 So have you been able to work with any players during this quarantine? Yeah, just through the mindset and development stuff that I do. Okay. So no in-person shooting, workouts, nothing like that. Nothing in person. And a lot of them are out here in LA too, even. Yeah. And they just, they have nothing. Like it's, it's crazy. A lot of them haven't worked out or anything. I had a, one of my guys, Quinn Cook for the Lakers, he was, I said, he was running sprints. He cleared out everything was running sprints in his apartment. And I told him I have weights up on top of my roof and he was going to come over here and lift weights on my roof. Like it is nothing. Shocking that you'd think professional athletes would have everything they need to get it in at home, but they're so used to just going to the training facilities and meeting their trainers. They don't need it at their house. I would think it also, they want to just clock in like a day of work as well. Like when you walk to that gym, you know, it's business time and it separates that work. And the social component too. You know, they like working out together. Yeah. Yeah, for sure. And it's, it really separates the ones that actually want to improve and want to continue to work and continue to grow. There are a lot of guys in the NBA that are just there on talent and love the lifestyle compared to the actual grind and the actual growth. So it's a big, it's going to be a big separator. It's going to be a big separator that way. And it's going to be a big separator of who has a court in their house. Those are the ones that are going to stay sharp. So the stars basically. Yeah. The stars. Yeah. And Drake. Good point. He thinks digging hoop. Yeah. He's ready to suit up. Just, just waiting for the Raptors to call and the season kicks back off. My uncle's told me some crazy stories about him. He's like, I just, he's like, I just let him do what he wants to do or whatever. Yeah. I mean, he runs that town. So he doesn't really have much to say as a coach with Drake on the court. Very true. Very true. But I mean, he has that sway with Calipari. I mean, he has that sway with everyone. The NBA gives him sort of a free reign. Yeah. I know. Yeah. Exactly. I mean, I think it was great having him basically talk to lawyers. It really actually helped the Raptors. I mean, it's just a fan going at him. It's just like Spike Lee when he was doing it for New York. Yeah. I can't believe that Spike's been in MIA for the Knicks, man. I can't believe they did that to him. That's crazy. That owner, whatever his name, Dolan was. Idiot. Terrible. Like, that's why they sucked every year. The owner, he was just, I know some people with the Knicks and they're like, this guy is just mad. Like it would never work. Yeah. It's crazy, man. That's the same thing. Their sons offered me an assistant coaching job this off season. And I was going, I was meeting with them and I was thinking about doing it because it's supposed to be a great offer. And then the owner just like, he's been known to be the worst human being there is. And he literally showed how bad of a human being he was. Yeah. Well, we've been, we've been talking about that as well, which is just because you're interviewing for a job and you want that job, doesn't mean that it's going to be a good fit. You need to be interviewing them just as much as they're interviewing you because socialization culture that goes top down. And if the owner can't have it together or is having issues or is acting in a way that rattles the players, well, then it's going to, it's going to trickle down and through the organization. And we all, we all know from owners top down how players, how they act, how they come to work, how they, how they perceive the organization they work for. Well, yeah, you see players go to other teams and they're like a completely different player because the culture is a better fit. Management knows how to get the most out of them, get them to perform. Yeah, you're absolutely right. And Johnny, you hit on a great point, not even just for the NBA, but just for every decision that we make in general, a lot of people will just go with the good option. But the enemy of great is not good or the enemy of great is not bad. It is good. It is settling for that good. And that's what, I mean, like for NBA teams who will just look at the top talent and not the right fit for their culture. It's what tears them apart. There's, the term culture is thrown around in the NBA so much like everybody wants to spurs culture or the heat culture, but you really can't just say you're going to have a culture. You have to have the right people in there. You have to have great people and you have to have people that are just selfish and will give it up for the rest of the team. Now, in your experience, who has the biggest role in setting that culture tone? Is it the owner, the GM or the coach? Because I see a lot of these teams, they have competing interests in all three of those areas and you have a lot of owners that want to be flashy and want to lead the culture, not to name names, but I know a lot of people are shaking their head who are fans of sports know this. But in your experience, who really is the one who sets the tone for the culture and organization? So that's a great question. And it flowing at all levels, the ownership, the management, the coaching, if you can get all of them together, letting each other do their jobs, that's when it's going to work the best. And it used to be that the coach would set the tone like whatever the coach says, that's that is the culture who he is is the culture. But now, honestly, it's whatever the star player says, players are going to respond more to the star than they will the coach. That's why you see guys like LeBron set culture and he can run any coach out of the league if he wants to. So the league has really transformed from a coach driven league in a this is what you're going to do. You're so lucky to be on this team, you're going to it's my way or the highway to a player driven league, where now coaches have to learn how to manage players. And that's why these younger coaches like my uncle in Toronto or a very close friend of mine, Eric Spolster in Miami and Brad Stevens and Steve Kerr are so so good and are having so much success because they understand people. They're not just driving things out of these guys, but they understand their personality. They'll take the time to get to know them like it goes so much more in depth than just basketball, the plays, like Popovich will have wine parties with his players and ask them obscure questions just to get to know them who they are and their personality. So to answer your question is it's at all levels if you can get like the St. Antonio Spurs have their owner, their GM and their head coach on the same page. They trust each other, but they also have the players the players that will buy in and that they will drive back culture. Yeah, you know, I'm a Michigan Wolverine. So I was heartbroken when Beeline left and we saw that play out in Cleveland this past season. I mean, talk about out of touch with professional athletes and unable to get them to perform to listen to buy in and that's a team that you could argue is sort of lacking in star power after LeBron left. So there's a void on the court and then even in management and the way they handled that situation. I mean, top to bottom, you now are starting to understand why LeBron left. Oh, yeah, for sure. I keep, I mean, yeah, it was just a mess from top to bottom without without saying any names, but to your point to with Beeline, I mean, he's a great, like great college coaches and that's how people college is completely different than the NBA colleges. It you'll run through a wall college players. When I do workouts with them, if I tell them to dribble 9000 times as hard as they can with their left hand, they're going to do it. But if I tell a pro that they'll look at me like, and what does this have to do with anything? So what do you think is that transition from college to pro as a mindset? Is it simply because they're selecting in the pros for that superstar? So you have a little bit more ego going into the pros than you see in college players? Yeah, I think you have a little more ego and I also think you get a lot smarter. Like colleges, there's not a really a whole lot of player development going on. There's not a whole lot of personal development going on. And when you get to the NBA, it's kind of like, you're on your own, you're a man is what, whatever you do is what your decisions are, no one's going to be holding your hand. So I think it goes, some will have ego for sure, but I think players just get smarter. Players get smarter and players understand, like, this is what's making them generational type wealth. They want to make sure that they're getting the most out of it. Now, that being said, there's a big difference between the players. I'll call it the players that go to the gym, and then the players that drag you to the gym. And the players that drag you to the gym are the ones that you know are going to be successful for the long term. And they're the ones that absolutely love the process, love the grind of it, love the daily practice when the lights turned on, the guys that just compete every single day. And that's how I can tell when a player is going to be great compared to someone who's good and talent will take you a long ways. But hard work plus talent is what is where the equation is. And it's always where the equation will be. I've been around players who honestly, there was a guy that I was around that's like six, eight, huge, chiseled, big time vertical. It did some stuff in practices like what Bron would do, but just didn't love the process, didn't know how to take care of his body is just would rather live the life than actually actually go through the work that it takes to be able to be successful and be able to be great in this league. So the great ones, the great players like the Kobe's, the MJ's, those guys, they want to be coached. Like they seek it out because they know if someone's out there can help them get better, that's just going to give them an advantage. And that's what separates the great and the outstanding. Yeah, you know, Johnny and I work out at Jim V True here in Hollywood, where there are some professional athletes, there are NBA players in there for sure with their trainers working out. And you can see the different temperaments, even though they're professionals, you see the guys getting in a little earlier loading up the weights, following along. And then you see the other guys take it a little longer to stretch. Don't really want to be there going through the motions, knowing that their agents probably on them, they have to be going through the off season workouts or the coaches like you got to get to a certain weight. But obviously that hard work is something that a coach can motivate to a degree, but a lot of it's just hardwired inside of you. Yeah, no doubt. A lot of them is just how they've grown up and just the work ethic they've had from pretty much a young age. And it can be, it can be developed, but it has to be developed through what is their purpose? Like whenever I work with a player, the first thing I'm going to find out about them is their personality. I'm going to figure out what makes them tick, what makes them motivated, get out of bed every single morning to attack the day. And that's, you got to find where their engine is. And if they have that engine, then their potential to be great is that much higher. And I have seven steps of player development that'll go through it. And it's my seven steps of confidence that I have with my players. Because confidence and mindset before anything else, before you can get to skill set, before you can get to the workout, before you can get to the sleep and nutrition, everything starts in the mind. I think 90% of it's mental, 10% of it's physical, especially at the highest level where the details, the small minute details are the big separators. There's a seven steps of confidence that I go through each player. And if we're hitting on all those cylinders, then I know, I know they, they are going to reach what their potential is. Is there a common denominator in those top performers that you see from their purpose or their values? Yeah. So the common denominator that I see for these players that, that want to be great and have that instilled in them is, is literally their desire to win every single competition, to, to win the day is what we call it. And no matter what the competition is, whether it's playing ping pong or it's on court, they want to, they try to kill the opponents at everything. That's why Jordan was excessive. Like any type of game you play against Jordan, whether it was checkers with his grandma, he wanted to kill her. Kobe the same way. Like it's, it's that type of mindset that they're not going to settle for anything other than, than winning. That's what, that's what really separates these players when it comes down, when it, when it comes down to, to the, to the greatest players there are. And what I believe so much about that, and you see this over and over again is when players go through serious injuries and they can't quite bounce back, it's that mental peace, whether it's not trusting in their legs again, or the injury, or just not having that belief in themselves anymore to get back to that level. And I feel like injury is the one thing that we see time and time again in these professional athletes where some bounce back and they're right back to their old form. And some are a shell of themselves. Yeah, completely. And a lot of that deals with the, the confidence that they've built up throughout their career and the player that they are, and the work ethic in the process, in the habits, in the routines, like they'll fall back into that confidence with the mindset if they have the foundation already built. Now, if it's a guy who hasn't put in all that work, and it's a guy just based on talent and, and God given abilities that it might not be, it might not be the same bounce back. And there's, I mean, I could go super in depth on the different types of mindsets that, that make a, make an NBA player great. Okay. Yeah. Okay, so one, all right, one of the biggest things that, that I talk with my players about is confidence through comparison. So I know a lot of people will think comparison is like the Instagram stuff, and it's horrible, and, and it's going to drive you nuts. But, but I have my players compare themselves to the best players of all time, to the players that they can see themselves being like, and try to study from them, try to steal from them, try to learn from them. And it's what we can do, all of us can do in our lives in general. We have a goal, we have a goal set of something or somewhere we want to be like, look to the person that's already there that's at the top of the top, like for myself, for example, like, like coaching wise, could look at my uncle or motivational speaking wise, I could look at Tony Robbins and try to steal, try to steal things from them, try to learn from the best. So the first step for the seven steps of confidence is confidence through comparison. Also, then I'll have the players, a lot of people will say, you got to improve your weaknesses, make sure, make sure you're an all around player. But truth be told, if you're good at every area, you're not playing in the NBA. But if you're great in one area, then you can have a long, long career. The guy Kyle Korver that I worked with, I actually grew up with him in a small town, Pella, Iowa. And he wanted to do it all at the time. But I mean, he's not that athletic. His ball handling skills aren't there, defensively, not there, but can shoot it to a super high level. And so we just focused on that shooting, shooting, shooting to be the best shooter that he could possibly be the best shooter in the NBA. And now he's, he's one of the top five shooters in NBA history, made over 50, $60 million, just being able to shoot a basketball alone because he focused on his strengths. And if you can give me like a LeBron, who's got a few areas that it's really strong in, but there's not many players at the highest level or people at the highest level in their fields that are just all around that are just good at everything. So my challenge to my players is we figure out what their strength is and we focus on that strength to be the best at that they can possibly be. And that seems to me where you get the most gains at that level because trying to become the all around player, the middle of the pack player is not going to get you that time on the floor. Absolutely. Yeah. And then we'll move into, so we got our strengths and then we create what's called their highlight swag reel. They like the swag term. So it's putting together their, their best games that they've ever played there when they were basically in the zone. Like one of my players, one of my closest friends, Jeremy Lin, when he was going through insanity, he would continue to repeat those games where he's hitting game winners against the Raptors and going for 30 point games. He will watch that before every practice before every game to get his mind back in that mode of that's who he was. That's who he can be. He was that person. He can continue to be that person. So having their own created highlight reel. I have all my players go through it before the practice, before the game to put themselves in that mental state of being in the zone. And we all can do that as well. Like these confidence, these seven steps of confidence, something for NBA players, but it can be used for anyone. Like you can go through your day, you know, you had that day where you had that phone call or that meeting or something that you just absolutely killed it. And you can put yourself back in that frame of mind, knowing that you've been there. That is you. It's not the self. It's not the self depreciating thoughts that you let and creep in. It's your highlight reel of what you live in. And along that same note is confidence through redefining vocabulary. And what I mean by that is we are told certain words as we grow up. We learn what certain words, the connotations they have. Like for example, when a player comes to me and will say, man, I'm in a shooting slump. It seems like I can't make a shot. And I'll ask him, I'll say, okay, shooting slump. What if you were in a, what if I called it a shooting hippopotamus? And I'll make it, I'll have it be that. So it's like so obscure that they'll be like, what the heck is this guy talking about? But it's just the word that changes everything. So instead of looking at it as a slump, we don't even have those in our vocabulary. There's no worry. We never have failure. We never have slump. We don't even look at missed shots. Don't look at shooting percentages, stats, just completely focus on the process. If, if someone is a great three point shooter and they get off 10 open threes in a game, that's, that's an amazing game. Like I don't care if they miss every single one of them, because I know that's their strength. And over the course of time, it will continue to rise. So it's confidence through redefining vocabulary and not allowing the negative thoughts to creep in because negative thoughts set out loud seven times stronger than not saying anything at all. So we don't, in workouts and anything, anytime I talk with my players, there's no, there's no negative can't do no failure, no slump. And obviously when it comes to shooting, you are going to be in the zone. You are going to be out of the zone. No mechanics to a degree plays a role. And you could think of, you know, some of the upcoming stars who maybe haven't worked on the mechanics as much as they should have in their younger career. But going back to that mindset thing, especially at that pro level, that's how you get that extra percent out when everyone is competing at a high level. Yeah, no, absolutely. I mean, that's the mindset is the game changer. If you have that, if you have the mindset and also have the confidence that you have the mindset, that no matter what situation is thrown your way, you're not just going to get through it. You're not just going to survive it, but you're going to absolutely thrive in it. And you're going to grow from it. If players can have that mindset. And like I said, have the confidence in it. It's, it, it just continues to compound and compound. So I think we're at level five of the confidence seven. Yeah, yeah. Yes. Okay. So confidence through pouring into others, meaning that they are going to be the best teammate, what I call the best towel waiver that there is. I had a player that I actually played with his name is Aaron Baines, now playing with the sons at a great NBA careers. But I was playing with him actually in Greece when I was playing professionally. And the year after that I was done playing. I'm six, two short on that. They can't dunk a basketball. So like the writing was on the wall for me, but Aaron the next year was playing for the San Antonio Spurs. And at the time, when he was playing in Greece, it was kind of, he kind of had the mindset of like, it wasn't, didn't really want to be there. It wasn't really putting in the extra work. But when he got with the Spurs, it completely changed for him. He realized that no matter what situation he was in, because he was like the 12th man on the team. He told me he was going to be the best towel waiver in the NBA. He was going to do his job as the greatest that he could, no matter what situation he was in. And he was going to do it like, like he was a man possessed. And they ended up winning an NBA championship the second year there. And just based on basically like his camaraderie, his being a great teammate, he got a $21 million deal three years with the Pistons. And since then has played for the Celtics and the Suns, it's, so it's taking the pressure off yourself, pouring into others. And one of the best players in NBA history, Steve Nash, he's one of the best point guards. I mean, he's six, two on athletic, can't dunk. But he gave maybe a little bit better than me, but I'd have to say I'm better looking than he is. But anyways, we'll give you credit, the grainy video. Thanks, Ben. He averaged, he led the, led the NBA in high fives given every single game, every single year. He averaged 237 high fives given a game. That's an incredible number. Like he would just, you watch videos, he's just high fiving everybody. And every player that I've talked to that have played with Steve Nash has said he is the best teammate. He literally got players that did not deserve big time contracts. He got a $100 million deals. Like a Marist Audemars for the New York Knicks, got a $100 million deal just by playing with Steve Nash. So we call it the service hands, the high five, serving, serving each other, serving your teammates, waving your towel and just really pouring into your teammates, taking that pressure off of, oh, I have to perform. This is what is expected of me. And not living in those what if moments, what if I don't keep this up? What if I'm not what the coach wants me to be? And just fully embracing and pouring into the teammates. It just, I mean, it's just a weight off, weight off players chess. Now, one of the things that we talk about in our classrooms is leading from the seat that you're in. And it sounds a lot like that where you want to be a great teammate, you want to be given value to everyone in the room around you and lift up that office. And of course, inevitably, when we're talking about this, one of the questions is how do I do that without getting taken advantage of? And of course, if that's your first question upon thinking about that, you have a mindset shift that we need to create because you cannot be looking at it from that perspective. Now, I would think, I mean, it's going to be the same process. But for somebody who's playing at that high level, who thinks in that manner, how do you go about rewiring the way they're looking at that situation? Yeah, that's a super, super good question. And it's, it's something that a lot of players can switch with because they're thinking that that, like you said, like, are you going to be taking advantage of? Or is the coach like, for example, one of my players this season alone, he was, he was going, he was wavering and having good games and having some bad games because he was just so worried about if he'd miss a shot, if he'd get taken out or if he made the wrong play, like what would the coach say? And just, just was so in his head that, that there was every way he was against him, instead of realizing that, hey, we're all on the same page here. We're all trying to accomplish the same goal. And once he realized that, and once he just was just like, kind of just got to the point where we just, I told him, there's, you have nothing to lose. If you keep playing like you're playing, you're not going to play. So you have absolutely nothing to lose. And if you just, if you just cut loose and just go nuts and be super aggressive attack mode, like you might suck it up and not play, but you're still not playing. At least you're taking a chance swinging. And he did. And he's, he was Eastern Conference player of the week, the week before the NBA shut down just came from a bench player to a big time, big time player. And to Johnny's point, I think a lot of us, when we think of professional athletes, when we think of NBA players, especially we think of them being ego driven. And how do you get someone to be a good teammate when they're like, yo, I got to get mine. I got contracts on the line. I got mouths to feed. I got homies that want to hang. Like I don't care about these teammates. What's wrong with you? Yeah, that's, now that's, that's a really hard one. Taking someone's ego out of them is, I mean, some guys will do it. Some guys won't. A lot of it's about the culture and the people that they're around like, like anything, we are the people that we surround ourselves with and they have a wearing effect on us. And if you're around people that are all ego driven, you're going to continue to be ego driven. So to say that there's something that I could just say, Hey, this is how I'm going to take out your ego. It's, it's a process. I mean, it's a process of getting to know the players super well, showing them like where their goal, where their future can be the blueprint for where they can get to and figuring out really like what is, what is their, their main purpose? Like, are they trying to make a better life for their family? Is it because they want to buy their mom a new house? They have the mouths to feed? Like making sure they realize that every single day when they go to work, when they go to the gym, what are you doing this for? Are you doing it for something more than yourself? Because if you are, then you're going to let that ego down and realize that it's not all about you because you can't be great just on your own. It takes a whole team to be great. All right. Level six, I believe. Level six. Okay. This is the tool that I use for. Okay. So we have all this, you have the confidence through comparison. We've talked about, we've talked about the confidence through the strengths, focusing on the strengths, redefining vocabulary, creating the highlight reel, pouring into others or surface hands. And this is what I call choose your second. So there's a shot clock on each side of the court. And all of each player choose a second, 24 seconds in a shot clock. So whatever your number is, that's your number. All right. So whenever that number comes up, that kicks you back in this mode of all of these things that have led up to this, all of the work that you put in, the comparison, the film study, your strengths, your redefining vocabularies, your swag zone, the time you were at your best on the floor, you're pouring into everyone else like through obviously doing this time and time again, like once your second hits, that's your cue. It's a mental cue, a mental snap that'll put you back in that frame of mind. And anytime that they get out of it or something's going astray on the court, they can look up and they know that number is coming at some point very soon, it kicks them right back into it. It's like that movie that Leonardo DiCaprio movie where they had that little thing they saw at the top that kicked them back into another dream inception. It's like inception. So it's their cue. It's their cue is their choose their second number. And anybody can do this too. Like you can do this at home. You can pick any number under 24 and it's going to come up. It only takes 59 seconds to get the max, to get back in your zone. So it's a tool that brings them back into this everything that we've talked about wrapping it up because I'm really big on, I mean, of course, teaching these things to the players, but without having action tools to actually do them, it's a completely different. Like I could tell them something, but actually making them do it and having the tools to do it makes it so much more powerful. Yeah. And I'm assuming in a NBA game, there's a zillion and one distractions, there's a ton of stuff going on mentally for these players and you're not able to sit next to them on the bench during the game and be like, okay, now's your chance. So they need some sort of cue to get them right back into focus and it has to be consistent to play at that level. Yeah. And you just set up the last one right there. That was perfect, beautiful. It's what I call relentless consistency, meaning that they are going to bring the same type of consistency every single day, no matter how they feel, they are going to be the person, the player that everybody can count on to have that same type of positive energy, the same type of hard work ethic and drive every single day. And at the end of the day, I'll have them, like at the end of every game, we'll go through like a whole sheet of their own personal analysis, but at the end of the day, they'll go through, did they live that day? Did they play that game? Whatever they did, did they do it to a consistent basis? So that term relentless consistency is a term that my NBA players use and they take a lot of pride in that because think about it, if you can be, if someone can say you're consistent, like if you're bringing a smile every day or you're encouraging somebody every day, you're bringing positivity to somebody every day, that's going to change people's lives and they realize the power of having this relentless consistency mindset. And especially, it just makes me think of Russell Westbrook, right out of the gate, especially when you are going to be on teams that are competing for championships and you're going to have down seasons where you're at the bottom of the standings. And if consistency is not the goal, well, you're going to have a very short career. Man, that's such a good point. And I'm glad you brought up Westbrook. I've been on court with him a lot. I've done a lot of training for the Wasserman agency, his agency. And like, he brings it like that every single workout, whether it's 7am, no matter what, like that is him. Maybe he doesn't know another speed, but he is going at everybody, that killer mentality, that Kobe killer mindset we talked about earlier. He has that maybe, maybe more than anybody else in the NBA. Now, your journey is an interesting one as well, because you're a pursuit of a professional career and now moving into the coaching realm. Many of us, so we think of our career, we think of it being a lot longer than just into our twenties and having to go through a major transition. Tell us a little bit about your journey and the adversity you face in making that transition. Yeah. So my whole life was based on playing in the NBA, like literally everything I did was poured into how could I play in the NBA? Now, I'm short, unathletic kid from middle of nowhere, Cornfields, Iowa. So probably my parents should have told me to play golf or baseball or something like that, but they supported it. And even up through high school and I got to play Division I college, but still my whole, my whole life was based on playing in the NBA and I had no fallback plan. And I got to play overseas in Australia, Greece and Spain, but more and more in leagues like the movies Semi Pro with Will Ferrell, where guys are more concerned about drinking beers at half time than they are the actual game. So that's the league that I'm playing in. This is my third year overseas. I'm playing in Spain in the Northern Basque region of the Spain in San Sebastian. And I get cut from this team. Second Division team, that's basically a joke of a team. And I get cut. So basically all of my life goals, everything that I put into my life got turned upside down on its head and basically rubbed his face in the mud right there. So I had nothing, absolutely nothing going for me. But when I realized and I went back, went back home to Kansas City and pretty much living on my parents recliner chair for about six months. And my mom would always say these motivational quotes and stuff. And usually I just let them go in one ear out the other ear, but she said one that really stuck. She was doing the dishes. I can remember it vividly. She said, David, when one door closes, four open. And I was like, that's kind of caught me off guard because I've never heard that before. And it clicked in me. And I realized all my, all my preparation to play in the NBA was actually a preparation to coach other players because I put in so much detail. I was the guy studying film, doing everything to optimize my sleep, my body, everything. So I realized that it wasn't my gift to play, but it was my gift to be able to give to be able to serve these players and help them reach their highest level. So I started pouring into some players that were friends of mine, Aaron Baines being the first one. He was my teammate in Greece. And he'd had other players would start coming because they liked it. And then agents started getting involved. And then eventually after five years of literally living out of a car and an airplane, like I started my own little basketball camp thing, had these custom made basketballs from China, shipped to the Oakland C port. And I got in my car and I drove 29 hours from Kansas City to Oakland, packed them in my little car and started driving around the country, going to any middle school, seventh grade girls team or whatever it was to run a basketball shooting camp. Then I started traveling all over the world doing them and literally living like a vagabond out of an airplane. Five years, five years fast forward. I'm in Australia and I get an email. It says Brooklyn net shooting coach. And I'm thinking it's spam, but all right, I'll check it out. And there was in a week, I was with the Brooklyn nets is their shooting coach trying to restructure a team that just made one of the worst deals in NBA history. And it's pretty, it was pretty much from there. I thought, like, I thought I had made it. I thought, like, Hey, this is it. This is it. I made the NBA because what everybody says is when you're in the NBA, it's, it's a brotherhood you're in and we went from 28th in the league in three points shooting to second in the league in the time that I was there. So it was great results. And the GM had told me, yeah, we'll give you, we're gonna give you a three year extension. And then I went back through the off season for about a month back at home. I come back and there's a new head coach. And when new head coaches come into the league, they usually bring their whole staff. So what I thought, okay, now I made my goal. Now I made my dream. Once again, the door was slammed in my face. But once again, I thought, okay, and yeah, sure, it hurt. Of course it hurt at first, but then I have one door closes, four open. So then I get this opportunity to come out here to Los Angeles to train players individually out here and been able to train over 150 NBA players. I now I go speak for companies. I've got my book that's coming out here real soon, married to an amazing, amazing woman that I never would have met if I stayed in Brooklyn. It's like, that opportunity that I thought was the one I wanted still wasn't even the one that I wanted. It's and it's why I wrote the book pivot and go because as you can see in my life, there have been a lot of pivots, not necessarily these were failures because I don't consider it a failure. I consider this is how I learned to get to where I wanted to go. But there's all we're always going to face times in our lives where we have to pivot to something else. And we can either look at that as like, what was me and the world's ending, or I'm going to pivot in this and I'm going to go and I'm going to attack it and it's going to be better than I could even imagine. David, one of the points that I really enjoyed hearing you speak about and we have a lot of young listeners who are getting started in their careers. They're a little bit self conscious of the skills that they have developed. They're looking to develop more. And it was this idea of voting for yourself. And if you could talk about that a little bit, I would love to hear that brought out. It's one of my favorite chapters in the book pivot and go, voting for yourself is every day we have we have a superhero power inside of us and it's choice. We have the decision to vote for a self of who we want to be every single morning when we wake up. So the question is, do you wake up and usually start telling yourself these negative thoughts and you start telling yourself that I can't do it. It's too hard. It's meant for somebody else or do you tell yourself that yes, I can do this. I'm going to build this positivity into me. This is who I can be. This is who I am going to be. And I'm a big believer in voting for yourself and a big believer in speaking things into existence. If you want something to happen, you've got to say it. You've got to say it out so other people know it. Like for example, me writing this book, I just told everybody, hey, I'm writing a book. I'm going to write this book. This book is going to be a best seller. Just telling people that. And then over the course of time, people would realize, oh, how's the book coming? So it's already like you've spoken that thing into existence. And to voting for yourself with speaking things into existence, like one of the most important things in my life and the players that I've worked with and the people that I've worked with is we have our positive reaffirming ourselves positively every morning. And I do a thing with my players. I call it the confidence hands. So you look at your hands. I know we're on, we've got some video here. Everybody can look at their hands, look at the backs of them, the fronts of them. You see everything that you've gone through, all the accomplishments that you've had, the toil that you've gone through, the things you've been through to get you to where you're at. And then think of the most confident person in your life, whoever that might be, whether it's a parent, a boss, someone you look up to, and then their hands become your hands. So everything they've gone through, you can go through as well. And I have my players and I do it every morning myself. I look at my hands first thing in the morning. And then I'll have these cue cards, which I have in the book at the end of each chapter, there's a mindset pivot that you write down. And I tell you exactly where to place it around your house. So there'll be one by your coffee pot. There'll be one on your ceiling. There'll be one on your fridge. There'll be one in your car. And these are constant reminders, affirmations of who you are, the positive person, what you can bring to this world. Because I'm a firm believer that everybody has a gift inside of them. Everybody has a God-given gift inside of them. But it's their choice if they want to keep it suppressed in or if they want to let it out to the world and serve those. And for a lot of us right now, adversity is exactly what we're going through. I mean, the entire world is now facing adversity. And we, on a previous episode, we're talking about routines and the importance of routines to create some semblance of normalcy, even in this time. And many of us right now have seen our routines just completely flipped upside down. We're working in a new environment. We're having to interface over a video. Maybe that has never been a part of our routine. And in your book, you talk a lot about your morning and evening routines and how important they are. Can you break down what makes those routines so important for you? And what are some tips our audience can use to make their mornings and evenings more powerful? Yeah, for sure. And you hit on a great point. Like this time right now in the quarantine time, this is the best time to really build routines and habits. Because you have no other choice. And it's funny, the people that I'll talk to that'll be like, oh, I can't wait for this is over. This is miserable. Like they're not the ones that are going to come out on top. The people that I'm going to take advantage of this, I'm going to get better shape. I'm going to eat healthier. I'm going to make my routines and habits. The foundation of who I'm going to be when I come out of this is the people that really thrive. And the book is a 29 day mindset blueprint to redefine and achieve your success. 28 days is the general term that you create a habit. And habits are great. They're amazing. I love the books on habits. But you want to make a habit, a lifestyle. And to make it a lifestyle, it's on that 29th day that you get to make that choice if you want it to be a lifestyle. And two of the most important things to me in my life and everybody's seen successful people are morning routines. And what's last talked about is the evening routine. Because the evening routine sets yourself up to have a great morning, sets yourself up to have a great day. So in the evenings, the big points for myself is I always reflect on the day that I had, I reflect on the positives. Me and my wife will bounce back and forth things that we're really thankful for. And we go back and forth to whether it's like the sprinkle she had on her frozen yogurt, just things that we're really, really thankful for. You might not even think just the small victories that we have. And then I'll make sure that I have my big three is what I call it. I have my big three that I will write down. And I know those are going to be my focus for that next day. Like if I can get, if I can get those three things done, I know I will have accomplishment. I know I will have one the day. And then when I go to sleep, I'm going to sleep in a positive mindset. I'm not going to sleep with any, me and my wife will never fight before we go to sleep always going to sleep with positivity. And it's also really big on when you track your sleep and I'm a huge nut on optimization, all that stuff. And you track your sleep. And when you go to bed, when you are happier, you actually have a higher HRV, which is your heart rate variability, which is your recovery metric. So there's actually like scientific, scientific, scientific things that back that up. And so you get a great, you get a great evening routine, you get into that same type of circadian rhythm where you go to bed around the same time and you rise at the same time in the morning routines. For me, the morning is just the most sacred time to just start your day. If you run into your day where the alarm's going off and you're checking your phone and you've got emails and you're just going right into it, like you just, your mind's going to be just frazzled. You're never going to have the piece to bring yourself into prepare for that day. So for myself, the first thing I do when I wake up, like I said, I do the hands thing. And I'll do my affirmations, my positive affirmations. I'll make my coffee, my just unbelievable coffee that I started making my chemics that I look forward to, like you got to have your thing in the morning, your drink or your food that you look forward to. And then I'll spend, I'll spend the next 30 minutes going through the Bible or reading a book or spending time in prayer, just my quiet time journaling. And then after about 45 minutes, I've prepared for the day. I'll usually hit a hard workout at the start of the day. I mean, feels good to get it done, but it also gets my mind going as well as my body. And if I know that I've conquered my mornings, like I've already won the day, conquered my morning, now it's going to kick me into overdrive and I'm just going to dominate the entire day. I think a lot of us don't realize the impact that habits have. And when they become your default behavior, it can be very tough to break out of and create the new behavior patterns that you want. And we have a concept that we talk about in our boot camp called B over A. And it's rewiring your brain for the behavior that you want. And at first, it's a choice. You have to make a choice to create that pathway to the new behavior that you're after. And in your book, you talk about this idea of mental dictatorship, similar lines of rewiring these behaviors in ourselves. Change is not easy. It takes effort, but it's worth it. Can you break down your mental dictatorship model? Yeah, great point, man. So mental dictatorship, what I mean by that is being able to control your mind. The hardest thing to do is start, no matter what it is, whether it's picking up a phone and making sales call. It's the hardest thing to do is make that first one to start, whether it's actually starting your workout at the gym. It's the actual starting point. So I realized this and I wanted to figure out how long does it actually really take to get started? And I've heard that everybody's probably, the five second rule, you count down from five seconds, but honestly, it never really worked for me. And so I just started timing myself. I literally carried a timer around with me, anything that I did till I felt the point like, okay, now I'm good, I can get through this, even if it's hard. And I do that every morning, I take an ice cold three minute shower in the first and it came down to the time that I kept getting really close to was 17 seconds. Like that's when my mental dictatorship took over and I was able to control my mind. I was able to get through the things that I thought that I wouldn't be able to get through. Like the ice cold shower, the first 17 seconds suck, but after that, I'm actually enjoying it because I know I'm reaping the benefits from it or even going starting to work out. Okay, I'm going to get through the whole thing. Once you start and once you hit that 17 second spot, you know, your mind can overcome it. And what it also gave me too was is the confidence in it. Like I'd have that stopwatch with me. I was like, okay, I've timed it. I figured out 17 seconds is my mental dictatorship. And then once I hit that, it was also compounding like, okay, I hit it. I'm good. Anyways, a lot of people don't realize that your emotions are contingent on action or in action. And you can start to change your emotions if you just start with the action. Yes. So you, whether it's running or going to the gym, your emotions will catch up and all of a sudden the brain chemicals will be firing and you're going to see a difference in your mood. But it starts with that action. If you're trying to fight through the emotion, it's going to be a much bigger of a climb. But if you just dictate that action, you're going to find the mood shifts and all of a sudden you're able to do what minutes before you would have never thought of turning on that cold shower. Screw this. Yeah, you're so right. And it's, it's the actions that do it. Like there's, there's a huge difference. And this is a chapter in the book as well is knowing versus doing. Like a lot of us know what to do. A lot of us know how to eat healthy. A lot of us know we should work out, but do you do it? Like what are your action steps? And, and that's honestly, man, that's, that's what has driven me nuts about the motivational speaking game too. Like it's great. People will get juiced up in the moment and I love it. I love the energy, love the positivity. But, but where's the application? Where's the actual action tool tools that we're able to take and actually do? Like I love knowledge. I love books, but we got to do, we got to have more doers than actual just readers and idea of people actually do stuff. And one of the things that jumped out at me about the book is the importance of relationships in your career and how this transition has all come about really through whether it was building relationships with teammates or coaches along the way. And a lot of us right now are feeling socially isolated and distant. And on this show, we talk a lot about the importance of relationships. We break down conversation, how to get more connected with people. But it's a challenge right now because we're apart. We're relying on Zoom. You know, we plan to be in studio for this. And many of us are feeling isolated. What have you been doing during this to grow your network and maintain those relationships that you know are so valuable? AJ, you're an amazing question asker. You know that? I just want to let you know that. Like you're setting me up. These questions are just perfect on a platform. So thank you for that. Thank you. So relationships are huge. They are everything. We are our relationships. We're defined by the people that we are around. And what I realized when I was making that shift from playing to coaching is I needed to grow a relationship network. But I don't call it a network. I call it a Golden 15. And I actually have a course online on my website that basically blueprints how you can create your own Golden 15 and the power and I'll walk you through it and everything. But the Golden 15 is having genuine, true relationships for people that you care about, that you want to pour into, that you know can also help you. Not in a way of using them, not in the dirty term of networking and not our LinkedIn friends or anything like that, but people that you've actually put in the equity of building that relationship with. So for myself, what I did when I decided, okay, it's all hands on deck. I'm going to get to coaching the NBA. That's what I'm going to do. I called up every NBA GM, every one of them, didn't hear back from any of them. So I hand wrote a letter to every single GM telling them something specific that I liked about their organization, something that was unique, that stood out, and also letting them know, hey, if I can ever serve you, anybody in your organization, I'm here to serve. Not trying to say, hey, give me a job, give me something, or what can I take from you? But how can I give, give, give to you? And not expecting anything in return. And one guy called me back. It was the then GM of the Los Angeles Clippers, your team, Gary Sacks was his name. And we had a conversation, good conversation. And I was in Kansas City at the time. And he said, hey, if you're ever out in LA, look me up and grab coffee. So most people would take that as a, okay, good luck with the rest of your life. But it took us an opportunity. So I was going to go that extra mile or extra 1800 miles. And that next week, I was out there having coffee with Gary, I prepared for it, made sure I was really ready with my points. We developed a relationship there and then kept getting closer and closer. And he was actually in my wedding this past summer, I lived with him for six months when I moved out to LA to start off. But he was the first piece of my golden 15. And the person that really kickstarted everything as far as my relationships within the NBA. And those type of people like now I've developed people that are business advisors, the guy who used to run PayPal. And I've got Mark Cuban is actually a good friend of mine that I got to know through when I was coaching with the Nets. And I'll put make sure like I'm given to these people, I'm offering them anything that I can do for them. But I know that I've built up the equity and the relationship that I can, I can reach out to them at any time as well. So this right now, this quarantine time is the perfect time to do this perfect time. Think about the people that you care about people that you know that you that can help you not in a, I don't want to make it sound like in a taking way because it's not taking you have to give without expecting anything in return and have that type of service mindset to begin with. But in this time, like, you know how powerful it is to reach out to somebody and just check in on them, or send them a video takes like 30 seconds, send them a video, let them know you're thinking of them, check in on them. Like it goes a long ways. I actually, I have an hour carved out every single day to do this. I have my golden 15, I actually have a golden third now, where I'll make sure I touch base with them, at least, at least once a month, usually twice a month in some kind of way that's not like a a like a cheesy way. I mean, it's a genuine real way. So I'll make I'll have my list of them and I have an hour blocked out every single day that I'm going to do this. And I also have three people, like three people that I'm going to encourage that day, I'm really going to pour into them and encourage them. So instead of just, instead of just sending a text message or an email, like, I'm going to make them a video, I'm going to give them a FaceTime call, something like that to really pour into others. And the power in building your relationships, your genuine relationships is, is literally everything. I mean, I'm speaking from a guy that came from middle of nowhere cornfields of Iowa, to be able to live in the like, basically the exact life that I've always wanted to live. I love that. And I think right now, this opportunity, we are more reachable than ever. So when you think about your golden 15, you know, pre quarantine, they had a bunch of things going on and they were leaving the house traveling everything else. But because we are stuck in one place, we not only have more time for self development in our own routines, but we actually have more time to communicate with people that we would love to get into our golden 15. So I love that mindset. And I love the fact that you carve out time and make it a habit because that's really the most important thing. And it's not doing it in a needy way. And it's not doing it in an expectation of from the other people, but just staying in touch and making it something that's a part of your life instead of, Oh, I need something from this person. So now I'm going to hop on LinkedIn. Oh, I need this thing. So now I'm going to start chasing people. Yeah, you're so right. This is the absolute time to do that. And to the point where you say of carving out the time, like I was talking about, like, that's another tool in itself. Like, if we just go into our days without having any structure to them, it's going to just be all over the place. And I have a chapter in the book called the time pizza, where you have a circle, you have a pizza, and you break up the hours of the day. And once you do, once you realize, like, say, you're putting eight hours to work, eight hours of sleep, 16 hours. And right now, there's no commuting anywhere. There's a lot of time in the day that is wasted time, unless we schedule those times out. And there should be times that you schedule out an hour to communicate with somebody or this is my hour of emails or my hour, every day I'll do creative writing for an hour. I'm writing my second book already right now. So I'll incorporate an hour to that. And then I'll have a time where, okay, this is the time I'm shutting everything down. And me and my wife are spending time. We're cooking dinner. We're playing board games. I'm watching her do a puzzle because I hate doing puzzles and I'm terrible at them. Or we're watching a show, something where I just, I make sure that I shut down so I can recharge with more energy for the next day. So I think that the structure, the habits, the routines are so important, so important. And that's why I'm so juiced up about, like, I know I keep talking about the book, I don't mean to plug it like that, but I'm juiced up about how people can turn these things into lifestyles, like make it your lifestyle to continue to grow one percent, grow one percent daily. And over the course of a year, two years, five years, 10 years, I think how much that's going to compound. And in our core confidence group coaching, we had a client who was a little nervous about this reaching out to people that he hadn't talked to in a while and felt it was almost weak to be like, hey, I'm checking in or felt bad that he was being the first to initiate after years of not talking, right? These are childhood friends of his. And that exact thing that you said, just, hey, I'm checking in on you, just broke through all of that anxiety that he was feeling and self-judgment. And the friend on the other line, he hadn't spoke to you in literally like six or seven years and they had an hour and a half long conversation. I think if we come out of this quarantine and we haven't taken some time for some self development, we haven't taken some time to reconnect with our old friends. So people that have just grown distant life gets in the way and we haven't taken the time to grow our network. We're going to be regretting this opportunity that was in front of us. And you were exactly right. Those who've built up the quality routines are going to come out of this thriving. Man, you did some, some other great points right there. You're like the word opportunity, that is so key. I'll talk to companies and people about preparing for opportunity and there's no better time than right now of pivoting this crisis that we're in for opportunity, not opportunity to buy up a bunch of toilet paper and sell that, but opportunity like you're talking about coming out of this. What if you could come up? Let's say, let's rewind two months ago and let's say someone gives you the opportunity to say, hey, you're going to get two, three, four months of just time by yourself to really develop your relationships and come out, come out of that time with very strong relationships. You're going to be able to develop great habits, nutrition, workout mindset, great habits. You're going to be able to spend more quality time with your kids, your family, your significant other. And you can do hit all these three things. Would, would we not be jumping at that? I think, I mean, I knew I was and I knew I would and I think it's just so key to know that this is an unbelievable opportunity that we have. And instead of looking at it as, and this is a mindset of pivot is instead of looking at as like, I just got to survive this situation. I just got to get through this. Like, why don't we turn that? Why don't we flip that surviving to absolutely thriving? To bring up the point. I mean, we have three people here on this call who have taken risks to do the work that we all do. And to, to look at catching up with some friends and think, well, it's, I don't want to seem weak or what if they're not interested? I mean, that's playing it safe. What are you going to get out of life playing it safe? I'm sure you weren't thrilled about going back to your mom's recliner after those moments are going to happen. But without taking the risk, how are you going to be able to grow? How are you going to be able to see what you are capable of unless you go for broken, unless you bite off a piece that's a little bit too big for you to swallow. And now you got to figure out how you're going to manage it. That's where you're going to find out what you're truly made of and what you're capable of. I love that man. You guys are juicing me up. I can talk to you guys all day about this. I'm getting amped over here. You're so right. Like I'll tell people, if you don't take the chance, guess what? You're at the same spot. You're at, if you do take the chance of Wib, you have nothing to lose. Take shots. And this is a great time to take all kinds of shots. Like if you tell, think about this, if you tell Steph Curry when he's coming in the NBA, that he can't play in the NBA like everybody else says he couldn't, you think he was going to believe that? No, he's taking his shot. He changed the game. Our entire sport was played. Like the only thing holding us back from becoming who we were meant to be is ourselves. We are the person that we talk to more than anybody else throughout the day. The question is, what do you have in your headphones? What, what kind of voice is talking to you positive or negative? So that's, and you guys are awesome. I want to come quarantine with you guys. We're going to hang out when we get out of this mess over here, especially since we know your neighbors. Now, obviously to our audience, you have an NBA shooting coach in your ears right now telling you, take the shot. There is no better time. Where can our audience find your website and that great 15 golden, why am I tripping over that? Where can our audience find the golden 15 and hear about your new book that's coming out? Yeah. So I have on my website, davidnurse.com. I have courses on creating your golden 15, walking you through that. Also how you pivot to find your success, meaning you find what, what you want to do. I love the grind. I love the Gary B hustle, hustle, hustle, but you want to do it with purpose for something you love doing too. So it kind of puts those two together. And it's called the 1%er course. And it's all based on taking 1% steps daily to achieve what your goals and what your dreams are. And I have the book Pivoting Go, which is on Amazon pre-sale right now. We hit on just a few of those chapters in there. There's 29 chapters of the stuff that we were talking about, these different types of mindset pivots that help you see something from a slightly different perspective that can change your entire perspective. Instagram is davidnurse NBA and my podcast, the 1%er podcast. And I think that's it unless you're out here in LA and you want to hang out at error one, that's pretty much the ways. Thank you so much for joining us. You guys are awesome. I love what you guys are doing. I've been an avid listener to you guys for a long time. And you guys are the definition. I'm not saying this of relentless consistency. Like you've been at it for a long time and never gave up, never gave in. And you're one of the biggest and best podcasts out there. So very honored and blessed to be coming on this podcast. Much appreciated. I got to tell you, I watched your video, not shooting 90% from the three today. And I was winded after five minutes to just watch that. However, I do want to go shoot some hoops after that though. Man, you let me know. We'll go, we'll go play. We'll play some two on two. Yeah. We'd love to come on your show and talk some social skills to your audience, brother. Dude, consider it done. We love that. Amazing.