Do you get frustrated a lot while playing basketball and give up? Well, here’s a resource that will help – ‘Stillness is the Key’ by Ryan Holiday.
Basketball can be aggravating.
You may play well one game, and then the next, the defence is all up on you, not letting you get a single inch of free space.
Your opponent constantly forces you to commit turnovers and is always challenging your shots.
Then, because you’re sucking, your teammates don’t want to pass you the ball. And this frustrates you… a lot.
But what are you going to do about it?
The answer you seek is in Ryan Holiday’s Stillness is the Key.
In Stillness is the Key, Holiday talks about the importance of keeping yourself calm and still during times of duress. He also shows you how to achieve this state of mind.
By showcasing athletes, politicians, and philosophers, Holiday examines and shares how they were able to remain still to complete important tasks while being overwhelmed by the environment.
He, like in the Obstacle is the Way, uses the philosophies of Stoicism to teach it.
How This Book Will Help You on the Basketball Court
These lessons, if deliberately studied, can be applied to you on the basketball court.
As I mentioned earlier, basketball isn’t always easy. There will be times when things don’t go your way. And it’ll be frustrating.
But are you going to give in to the crappy environment and surrender? Or are you going to calm your mind and refocus it to find ways to help out your team?
I hope you picked the latter. And if you did, Holiday’s Stillness is the Key will be of great help to you.
It’ll teach you exactly how to fortify your mind so that it will remain still when that annoying defender is borderline fouling you as try to free yourself from his defensive constraints.
Or it’ll help you still your mind when you’re getting owned on the defensive end.
The lessons will show you how to not get bothered when you get schooled, bullied, and dropped by the ball handler.
Frustration is part of the game of basketball. Your opponents will constantly try to fluster you and you may even fluster yourself.
But to improve and perform well on a regular basis, you have to learn how to not let the frustration take over and occupy your mind.
You have to figure out ways to clear the clouds so that you can see and re-focus on the task at hand.
And Stillness is the Key is the best guide to help you do just that.
If you’re interested in reading and learning from Holiday’s book, you can click here to grab a copy from Amazon.
And to be transparent with you, the link above is an affiliate link. What this means is if you use the link and buy something from the site, I will get a small commission, at no extra cost to you.
Quotes from Stillness is the Key
P.S. Here are some of my favourite quotes from the book:
“To achieve stillness, we’ll need to focus on three domains, the timeless trinity of mind, body, soul—the head, the heart, the flesh.”
“The less energy we waste regretting the past or worrying about the future, the more energy we will have for what’s in front of us.”
“There is way too much coming at us. In order to think clearly, it is essential that each of us figures out how to filter out the inconsequential from the essential. It’s not enough to be inclined toward deep thought and sober analysis; a leader must create time and space for it.”
“In his Meditations, Marcus Aurelius says, “Ask yourself at every moment, ‘Is this necessary?’” Knowing what not to think about. What to ignore and not to do. It’s your first and most important job.”
“The world is like muddy water. To see through it, we have to let things settle. We can’t be disturbed by initial appearances, and if we are patient and still, the truth will be revealed to us.”
