THE MIND OF KOBE BRYANT - LEARNING

what is mama mentality it's a lot of things but I think most importantly your starts phone emotion mama mentality is first being self aware of things that happen in within your life that you can then use as fuel to propel you forward and it starts from that foundation and then from that foundation this is constant search for answers and this constant search to try to get better because it's a way of life the most important thing I think for players that come after this gentleman ever imagination because people may think you're crazy you but if

us as athletes don't think that it's possible to do these things how in the world can be inspired people now two rings later they all stop I'm still hungry and I'm still thirsty to improve in to learn that's never gonna stop his English and I'm just gonna keep on moving keep on March and they keep on line he understands the season for myself but I'm really getting into learn from these guys I want more I want more I want to learn more where can I learn more where can I look you know I want more

I want to learn this thing some more there's got to be another level it was the curiosity I think the curiosity is the most important thing I mean it's it's you know it's sounds really weird to say but it means like leadership lessons you know I learn leadership lessons just from walking in the park is just observing nature and the sons relationship with nature and relationship with the moon and the Sun understanding when to be present and when they go away right because as a teammate it was like dude the sun's out all damn long

you're gonna sunburn a hell of a lot of people right so if I'm playing this game and I'm on top of my guys for 48 minutes dude you're gonna sunburn every single team made there all right so a certain times was important to suddenly be president sometimes it needs to go away right and but their life less is that's around us at all times and I've always been extremely extremely curious about those things what does the game give to you that you couldn't have gotten in any other line of work well when I found out

is that the game of basketball has really been a great teacher of life as far as unending challenges teamwork doing things together getting along getting alone learning the ups and downs of a season and you know enjoying the journey of the season and has really helped me mature I've heard Michael use that quote before and I've heard magic music quote before saying how the game has really been a teacher of life of him and a couple years ago I really didn't understand what they were talking about I couldn't see that but now I can I

can definitely say the same thing basketball is no different you observe how things are flowing their life is a lot of the same way I mean things can't be perfect although you want them to be they're not it's about finding balance this is this kobe process you'll pick up the phone you'll call people who are leaders in industry and you just pick their brain exactly this is that I mean you know that just cold call people absolutely there's a cold call people and just pick their brain about stuff and you know some of the questions

that I ask will seem really really simple and stupid but quite honestly for them but if I don't know I don't know have to ask so I'll just do that just ask questions and I want to learn more about how they build their business how they run their companies and how do they see the world you'd never call them no no III cold call people all the time if I'm curious about something I wanted to learn something I'll call and I'll ask how serious did you take the all-star game well extremely serious I mean it's

it's uh it was a great opportunity for me to learn you know I remember my last all-star game we're gonna lock room in Popovich before the game has a brilliant idea of letting each player diagram plays in a timeout right and all the guys are like oh yeah that's awesome yeah great great great great great great great and I'm sitting there like we're out of the play we can go playoffs at that point it's my last year right so I really don't yeah so I said no pop if I was competing with you guys for

the playoffs I tell you that that's a horrible idea and I'm not doing that at all I want to see you draw every plan every single time out cuz I want to see what you run absolutely as opposed to you seeing what I'm thinking in my head and what drawing up you know that's not happening he just started laughing laughing he gets it game on TV but until you go through the workouts experience yourself and don't get that firsthand what was it like to tryouts what did you learn well I learned that you have to

work hard you have to approach the game with a serious mindset there's a step off from high school when I understand that so therefore every time I step with a basketball quit a strong effort out get on the floor I'm not gonna leave anything on the floor types of players players who love to land in players who hate to lose which one are you I'm neither me neither meaning that you know I play to figure things out I play to learn something right because I think if you if you play with with a fear of

failure or you play with the will to win or that supercedes you feel fairy I think it's a weakness either way right because if you play with the fear of failing you'll have the pressure on yourself to play you know to capitulate to that fear if you play with the sense of I want to win I want to win then you have the fear of what happens if you don't but if you find common ground in the middle in the center then it doesn't matter your own phase by either right and that enables you to

really just stay in the moment stay connected to it and not feel anything other than what's in front of you so I try to just be dead center I'm kind of learning right I think if you look at the years I've been in league I think you've seen improvements for size flexing goals I mean I got some uh tapes from last season at all I kind of had myself at taking certain shots because I'll take those now are we to play a little bit better there's a game now I think I've actually learned pretty quickly

because I have a I've had a lot of other things to adjust well no the idea is a very simple one and you know the mom of mentality simply means trying to be the best version of yourself that's what the mentality means it means everyday you know you're trying to become better it's a constant quest it's an infinite quest so starting at the age of two when I first start playing the game and on and on and on I always ask questions I always try to get better every single day learn more you're asking questions

that - oh dude I was you'd be surprised like some people like my kids at - could do a lot of things mm-hmm right I - I could dribble the basketball I could shoot a basketball on the nerf hoop at the house and I would go to practice with my father I would observe my father I'd sit and watch games with him I mean I was I was extremely fortunate have him because we'd sit together and we'd watch film of every game and the first time we sat down and watched film I was kind of

like alright we're gonna watch my touches everyone watch my touches and other that no we watched the game from start/finish rewinding it looking at please looking at tactics start to finish every game every game we're watching the start of the game to the end of the game and not like not like the TV feed watching the in arena feed the layup line the timeouts oh my gosh yeah rewinding stopping fast for winding slow-motion every little thing every game of that season with the 82 year old yoga oh my gosh who is as brutally honest as

you can get what did that teach you that season you know taught me to look at detail hmm all right look I think things that they're smallest all right look at body language look at the energy between players our team in the other team Wow right look at the tactics look at the overall strategy and they look at how tactically things are manifesting themselves and because I watch so much film then it gave me the ability to see game in real time as if I was watching film Wow or I can see Bob because a

lot of times the game starts moving really fast but if you train yourself to watch hours and hours of film the games not moving that fast anymore you can really recognize who's doing what and why then you can position guys in the right places in real time but yeah maze listen I just constantly looked for things to learn from and I'm very observant I did like it because I started picking things right I started playing the game and now when things are going on a fast pace I was able to slow the game down and

see exactly what I was seeing on the screen right the game seemed much slower to me and now I can also manipulate the game because I could think three four five moves ahead so now I can put people in the right positions and did you what was your routine in ritual like after every game would you watch almost every game over or certain games all over every game there watch every game the whole game battle game how did you become one of those people who doesn't seem to be afraid of failing it doesn't exist it's

not existent that mean seriously witness failure means it's not it doesn't it doesn't exist it's a figment of your imagination what does it mean well I'm trying to think like how can I explain it so let's use happy endings right and we can relate this to failure why it's not existent like everybody talks about why everybody wants a happy ending right now let's go to reality of it right let's look at a fairy tale story it's like a snow white she gets a happy ending she finds prince whatever she goes on she lives happily ever

after well I call on that because two months later the fact is they had an argument and he's sleeping on the couch right so the point is the point is the story continues the story continues so if you fail on Monday the only way it's a failure on Monday is if you decide to not progress from that right so that so to me that's why failures not existent because you know if I fail today okay I'm gonna learn something from that failure and I'm gonna try again on Tuesday and I'm gonna try you know anything

so it doesn't exist well it depends who is the constant learner right you're not gonna win a ball so winning is really how you define what winning is for yourself and for your team for your family right so you have to know what your values are how you measure success and then that's all that really matters at the end of the day the champion gets a trophy right but for us and for me when I came in a lead we didn't win right away there are other teams that won but I chose to continue the

state focus continue to learn even though I lost by not winning a championship I won in the long run because I kept on learning and now here I am with five championships by how the public measures with successes and that's okay but that doesn't drive me what drives me is continuing to learn which is why I'm still sitting there after 18 years determined to come back next year with a vengeance what I observed a lot of my career is how players study film because now it's become like you watch Game film you see what you

do right you see which would be wrong okay let's do more of that let's do less of that right but the way I grew up from Texas winning and Phil Jackson the way film was broken down it was broken down to the smallest detail it was broken down to the right angle it he's broke it down to foot placement timing looking at the posture of a teammate you know what could he be thinking what could he be feeling same thing with the opposition you know you watch the feed watch players going to the timeouts who's

talking to who who's not talking you started looking at every little thing and so watching the game for me would take like five hours can I look inside and say okay what was the genesis for me who inspired me to get to this point you know when I had faced adversity and I look at it as a challenge or an opportunity where did that come from or did I learn that from me it's just it's an obsessiveness that comes along with it you want things to be as perfect as they can be understanding that nothing

is ever perfect but the challenge is try to get a mess perfect as they can be and what can you do it's in your control so control what you can I can watch them all day long he's gonna help me get better yes I first came in I really didn't know what to expect I know I had a lot to learn I felt that I was ready but I needed to improve a lot in the process I went through a lot of ups and downs failed miserably a couple of times but that comes with the

territory I had to pick myself up go back at and try dinner so you've been in situations where you've missed the shot right and you're still here learning if you make the shot you still be here learning so what I'm saying is if you've been in moments where you've missed the shot but you're okay you're fine you still move on still have a good time you still laugh you're still Joe alright you still go out and you're still play hard right so whatever you have to understand is that those pressures ourselves inflicted they're self-made it's

an abyss the imagination so you have to be able to control your mind and understand exactly that pressure does not exist it does not exist we create pressure ourselves whether somebody is watching or somebody's not watching whether you make it or whether you miss it you're gonna get up the next day and you're gonna learn and you're gonna do it all over again the cycle is just gonna keep coming whether you make it or miss it so why worry about it well there was there was a year played Indiana Pacers in the finals I rolled

my ankle really bad Jalen Rose stepped under me on purpose he admits it now finally broke my ankle really really bad I came back finished a series but I couldn't touch a basketball till mid-september which was driving me crazy I couldn't train but I looked at this was like the 10th time I rolled my ankle and in one season so I'm looking at that I'm saying okay I got to address that and so being that I couldn't get on the basketball court what I did was I took tap-dancing lessons no kidding I took tap and

tap was like the best training for me in the world because there's strength in my feet it changed my rhythm and my approach to the game I was able to change speeds when I came back the following season you know I think dancers put way more strainer in their body than athletes do and I think there's a lot that can be learned from that my daughter took ballet for several years and I was sit there in the class right and I didn't know what I was getting into his I don't know anything about that wait

ready but I'm sitting there in the class and I'm watching her and watch to get the first position the second position I'm sorry I'm learning the structure and the rules that go along with that and as athletes there's a lot to be learned from that because if you simply go out there and perform and play yeah you'll be great every now and then but if you play with structure if you understand the rules that come along with that the discipline that comes along with that then you reach another level but you guys have my respect

if other people don't see that they're idiots that's all no Jo man what the hell is greatness yeah I think great greatness is in infinite growth no every single day are you getting better and better and better are you constantly growing greatness is not a destination I think it's a process more so than anything you know if you have that mentality then you'll continually chase greatness and in that process of understanding that you'll never truly achieve it but you'll keep getting better every single day and you'll continually strive to reach your fullest potential and I

think that process and that journey is we're great in the suits if you're always practicing always work and you can't help but be better than everybody else that's what mama mentality is so best of luck to you on your journey oh wait first of all when you try to block something out you're just telling yourself to you just bring the morticians attention to it okay by saying don't think about this don't think about that you're gonna think about it anyway so what I try to do is I embrace it embrace it you know it's like

looks like a cloud passing in the nightmare and you see it comes to you and then it just there goes right so when I have distractions or an immediate requests or whatever the case may be I see it I recognize it I understand it's there now I let it go right so it's this constant cycle of things that happen instead of being rigid just embrace it just letting looking take it let it flow through you and then let it pass I used to watch you know studying the games the Bulls teams and you know watching

their demeanor watching their composure you know playing in a tough place like Utah doing the finals and being down 17 but everybody was like this you couldn't tell if they were down 17 or up 20 or a tie game and never changed and I was wondering why the hell that is and that's why I started doing more research and when until came I immediately gravitated to it then found myself accepted the challenge of finding what that space is and for the 81 point game and to be honest I was wasn't even thinking about the game

my knee was hurting so much I didn't know then but you know how to flap adjoint of cartilage stuck in my joint line and so my mom was really trying to go to a place where I don't feel that pain and game started and because of that I was just in a different space I wasn't worried about what was to come I wasn't worried about what just happened I was just here and when you're just there in the moment and playing plays right in front of you your focus is heightened because nothing else matters perhaps

the biggest change in Bryant this season his transformation from student of the game to teacher teaching the game to some of our young players teaching the game some of the nuances of the the intricacies of the tribal offense to Devon Georgia it's a clean brush and a Janeiro particle it's teaching them some of the rhythms and trying I think that's been the main business do you feel I mean do you feel like one of the old guys late no I'm not walking around limping every day and you know having to get in times laboratories every

day I'm not at that stage yet I still I still teach someone about veterans because they're there now and they're saying if you think these seven years went by fast wait to the next step and then you're gonna have something y'all working on your team telling you how old you look I mean I'm sure you've learned a lot about that in the context of all the endorsement deals you've had through your career some of them are amazing some of them maybe less so finally what what have you learned from going through that process the endorsement

process yeah well you've heard a lot you I've seen so many different sides of that spectrum you know those who are the best in the world and doing it with those who are named maybe not so and you see how they operate see how they think culturally how they're different you know how they communicate whether they pride themselves on companies that have complete focus others that loulou's focus and why not trying to regain it and you know I've learned a lot just through osmosis really you know being 18 17 years old and starting that journey

so by the age of six I was already strategizing versus other six year olds you know the age of six I figured out six year olds couldn't dribble with their left hand so I said okay a lot of a lot of 12 year olds can't dribble with their well yeah would imagine six so like I was playing these six year old kids I would make them dribble with their left because I knew they couldn't so they dribble off their foot I'd pick it up lay it up do it again dribble a foot pick it up

late up sets a shoe so it had 63 points but ya know I'll do a lot of research I'll read and I'll just kind of you know sit there and watch a lot of Doc's and just try to learn as much as I can and you know if I'm watching something and all of a sudden a question pops in my head I have to know the answer I have to know I can't just say okay I have this question I just kind of let it go no I need to know all right it also I'll

call okay if you finished your career without a championship you would not have looked at that as a failure no I would look at it as being extremely disappointed because I had a dream and I had goals that I want to accomplish right and if I don't accomplish those goals have to ask myself why all right if so so for my position the reason why I would not have accomplished those things is poor leadership failure to communicate properly when my teammates have put them in positions to be successful lack of preparation you know all those

things would be reasons why I don't win right so now if that was the case in my career I have to sit and I have to analyze that and then as I move and I evolve you know post basketball into business or whatever those same weaknesses are going to reveal themselves there right so if I don't learn from that I'm going I'm gonna struggle here too right so I can take those situations and learn from those and have them you know make me a better person later in life but if I don't take that stuff

and apply that someplace else then that is that's failing which to me is the worst possible thing you could ever have is to stop and to not learn play against guys like Shaq and Kobe borrow sky Eddie Jones so sabalos it's been a great chain game so far I'm really enjoying it I'm enjoying it to the fullest how can people on the daily put that Mamba mentality into the grind it's about it's about it's about wanting to be better and whatever you do try to be the best at it I don't care what it is

you know just if you're doing something why not try to be great at it why not you know if you if you if you're preparing for a test if you're carpenter whatever it may be study every great carpenter that came before you you know an amazing to be the best at doing that you know so greatness has no limitations of Industry and curiosity because I asked a lot of questions you know playing with Byron Scott I asked him a lot of questions Eddie Jones who was great at chasing cars off the screens and I didn't

understand how to do that I would sit with him before practice after practice magic James Worthy Kurt Rambis Kareem Abdul all the Laker greats I would always sit down and just ask them questions about certain games that I've studied growing up what actually happened that what did you feel that why you know bird tough to defend why cuz you look slow as to me I'm like I'm missing something so like tell me what I'm missing you know what I mean and so I would always ask questions and try to learn as much as I could

but what is losing feel like to you exciting why is it exciting because it means you have different ways to get better there are certain things that you can figure out that you can take advantage of all right certain weaknesses that were exposed that you need to shore up right so it was exciting I mean it sucks to lose right but at the same time their answers there if you just look at them cuz you get the information from losing more than from winning probably yeah yeah I mean the answers are there when you win

- you just have to look at them yeah right so it's a constant process it's exciting when you win it's exciting when you lose because the process should be exactly the same whether you win or you lose is you go back and you look and you find things that you could have done better you find things that you've done well that worked figure out how did they work why did they work how can you make them work again yeah and but the hardest thing is to face that stuff that's a really tough challenge you mean

I remember when I first had the idea of building a studio I reached out to Oprah and we set on the phone for a hour and a half just talking and her giving me incredible words of wisdom about how to go about it because of that it's my responsibility to do that for the next generation that may have questions as well I mean that's that's what we do we help each other out I think it drives me crazy when people say ok you guys are all in this pot you guys are all fighting over the

same thing therefore they Pit one against the other whether it's me or bran or bran and Kady is like you're steppin also stuff going on and it's nonsensical and we all need to help each other out so I think it's part of my responsibility to do that [Music]