We are talking practice....

I love sports, always have and probably always will. I am not an NBA fan, the attitude, lack of desire, etc have turned me off from the sport. You don't have to be an NBA fan to know the antics of Allen Iverson. No one wanted him to start for their team, he didn't want to play if he didn't start, so he retired. Then everybody came to his rescue and said that he could not retire, and he was signed by the 76ers.


Iverson is a superstar. His individual talent has led to a number of individual awards, including scoring titles, MVP, etc. I will always remember Iverson for his rant about his coach wanting him to show up for practice, show up on time, and practice hard.


Basically, Iverson called a press conference and said..."I am supposed to be the face of this franchise and we are talking about practice, not a game, practice. (It went on and on and on -- but that was the gist of it) Iverson was too good for practice....that is probably why he never won a title, he didn't worry about the team improving - he knew he could get his points and that is all he cared about.


This post is not about The NBA or Allen Iverson -- it is about your attitude about practice, training, and getting better. I have never managed a NBA star, but I have managed a lot of people who have the same attitude about training and getting better. Some of what I have heard....


"I trained in high school and college, I am not going to do it as an adult."


"That is just silly, I am not going to sound like a robot saying the same thing over and over again."


"I think people can tell when you are so rehearsed, I prefer to just kinda wing it."


I think you can replace any of those statements with, "I'm done. I reached my potential and it's all down hill from here, I would rather whine and complain about things I can't control than work hard on improving and increasing my abilities."


I love to learn, I can learn from every person I come into contact. Whether it's what not to do, or what to do, if you are not learning you are dying. I don't care how good you are and how much you have, when you decide that your learning days are over, the slide begins and everyday that goes by it gets faster and faster.


If you are on that slide, get off. Learn something, go buy an audio CD, ask the young kid at work to teach you something. Once you start, you will realize that you know a lot of things that you are not doing. Two of my favorite quotes about training:


To know and not do is to not know.


Education without action is purely entertainment


Life is too short not to be a life long learner. Start teaching, training, and learning, it will make you feel better about yourself. Stop whining and complaining and start learning. Stay tuned.





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