Small Moments: A Carrot, an Egg, and a Cup of Coffee

Discipline comes from inside. Yes, I understand that a coach, parent, or teacher could impose discipline to help you.

But this is not the discipline we are talking about. We are speaking about self discipline.

When you make a decision to be disciplined you are choosing a path in life that will make you free and on the path to your goals. When you decide that you are going to make a mark on the world things change.

Make the decision. Make the commitment that will enhance your life in all aspects of your life.

One decision.

Without discipline nothing else matters. Skill does not matter. Talent does not matter. Team does not matter. There has to be discipline because if there is not a decision to be disciplined things fall apart quickly.

Think on these these small moments and reflect upon your situation.

1. A timeout in a game when the coach asks the team to get together to figure it out as a unit and everyone stays quiet for moment. No leadership. No talk. No discipline.
2. A game scenario where a strategy is discussed and as players you continue to do what is not working. No discipline.
3. When an opponent drives down the lane time and time again after focused practice, team talk, and emphasis on eliminating this in games and nobody steps up to take ownership or to provide help to their teammate. No discipline.
4. When provided multiple hoops at a practice to get quality shots in and performance is not done at a proper level of execution resulting in missed opportunities in games. No discipline.

Great teams prepare for each game as if it is their last. Do you?

Great players and teams understand that there is a difference between readiness and preparation. Readiness does not get it done. You must prepare. Mentally and Physically. It requires discipline.

I want to leave you today with a story. One of my favorites that I share with players every single year. I think the timing is perfect.

A carrot, an egg and a cup of coffee.

You will never look at a cup of coffee the same way again.

A young woman went to her mother and told her about her life and how things were so hard for her. She did not know how she was going to make it and wanted to give up. She was tired of fighting and struggling. It seemed as one problem was solved, a new one arose.

Her mother took her to the kitchen. She filled three pots with water and put them on the stove. Soon the pots came to boil. In the first pot she placed carrots, in the second she placed eggs and in the last she placed ground coffee beans.

She let them sit and boil and twenty minutes later she turned off the burners.

She removed the carrots and placed them in a bowl.

She pulled the eggs out and placed them in a bowl.

Then she ladled the coffee out and placed it in a bowl.

Turning to her daughter, she asked, “Tell me, what do you see?”

“Carrots, eggs, and coffee,” she replied. Her mother asked her to feel the carrots.

She did and noted that they were soft.

The mother then asked the daughter to take an egg and break it.

After pulling off the shell, she observed the hard-boiled egg.

Finally, the mother asked the daughter to sip the coffee. The daughter smiled as she smelled the aroma and tasted its rich flavour.

The daughter then asked, “What does it mean?”

Her mother explained that each of these objects had faced the same adversity, boiling water. Each reacted differently.

The carrot went in strong, hard, and unrelenting. However, after being subjected to the boiling water, it softened and became weak.

The egg had been fragile. Its thin outer shell had protected its liquid interior, but after sitting through the boiling water, its inside became hardened.

The ground coffee beans were unique, however. After they were in the boiling water, they had changed the water, making it fragrant and giving it flavour.

“Which are you?” she asked her daughter. “When adversity knocks on your door, how do you respond? Are you a carrot, an egg or a coffee bean?”

What about you?

When facing a challenge in life are you weakened and feel defeated by the experience?

Or do you become hardened and bitter because of the event?

Or do you see it as an opportunity to influence those around you, to make a positive difference, to leave the situation better than when you started?

It is possible to be the latter, so now’s the time to start working towards it.

What are you? A carrot, egg, or coffee? If you are one of my basketball players leave a comment in the Classroom or send me an email.