The Practice

There is a moment in time when you realize it’s not about you. It’s about something other than you.

Something bigger, something more worthwhile, and the process of getting there becomes a reward in itself.

One day you will find something makes you want to get out of bed in the morning.

You start to do it not for the outcome, but for the love of the game.

Not for the accolades, but for the moment.

Not for the cheers, but for the satisfaction of a job well done.

It took me a long time to understand the drive someone must have to shoot 500 baskets before class.

Why Michael Jordan was the first on the court, and the last off it. Why Kobe would spend the time perfecting his shot despite having done them a thousand times before.

It was so he could be the best him possible in that key moment during the game.

The outcome of fame, fortune, and notoriety might have been what drove him initially, but the reason he practices day after day, is the inner satisfaction that he feels from doing, and being, the best.

He gets the most satisfaction from conquering the man in front of him.

Of besting the best.

Of being the greatest, and actually feels a little sad that no one else can truly challenge him.

The practice itself becomes the obsession.

The practice becomes the outcome, and the game just goes to prove that what he has practiced is worth it.