One of my ways to respond to things is to make things in relation to them. Mr. Kobe Bryant has passed away in a helicopter crash.
Here are some of the things I learned from him:
Narrative
The power of narrative is something that his recent life after basketball had been focused on. I watched many interviews of his where he talked about the power of storytelling. I have discussed this concept here and there in recent episodes of my podcast. There is a compelling power to a story you have written. You can re-frame things in a way that sends one message, or another, or another(Youtubers and video editors know this).
When you tell a story, you can bring people into the world of the story. Kobe had mentioned in his interviews that he would get others on his team who were obsessives, that would bring a level of detail to the storytelling that would serve to immerse everyone in the story’s world. He mentioned that the bar code on one of the books attached to a story he was part of making had to match the look of the rest of the fictional world it was from.
Storytelling with a high level of detail can paint a picture that is as real as life for a person, and can make their future reality similar to that. Ice Cube said “If I can picture that, I’ll bring a picture back.” in his song “Cold Places”.
Storytelling and its value will be one of the biggest takeaways from Kobe’s message that I am applying in 2020 and onward. I have left out storytelling from a portion of my life, and will look to make better use of it moving forward.
Discipline
Very few people could present the discipline and focus that Kobe could. He was able to show all the other players in the league that he would put in as much work or more as them, and that it would pay off during the game. He brought this throughout his career, and then transitioned it to the career he was just getting into, as far as creating a fictional world for children with storytelling and film.
The power of discipline like that is that it sets the tone for everyone that you are the person who is setting the standard. Once you set the standard, it is like having a pillar that you can lean on whenever things get shaky. Focus builds on itself, and you end up not flinching at anything that shows up in your existence. We don’t want to get thrown off in this world, because we are here to do as much as possible in the short time available (Kobe had 41 years).
Practice
Are we talking about practice? Yes, because that is what leads you to having the game of your life. If your practice is harder than the actual game, the game is not difficult. Kobe would put up hundreds of shots, try every possible move, and out-practice all.
He has a video up on Youtube where he showed some of his moves and shots for the game, and you could see that he had strategy behind what he did. He said it wasn’t about being fast, but about selling the fake, when doing a move on the court. It is strategy that he brought to the table, after all.
Conclusion
Though there is more to say, as I have been watching Kobe’s material for years, I will leave this article at here and put any other material in other content. The narrative message is the biggest one I will take into account and apply through 2020 and onward.