Kobe's Legacy

What does "Give it your all" mean to you? Does giving it your "all" suggest that you have a limit? A certain capacity in which you can go before giving up? When you call it quits, do you feel accomplished or dissatisfied with yourself? Until this year, I was the type of person to set goals, achieve those goals, and stop there. It would be a cycle that I would repeat over and over again and had done so for as long as I could remember.

As we all know, a basketball legend's life was tragically cut short earlier this year, along with his daughter and several other people who had connections with him. Of course, I am talking about Kobe Bryant. As a lifelong basketball fan, Kobe played a huge role in my life. Not just in athletics while growing up but also in teaching me about work ethic, determination, leadership, and many other traits that can set one up for success in life.

The legacy that Kobe left behind is something that not many people can accomplish. He left this world as undoubtedly being one of the greatest players in professional basketball history. However, in the grand scheme of things, is that really important compared to what else he left behind? My simple answer is no. What is holding records and winning championships compared to inspiring others to surpass their potential, investing in the youth to mold them into better people, or simply outworking the competition to create the best opportunities for yourself?

That is what comes to my mind when I think about Kobe Bryant. During his career, he wore two different numbers, 8 and 24. If you flip those numbers around, you can see that it is similar to the common phrase, "24/7." Now, when you see 24/8, what does that mean to you? I really want you to take a second to think about it. How can you apply this message to your own life? When you continuously work at something to reach your potential, that task becomes a priority. You can almost say that you work at it 24/7, right? You work at something until you become exceptional at what it is you are aiming for.

However, what if you were capable of being able to exceed your potential? Who says that there has to be a limit to your skill or the mastery of your craft? Kobe proved that it is possible by the way he lived his life.

He was drafted into the NBA right out of high school, yes, and thankfully because he was on record saying he would have attended Duke. C'mon Kobe, poor decision... GO TAR HEELS! However, nobody believed he would turn out to be the player he eventually became. As we all know, he proved all those critics wrong. He would always work until he couldn't go any longer, then he would go some more. He set some pretty outlandish goals, and then he pushed himself to keep going.

When his time with basketball was done, he was satisfied because he gave it his all and then some. Finally, once that time came, he found another area to push himself in, inspiring others through storytelling. You could tell that he was planning to use that same mentality in that area of his life as he did previously on the court. That is a trait we should all strive to instill in ourselves daily. It doesn't just happen overnight. Studies show that it takes up to 21 days to form a habit. That means that our minds are our worst enemy because when we get tired or bored with the excessiveness, our natural reaction is to quit, right? We have to train our minds to be our fiercest teammate rather than our biggest enemy. Go the extra mile! That is the mentality we should all have when chasing our dreams and striving to be better people. That is the Mamba Mentality.

Give it your all 24/8