Becoming More

I was on the road the entire week for the Basketball Champions League Qualifiers in Antalya, Turkey.

Truth be told, I was out of rhythm.

I did not adapt well to the environment.

I found myself complaining about the inconveniences, the hotel living, the constant socializing with the same people, and the lack of alone time.

These are basic and normal thing that have to be navigated on a road trip.

I chose to complain and fixate on what was wrong and not what was right.

This led to a less than optimal week of mental health.

I was anxious, nervous, and agitated.

We are not always going to responded to challenges how we should, but the barometer of growth is how quickly we can recognize our missteps.

I was able to do this before it showed up in my performance.

Let’s talk more about it…

Why I Do This:

I got this email from my friend in the Atypical community this weekend.

I love seeing when the work people have put in behind closed doors finally gets recognized by others.

My friend here had been prioritizing growth and development for 2 whole years before any recognition came his way.

The process precedes the results and the person precedes the player.

Stay Atypical, my brother.

Thoughts From This Week

Pride As A Backbone

I have been wildly consistent in a multitude of areas in my life, especially since arriving to Lisbon for year 6 of my career.

When you are doing what you believe is correct, taking calculated action, being who you believe you should be, you become proud, and I am not talking like “ego” proud, but like “job well done” proud.

It is a beautiful feeling and can only be experienced if you align your actions with who you want to be.

I am using “pride” for the word to describe the feeling when you know you are doing what is necessary to become who you aspire to be.

It’s the feeling when you know you are on your path.

What starts as pride turns into your backbone.

This pride morphs into the standard you have defined for yourself.

It now holds you accountable.

The ongoing history of correct actions and decisions has a compounding impact because not only is it “good” in the moment, but when you feel that pride, it becomes the motivation to not make poor decisions in the future.

This can be called a Virtuous Cycle.

By sticking to your standard of excellence now, you unintentionally build your support system for when you don’t feel like doing it later.

Understanding this idea helps you harness its power to build positive momentum in your life, and for us as athletes in our athletic careers as well.

The difficult part is the opposite is true for incorrect decisions and inaction or misaligned action.

This can be referred to as a Vicious Cycle.

Each moment you choose to disrespect yourself by not doing what you believe is needed or incorrect, you chip away at your support system.

You start to feel misunderstood and misaligned because reality is not mirroring who you believe you are.

How you have defined yourself does not match with your actions and it makes you feel like garbage.

Tough.

You get it now though…

Every choice, every action is either strengthening or weakening your understanding of yourself.

There is no such thing as neutral.

Okay, you are in a tough spot. You are in a rut. You feel stuck. You can’t seem to get any positive momentum in your life.

What do you do?

My advice is about as straightforward as it can get:

Choose who you want to become. It can be literally be anything. Imagine that person. Visualize that person.

How would they talk?

How would they interact with others?

What would their day look like?

Hopefully, you have a rough image in your head now. These Questions and the ensuing actions can help you flip from a Vicious Cycle to a Virtuous Cycle.

Now evaluate your decisions based off of this future you that you want to become.

Make this your new criteria for everything you do.

Try this for a couple of days, and then a couple of weeks, and then a couple of years, and then watch…

As you continue to build Virtuous Cycles, and the wheel spins faster and faster. People will see a new person, but you will see the version of you that you always wanted to be.

Atypical…

Injury Blueprint

Lots of young athletes ask me what to do when they get injured as if I have a magic formula that applies to every different type of injury and situation. Well, I don’t have a magic formula, but I do have some simple mindset do’s and don’ts that can be applied almost universally.

Since I had a minor injury in the Semi-Final game of this Champions League Qualifier tournament that kept me out of the Final, I thought now would be a good time to share these as I am actively practicing what I am preaching…

Things to AVOID when you get injured:

1. Obsess about the future.

   Forget what could happen and be where what is happening. This a tough habit to knock, but consciously trying to recenter on what is in front of you in the here and now will always be better than drifting to the possible scenarios of the future.

2. Play out potential scenarios in your head.

   Potential means nothing. There is no benefit in doing the mental gymnastics of what might happen. Each scenario is a rabbit hole and can lead to endless wasting of mental energy that could be applied to what is currently happening. Conserve your energy, the scenario you are facing now is hard enough.

3. Over-analyze why it happened

   Setbacks are a part of life. Often times they are inexplicable. Racking your brain searching for a “why” that may not exist can be highly destructive to your path towards recovery. It deserves some thought in order to check your systems in place, but not to the point it consumes you.

4. Rush the comeback

   Recovery takes time. It’s a reality we must accept or bear the risk of re-injury. The more we fight the timeline of our body, the less our body is able to focus on correct recovery.

Things to DO when you get injured:

1. Give space to the perfect timing of life.

   This comes with the belief that all things happen for a reason and at the necessary time. For me, I take it a step further and believe that it is God’s perfect timing, but you do not have to do this. With this understanding, you need to also trust, trust, and let go. This is extremely difficult to do for high-performing athletes, but it must be done.

2. Welcome it as an opportunity to grow and learn.

   With our Atypical mindset, we embrace the journey and all that comes with it because we know we are becoming more through it. Any sort of obstacle or setback is a huge opportunity for growth because growth is accelerated during difficult moments (if we allow it).

3. Allow yourself to feel your emotions.

   Injuries suck. It is difficult and heart-wrenching. For a lot of us, our sport is our main way of expressing ourselves so it’s more than just not being able to play, it’s a matter of not being able to be our full version of ourselves. Give yourself a needed moment of mourning. If you suppress your true emotions of the experience, they will only add increased resistance as you progress back to a full recovery.

4. Take it day by day.

   The path only feels overwhelming if viewed from a broad perspective. If looking at the path directly in front of you, then it feels much more manageable and straightforward. The more energy you spend considering the size of the journey ahead of you, the less you have for the steps you need to take today. One foot in front of the other, find the rhythm, and stay in it.

I know some of these tips are easier said than done, but in my experience these make the injury experience much more tolerable.

I would not pray any sort of injury on my worst enemy, but the reality is that they are inevitable and a part of the journey of athletics.

To become the person and athlete we aspire to be, we must develop our ability to navigate injuries and setbacks in general.

YouTube Drop

This week’s drop was all about the week that I spent in Antalya, Turkey. I explained the weirdness of staying in the same hotel as all the teams we were playing, my warped perspective of Antalya, and the monotony of the daily schedule.

I also shared a quick game breakdown of both games, so you guys could see the outcomes and learn a bit.

Hope you guys enjoy!

I’ll Leave You With This:

Development is not linear, but when you are rolling you start to build your own support system for tough moments.

This small injury will not derail SHIT!!! haha

I am more locked in than ever and more mature in my digestion of injuries than ever before.

It took a lot of panicked rehabs to get to this point.

I am here now, recovering, and I’ll be back better than ever in no time.

Scratch that, I’ll be back in however much time is needed for me to be back.

Cheers guys,

Trey