There was one thing that I really hated about playing professional basketball.

No, it wasn’t the roaches in the Mexico hotel rooms.

No, it wasn’t the coaches who did not speak English who would speak for 10 minutes straight, then when I asked a teammate what the coach had said, they would say “he said we need to work harder, and be early for the bus for the game tomorrow.”

No, it was not being away from home for many months on end.

No, it was not the uncertainty of not knowing when or if my next opportunity was coming.

What it was: the fact that I did not have full control over what was happening, if it would happen, or when it would happen. I did not like not being in control.

Things really started working for me – in pro basketball and out of pro basketball, like with building my brand and becoming an entrepreneur – when I started taking full control over everything that was going on: what I sold, when I sold it, what the price was, when I wanted an opportunity, and what that opportunity would be.

That all sounds trite and easy, but the challenge is this: the more control you take, the more responsibility you have. And with responsibility, comes the possibility that you mess up.

THIS is what stops most people from taking control in their lives. And without taking control in your life, you will never have control of your life. But someone will.

The question is, who?

If you talk to someone for a long enough, they will eventually tell you about some area in which they are not completely satisfied. With some people, this area of the satisfaction gets brought up sooner than it would with others.

Listen in between the lines, and you’ll hear the main reason for this dissatisfaction: the person who is dissatisfied does not have control over this area of their life.