Minute With Mallon: Stop Overthinking. Take The Shot!

Feb 13

Welcome to Minute with Mallon!

Something I Taught:

I was working with a client today who lives in South Florida.

He is in a position where he communicates multiple times a day with customers and clients. He guides them through their questions and concerns. Many of these conversations revolve around complex situations.

A problem he has is that he's often afraid of making mistakes with his clients – giving them the wrong information or somehow giving them information that is not the “best” information.

He truly cares about his customers, almost to a fault. Because of this, many times he hesitates or overthinks how to deal with their situations.

He’s started focusing on the need to stop second-guessing himself and to offer advice more confidently. He has plenty of tools to use in order to address the problems and situations. He just needs more self-confidence in his abilities.

Which reminded me of this:

When I was in eighth grade, I tried out for a varsity basketball team. I was a really good shooting guard, and was very quick, but most of the people on the team were older and more experienced than me.

I was intimidated.

During tryouts I got fouled and went to the free throw line. I was very aware that there were a lot of people watching me. A lot!

I'd made thousands of free-throw shots before, but in that minute, I started overthinking it.

What if I miss the shot?

I don’t want to embarrass myself!

I took the shot and completely missed the basket. I felt humiliated.

A few minutes later, I was in the corner and someone passed me the ball. I took a shot, it was a beautiful--a nice high arch from the corner of the floor, and I completely missed everything!

I froze up and I didn’t make the varsity team that year. 😭

Well, I was talking with my client. I told him that story. He told me about watching Steph Curry during the Olympics. We both had seen Steph take many shots from way out on the court, and then pivot after the ball left his hands and start walking away before the ball even went through the hoop with a big smile on his face.

He is the epitome of total self-confidence on the basketball court. It’s a beautiful thing! 🏀

So we talked about my client just taking the shot and not thinking about it at all when he’s dealing with his clients. He already knows the answers. He’s an expert and very good at what he does. Overthinking it does nothing positive for him and he needs to just go with his gut because he’s already a pro.

He loved the analogy.

Where do you need to start shooting more quickly? Where do you need to take action and stop overthinking it? What’s that one area that comes to your mind?

My advice to you is this:

Take the shot! ⛹️‍♂️

Act confidently. As Steve Jobs said, "“Pretend to be completely in control and people will assume that you are.”

You can do it!

Something to Ponder:

"Live life like someone is watching, because they are…."

Eddie Penney

Something I Learned:

A while back I was watching a Philadelphia Eagles game. There was a player on the sideline named AJ Brown reading a book. The announcers got curious and started wondering what the book was. Every time AJ came off the field, he'd pick the book back up. I got curious too!

The book is called, Inner Excellence, by Jim Murphy. I'm halfway through and will no doubt rate it an "11" on a scale of 1-10. As simply as I can state it, it's a guide to mastering focus, resilience, and peak performance by quieting the mind and embracing challenges in both sports and life.

Here's a passage that resonated with me and that I hope resonates with you too:

"To live among the daring rather than the gray twilight requires a different mindset and way of living. Those who do so are unique in three primary ways:

They know who they are (created for glory).
They think, talk and act differently from everyone else.

a.They have strict boundaries around their routines, around who they associate with, what they talk about, and what they focus on.

b. They continually re-orient their hearts away from surface-level rewards and the shiny things the world says are prestigious, instead preferring to build something that lasts: a powerful inner world.

3. They crave greatness—and the glory they were created for. Rather than conforming to the world and its version of success, they surrender their very lives, sacrificing temporary pleasures, acceptance and comfort. When the rest of the world is sipping hot cocoa next to a warm fire, they’re out facing their fears in a way the world says is crazy."