The Horsemen of my Mindset: Kobe Bryant

Truth be told, I’m not actually a fan of basketball. I appreciate the sport for what it is, but you’ll never actually see me watch a game, let alone attend one. But the one thing that I do love about basketball is the people. Their passion and drive to become their best version of themselves is always inspiring and motivating.

There is one player however they really stood out to me. Ever since he passed away, I’ve been reading and watching about Kobe Bryant, the Black Mamba. His mindset, the Mamba Mentality, is one that honestly can be used for anything in life. And to this day, it has help shaped and crafted how I look at things now.

Outwork everyone

When I was going through the bootcamp, I would compare myself to others. Occasionally it would be in a negative way, looking at other people’s work and downplaying my ability as a designer. But later on, I changed that perspective into a positive one, looking at people’s work as a motivator for me to work harder.

Because of this shift, I started treating the bootcamp as a competition: if I want to win this game, I’m going to make sure I do everything in my power to ensure the win. Outworking everyone in my cohort was my goal, and I was able to do that by putting myself in uncomfortable positions that allowed me to grow, the same way Kobe did during his career.

There is no such thing as failure

When Kobe tore his achilles heel, he thought his career was over. His initially reaction was the same way anyone would react if they tore a vital part of their body. But the difference between Kobe and someone else is that he didn’t see it as a failure. He didn’t think about the end after his initial reaction, and he worked his ass off to recover.

Because he didn’t see his injury as a failure, he was able to push through it and recover to get back to what he loved doing. Failure is growth, so whenever he failed at something, it was never truly a failure. All of those mistakes would lead to lessons, and he would grow from those lessons. It’s counter-intuitive, but hearing him say that made so much sense in the long run.

Never look at the top of the mountain

There was a talk where Kobe spoke about how he viewed his goals. He used an analogy, saying that if you were to climb Mount Everest, you never look at the top because you’re going to feel overwhelmed and back out. However, if you viewed Mount Everest as parts and took each section piece by piece, you’ll realize that you can climb that mountain.

This analogy is the same way he viewed his career. He never looked at his end goal and take it head on, he viewed his journey in bits and pieces, to the part where he was able to climb that mountain and achieve his goals. It goes without saying that taking baby steps is so crucial in achieving the bigger things in life.

Conclusion

Despite not being a fan of basketball, I still think there’s so much you can take away from one of the greatest basketball players of all time. Kobe Bryant is an inspiration to so many people, myself included, and I hope this inspires you to take a look at his life and how he viewed basketball. It’s truly inspiring.

Next week is going to be an interesting person. I won’t lie, it’s gonna not click with some people, but hear me out once the article drops. Until then everyone, hope you all have a wonderful day!

If you found this helpful, feel free to check out my other articles! Connect with me on LinkedIn if you want to keep the conversation going, and check out my YouTube channel to see me interact with other beginner and senior designers within the community.

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