was an investment that he needed to make. Thankfully, I had a one in a million type player that said, yeah, I need a butt kicking like this often. So that began a nice relationship between Kevin and I for the next couple of years of working him out. And I think that he realized that I love this game so much that coming in a few times a week and being severely uncomfortable is a small price to pay if that's the ticket that's required to get me where I want to go. Most kids are looking for the shortcut. Most kids are saying, how can I sidestep coming in and lifting weights and still get where I want to go? And Kevin understood that he had to go through it. The fact that Kevin was like, no, I didn't like that workout was some humble pie that I needed to eat because then I was much more strategic in our future workouts to say, okay, I need to meet him in the middle. Never to push him over. I pushed him over that first day. And you know, you don't come back from that. Thankfully, he did. But it's take him to the edge of where they're severely uncomfortable and then start to build from that because the edge will start to get further and further away each time as they build up this tolerance for discomfort. I met Allen when I was a junior at Oak Hill Academy. I met him one day. He just told me that I need to work out with him. He'll be good for me. And you know, I did it one day. It was tough. It was tough. But I continued to do it and continued to get bigger and got better. I gained a lot of weight. You know, he was a very influential person in my life for those two or three years. You know, he helped me out on and off the court. Are you providing the types of touches that a Steve Nash does and on that type of frequency? How could I possibly know that Steve Nash led the NBA in high fives, fist bumps and pats on the butt? Funny enough, there was a research team from UC Berkeley that was conducting an official study and they wanted to see if showing signs of enthusiasm actually correlated to winning more games. So their research team watched every minute of every NBA game and made a tally mark every time a player gave a high five a fist bump or a pat on the butt. Well, the Phoenix Suns were so enamored with this study that they hired a full-time intern to do the same thing just for Steve Nash. Now, just by show of hands, how many of you have had a crappy entry-level job before? Yeah, can you imagine if that was your first job? Yeah, you see that guy over there? Every time he touches one of these big, tall, sweaty guys, we need you to make a tally mark. The very first game that the intern recorded for Steve Nash, he delivered 239 high fives, fist bumps, and pat on the butt. Steve Nash was a furnace of human connection. Now, when we're talking about sport, when we're talking about physicality, it's been physiologically proven that you can actually transfer energy through human touch. You can actually raise someone's game through physical touch. Now, hopefully you realize in the vast majority of your settings that's not what I'm asking you all to do. I'm not telling you to go back to the offices and start doing this. Some of you may, but I don't want to get in trouble with your HR departments. So what we're talking about now as we translate it, we're talking about emotional touches. We're talking about mental touches. Are there emotional and mental and digital high fives and fist bumps and pats on the backside that you can be giving the two most important groups when it comes to your business, which is your colleagues and your coworkers and your clients and your customers. Are you providing the types of touches that a Steve Nash does and on that type of frequency?