For those of us who followed sports as children with clocklike consistency, memories of our favorite athletes are peppered throughout our growing up years. I followed many different athletes in my fanboy days. But one player stands out amongst the crowd as the one who defined my early years as a sports fanatic. His name was Kobe Bryant, and they called him The Black Mamba.
Kobe was one of those polarizing guys who forced a decision out of all spectators. You loved or hated him, and everyone had their reasons. He was great, and he knew he was great. His brash confidence could be off-putting and his off-court decisions were dubious at best. But as a Lakers fan, I knew that we always had a chance when Kobe had the ball in his hands. The moment was never too big, the shot never too impossible. He made unbelievable plays over and over, demoralizing or delighting every single person in the building. He was Kobe, and for 20 years in the NBA, that meant trouble for his opponents most of the time.
As a kid, I never gave much thought to how Kobe became Kobe. Hero construction is not often on the minds of avid sports watchers. Surely he was always the Black Mamba. Later in life, I came to respect Kobe for something else: his relentless work ethic. The Mamba was fueled by a tireless pursuit of mastery of his craft. The Mamba Mentality is now what defines my perception of Kobe Bryant.
The Mamba Mentality captures the drive Kobe had to perfect not only basketball, but life. There was no area where Kobe did not want to demolish all competitors, even if they themselves were not competing. It did not matter if it was pickup basketball or the pickup line after his girls got out of school. He wanted to be first. He had to be the best.
As an entire philosophy, this may sound very unhealthy. And as Kobe applied it, it almost certainly was. Yet there is much that folks of all vocations and pursuits can learn from Kobe's search for excellence and especially the way he went about it. Kobe Bryant was after small, incremental gains through consistent work over time.
When Kobe was 12 or 13, he made a list of all the kids ranked above him as basketball prospects. Then he went to work. If he was Number 100, he did not go after Number 1. He went after Number 99. He took them on one at a time. And this was when he was twelve.
This mentality followed Kobe throughout basketball and into retirement. One day at a time, no compromises or off days. With this methodical tactic, he surpassed almost everyone in the history of the sport. You won't have heard of any other kids on that Top 100 List. Just Kobe.
To those of us who have been commissioned to pursue the permanent things, this attitude should prick us with more than a little conviction. Do we even care about excellence? If we do, do we go after it in short, little bursts every once in a great while? It is tough to put your nose to the grindstone day after day. But the results speak for themselves.
It is possible to outwork the vast majority of people through diligent, faithful work a thousand days in a row, while everyone else is just busting their chops every so often. Your 10 minutes a day is going to crush that one time they went to a seminar. You will be shocked how many books you can read through, how many projects you can finish, and the levels of excellence you can reach if you just put in the work. Kobe Bryant taught me that.
As you search the Scriptures, you will find this mindset is entirely biblical. Paul encourages his hearers to work quietly with their hands. Proverbs instructs us to consider both the ant for his diligence and the sluggard for his folly. Christians plod on like the ox and sow consistently like the farmer. So do not wait for that all-day time slot to materialize for you to start up that one pursuit. Start now with five minutes, then ten, then twenty. The returns on those incremental deposits are rather astounding. Rome wasn't built in a day. And neither are Kobe Bryants.
Photo by Olivier Collet on Unsplash