I coached basketball for thirteen years from kindergarten to seniors in high school. Many were first time players. I took pride in my ability to teach the fundamentals. One of the hardest things to teach new players was how to shoot a layup. That’s a shot very close to the basket while moving your feet a couple steps after ending a dribble. Many players had trouble with it, especially the coordination with their hands and moving feet. I had to break it down into very tiny steps. I dissected the whole process and came up with a plan.
First I would have them raise their right hand. Then I would have them lift their right knee. That’s because to shoot a right handed layup you jump off your left foot. If they lift their right knee they have to jump off their left foot. Then I get them to raise their hand and knee at the same time. We practiced this over and over again until it feels normal. Then we move on to other simple steps, all without a ball. Finally when they are ready we add the ball and they shot a layup. They almost always look surprised and very proud.
I had seen other coaches just expecting new players to be able to shoot layups. It’s a very unnatural move until you get familiar with it. New players try, get confused and lose confidence. Then it becomes twice as hard. By breaking it down into tiny steps I knew they could do one at a time, they gained confidence. I would tell them, it’s a trial by the mile. It’s hard by the yard. Inch by inch it’s a cinch. After being successful at shooting layups they believed me. I used the same statement when teaching other fundamentals and they believed me then too. The process fed on itself.
I’ve known almost my whole life that breaking big projects down into smaller pieces is effective. I helped clear about 2000 acres of heavy brush and timber with a bull dozer on our family ranch. When my uncle from Tennessee saw it he asked, “How did you do that?”
I responded “One tree at a time.”
I also built an insurance agency from scratch. As I was getting started I was often asked how many policies I had. I’d tell them I didn’t know. I was just focused on getting the next one.
It would seem after all that I wouldn’t let my to-do list overwhelm me, but that wasn’t the case. I often felt like what I had to do was too much. Even life itself was a heavy load, all coming at once. It wasn’t until I saw those kids learn how to shoot layups step by step that I internalized what I thought I knew at a deeper level than before. If something seems like too much, I just make the next step smaller, gain confidence and start building momentum.
Those feelings of anxiety still pop up now and then. My cure is picturing a skinny nervous kid in gym shorts and a t-shirt raising their right hand and lifting their right knee. They did this one simple task and then the next one and the next one until they shot a layup. Sometimes when I’m by myself I’ll raise my hand and knee to remind me how simple it is. I do this one task in front of me, and then the next and the next. The key is focusing on this one small thing, like a single grain of sand going through an hour glass. I can’t do the whole thing now, but I can do this thing. The irony is that after the process is learned the layup is the easiest shot on the court. I guess that makes sense. It’s a trial by the mile. It’s hard by the yard. Inch by inch it’s a cinch. Nothing more complicated than perception.
May you have enough today, one moment at a time.
Let your vagus nerve help.
THIS HELPED ME 