When was the last time you missed a big play – either on the court or in your personal or professional life? Did you hang your head in defeat? Sulk after the error? Or, on the flip side, how long did you celebrate after a big victory?
How many of us have focused our energy on a big opportunity that is well in the future? We’ve all found ourselves living somewhere between our last defeat and our next great accomplishment. What would happen if, instead, we focused on the next play?
The idea of “next play” as well as the additional psychology, basketball, and lessons that are applicable in business and all areas of life are discussed in the book, “Toughness- Developing True Strength On and Off the Court.” Jay Bilas outlines principles that define toughness. He focuses more on the mental aspect of what it means to be tough as opposed to the physical aspect that is generally thought to define toughness.
The “next play “philosophy is deeply engrained in the culture of Duke Basketball. Legendary Duke Basketball coach Mike Kryzweski describes the philosophy, “Next play is the absence of fear of failure.”
Tough players don’t waste time celebrating a good play or lamenting a bad one. They understand that basketball is too fast a game to waste time and opportunities with celebratory gestures or angry reactions. Tough players move on to the next play. They know that the most important play in any game is the next one
Like Basketball, life is a fast game. Tough people don’t waste time with celebratory gestures or angry reactions – they are, by definition, never too high and never too low. Tough people learn from the past and focus on the present, and understand that the most important play is the one we are playing right now.
