Kobe Bryant’s Ultimate Philosophy of Life: How to be the best at anything
A tribute to the late Kobe Bryant
This is a very emotional and ultimately overwhelming article for me.
I have been wanting to write about him for a while, but I kept delaying it. It simply felt like a hell of an undertaking, one I could not do justice to, but now seems like the right time.
This is a kind of a tribute, I guess. An inspiration for millions around the globe and one of the all-time greats of Basketball. Let me just say, this article is not about his Basketball ability, it is about his mentality, discipline, focus, and ultimately his work ethic.
So here’s to the late Kobe Bryant- The Black Mamba.
No one spells greatness quite like the man himself. At 13 he made a commitment to himself that he wanted to be amongst the greatest to have ever played the sport. Suffice it to say he managed that, but it is the journey, as he says, that was the most exciting.
“Rest in the end, not the middle”
Kobe had humble beginnings. He knew he wasn’t the most talented player, but for him that was okay. He had something to work on.
The middle was the journey. This was filled with obstacles for Kobe Bryant but his mind was so strong and he was so determined that nothing could possibly stand in his way.
For Kobe, being the best was simply outworking everyone. His work ethic is probably the most inspiring out of everything he had to give. He was a firm believer in giving your all in everything.
If you are going to do something, do it to the best of your ability. No matter what it is.
-Kobe Bryant
He was always playing the long game
Kobe was not interested in small wins and pats on the back. Neither was he interested in being in the spotlight just to be the center of attention. All of this was irrelevant to him.
His goal was found out of curiosity.
He watched Magic Johnson and Michael Jordan do amazing things and wanted to emulate that.
He asked himself, “Can I do that? I don’t know but let’s see.”
Playing the long game is not an easy decision. You are always smacked in the head with small losses. For Kobe, this wasn’t a problem. He would go out of his way to spot errors and weak points in his game just to improve them.
Kevin Hart wanted to be an NBA player at one point in his life. He ended up attending the same camp as Kobe. This was when Kobe was already ranked the best NBA player. After 2 days at the camp, the coach came out to tell the players that he wasn’t impressed by their work ethic and effort. He gave the example of Kobe Bryant to the group whilst telling the players that Kobe had only come to practice on his weaker left hand.
He only ever used his left hand but still ended up dominating the other players, but not only this, he was ok with looking foolish had he missed any shots considering he was playing with only the weaker hand!
Such was his determination to improve his game.
In another case, J.J. Reddick confessed to the humility of Kobe,
Early in his career, Kobe asked him to shoot together. At this point, Kobe was an icon so Reddick took him up on it.
During the workout, Kobe asked him questions about how he shot and several other things related to basketball. Keep in mind that at this point Kobe was amongst the best. He, being as good as he was, was learning from Reddick, not the other way round!
When Reddick realized this he couldn’t believe it!
About this incident, he said, “Kobe never passed out an opportunity to get better!”
Reddick, in another situation, said that Kobe woke up at 6 am, went to the gym, and worked at the same move for 3 hours! 3 HOURS doing the same thing again and again and again.
“The guy was maniacal about his work,” he said.
Kobe left no stone unturned when it came to spotting weaknesses and turning them into strengths. Anything he could improve, he would go out of his way to.
Matt Barnes calls him an ‘evil genius’ due to his obsession with being the best. Kobe used to make sure he improved EVERY SINGLE DAY. Literally every single day.
He was trying to be perfect…all the time.
-Lamar Odom on Kobe Bryant
Situations like this prove that he welcomed failure. No loss was really a loss for him.
Lewis Howes asked Kobe, ‘What does losing feel like to you?’
Kobe replied, “It’s exciting. It means you have different ways to get better.”
He didn’t LIKE to lose, but when he lost, he analyzed and studied why that was the case. And then, he improved it so it didn’t happen again.
Playing the long game meant that learning became his religion. Anything he could learn that would make him better, he would. And when he figured out a weakness he would spend hours upon hours upon hours to perfect it.
That was part of what made him so special.
“You’re not going to outwork me”
Those times when you get up early and work hard. Those times when you stay up late and work hard. Those times when you don’t feel like working. You’re too tired. You don’t want to push yourself but you still do it. That is actually the dream.
-Kobe Bryant
Nothing spells work ethic quite like Kobe Bryant. He had a culture of obsessiveness in his mind and when everyone was out having fun, he was working hard, perfecting his craft.
Part of the reason he was able to get up early and stay late was simply that he loved what he was doing. And when he got up, it was another step in the right direction for him.
Kobe said he stayed disciplined every day for 20 years. Constantly with the same effort and drive. Even when there was clear progress he didn’t take a break. Even when he was considerably better than everyone else in his league, he didn’t take a break. He didn’t take a break until he retired. The reason was simply the quote he revolved his life around, “Rest in the end, not the middle.”
The end was his retirement but before that, every day was an opportunity to get better and better and better. He never wasted a day.
His goal was clear to him. Be amongst the greatest basketball players ever. Nothing else seemed to matter. It was a laser focus, tunnel vision.
Become one of the best players in basketball history. Nothing other than that was interesting to him.
Michael Jordan appreciated his comparison with Kobe. He believed that Kobe deserved that podium with him and said that no one other than Kobe matched his own work ethic.
Kobe used to show up to practice at 5 am and not leave until 7 pm in high school! Nothing was quite like him!
His Laker’s teammates used to see him come to the gym before them every time- even when he was injured! Imagine that!
One incident really summarised his work ethic. Dwayne Wade, one of his teammates recalled an incident with him.
He alongside his teammates were putting in a late workout at the gym. It was very late and they were traveling so they couldn’t sleep well either. Dwayne told his teammates to hit him up whoever wakes up first the next day and they would go out for breakfast together. When they went downstairs for breakfast, Kobe was there with his trainer putting ice on himself.
Dwayne asked him what was going on and Kobe told him he just finished a workout and was going for the next one.
Such incidences were not rare occurrences for people who spent time with Kobe. They all recognized his intense desire and unparalleled work ethic that went alongside that. His discipline was unmatched as well.
Kobe also used to keep new players late after practice and would try new moves with them.
What really stood out was the fact that he never missed a workout- even on match day. He was somehow not outworking himself.
Blake Griffen remembered an incident regarding Kobe. In a mid-summer practice, he realized Kobe looked a bit slow and felt as though he wasn’t moving as fast.
“Am I seeing the end of Kobe?” He thought to himself but obviously didn’t say it out loud.
Later, he found out that Kobe had gone on a 40km ride on the bike later last night. He had slept for like 3 hours and later came to the gym as well early next morning.
Blake said Kobe had worked out for 40 hours straight! That does not even seem realistic.
After all this, it is logical to assume that when he didn’t have a ball at his hands he couldn’t practice. Somehow that was not the case. Even without a basketball, he used to practice movements while imagining that he had it. He was amazing!
When comparisons were brought up between Allen Iverson and Kobe Bryant an NBA scout said,
“Allen Iverson loves to play when the lights come on, Kobe does his sh*t before the lights come on”
He was talking about the fact that Kobe had been found several times working out in the darkness, in the gym, 2 hours before matches.
Apart from this he never took vacations with friends during his career. He never hung out with them just for the sake of hanging out. When asked why Kobe replied,
“When I retire I don’t want to say, I wish I would have done more. I don’t want that.”
Everything he did was to be a better basketball player, and if something didn’t improve him in some way he wouldn’t do it.
Friends hang from time to time, banners hang forever
-Kobe Bryant
On people who don’t work hard and tend to be lazy, he said,
“We don’t speak the same language. I don’t understand you. I don’t want to understand you.”
“If you want first place, come play with me, If you want second place, go somewhere else”
Kobe was insanely competitive. This shouldn’t come as a surprise considering he wanted to be the best.
But, his being competitive was often criticized on the selfish part. People used to criticize him for not passing to his teammates sometimes. He was also considered to be an a-hole by some people.
In fact, Phil Handy called him out on this. Phill went to Kobe and asked him, “Why are you such an a-hole?”
Kobe gave a genuine response to this without snapping or anything else.
He said, “I see people walking into practice ten minutes before it and they leave right after. Why should I pass them the basketball, I don’t respect their work ethic. I don’t trust them.”
They are people who spend their hard-earned money to see you perform. Perform
-Kobe Bryant
For Kobe, there were no excuses. He set a strong benchmark for himself and he surpassed it every day. He could not make excuses, it was like his brain just couldn’t process them.
He also made a fundamental effort to be on matches no matter what. He would play through injuries and fevers. Kobe made it known to his mind that he was in control of it, if he goes he goes on his own terms.
Obstacles for him were not meant to stop him, they were meant to improve him.
Before a game against Toronto, his back was spasming. At the same time, a player named Vince was playing really well and people were hyping up the match between Kobe and Vince. Kobe said in an interview, “My back was jacked….” describing the state of pain he was in. He played anyway. He told himself he could rest and recover some other day, but today, he HAD to play.
In another case, he played with an injured shoulder, he only played with his left hand in that match.
He reportedly played with 102-degree fever as well!
Once, during a match, his finger got dislocated. He went to the sidelines and got the bone realigned. He then played with that pain. People describe it as the ‘most Kobe thing ever.’ Truly a beast.
His willpower always outmatched the pain his injuries caused.
Tearing the Achilles tendon is considered to be the most painful injury. Research indicates that more than a third of the basketball players with that injury never play the sport again.
Kobe once tore his Achilles tendon during a game. Despite the massive pain, he stood up, scored the free throws, and then WALKED OFF the court to get his surgery done.
People to this day don’t understand how he managed that.
It is fair to say that nothing quite came close to his willpower.
The most famous scene that showed his sheer competitiveness came against Jay Williams. Jay also worked really hard and in an interview, he said that it is the work you put in that separates you from rest.
Prior to a game against the Lakers, Jay Williams decided to go early and work out before the game. So the game was at 7 in the morning and he went in at 3.
When he got there, Kobe was already going at it. Jay worked for more than an hour and then sat down. He saw Kobe was still going at it. So he sat down and watched. Kobe got done after another 25 minutes, he says.
In that game, Kobe scored 40 points against Jay. It was a sensational performance.
Jay being as impressed as he was asked Kobe why he was in the gym for so long. This is what he said,
“I saw you come in and I wanted you to know that no matter how much you work, I am willing to work harder than you.”
Final thoughts
Kobe Bryant was one of the lucky ones. In that, he managed to identify his goal at a young age. Not many people are lucky enough to do that.
But the truth is, the amount he worked, a very, very, very few people do. He made sure he made the most out of every opportunity he was given. Nothing could stop him because he was willing to put in the effort. He used to critically analyze and improve upon every aspect of his game.
Mistakes didn’t set him back, they pushed him ahead.
But Kobe was also like one of us. He had his imperfections unlike what may seem so far. He also had self-doubt as anyone would. He changed his goal to get around that.
If I say I want to be the greatest basketball player ever, self-doubt creeps in, in the form of the question, “Am I capable?”
For Kobe, the goal was a question but it wasn’t, “Will I be the greatest basketball player ever?” Rather the question was “Can I be the greatest if I try my best?” It stemmed from a position of curiosity. Doubt couldn’t creep in.
He always wanted to be the best, in that, self-doubt did take its toll on him. He accepted self-doubt as a part of him. All of us try to kill it, it doesn’t work that way. I myself thought this is how it worked before writing this article.
I have self-doubt, I have insecurity, I have fear of failure. I have nights when I show up to the arena and I’m like, “My back hurts, my feet hurt, my knees hurt. I just want to chill. We all have self-doubt. You don’t deny it but you also don’t capitulate to it. You embrace it.
-Kobe Bryant
His road to success started by watching players better than him, Magic, Larry, Michael, etc. He learned from them. Michael as he says became his ‘big brother.’
He asked them what made them the best and then he followed it to the best of his abilities.
Kobe leaves behind a legacy very few can match. The truth is, he may be more influential for me than anyone else. But even a person who does not essentially like him can learn a lot from him.
Even in the business world, he left his mark and many people took tips from him.
He never cheated working hard and he was always real and passionate. For this, the world shall remember his name for a long, long time. People like him come about very rarely. It is wise to learn from him as much as we can because we may never get to see another one like him.
For me, Kobe is an inspiration and I have never seen a basketball match in my life. This proves that he transcends the sport.
This article does him no justice. The truth is I can’t explain what to say about him in words. He was amazing. There were times in this article when I wanted to stop writing because it felt overwhelming.
This is how I say goodbye to one of the most inspirational figures in my life.
I hope it gives value to anyone that reads it and inspires them as much as he inspired me.
