[5:52 AM]
I had a bike ride planned for this morning.
But as soon as I opened my balcony door and felt the cool wind and even cooler wind-driven rain, I knew it would be a stationary bike day.
I still fought my intuition and started riding outside; I rode exactly one block before the rain and strong winds (which is the real challenge; I don’t mind getting wet) sent me back to my original decision.
Riding the stationary bike, I watched the first half of the Houston Rockets - OKC Thunder NBA preseason game from last night. The Rockets look really good with Chris Paul now on their team. The state change of my physical movement plus the music in my ears got me thinking subconsciously about my mentality when I played basketball.
As my ride wound down and pushed up the desistance level for the last 5+ Minutes, I started thinking about playing people one-on-one, and the technique that worked best for me against the most formidable of opponents.
A month or so ago, I stumbled upon a couple videos of this tournament called Fightball. It was pretty much how it sounds: A full court (slightly shorter than a normal court) game of one on one with a running clock, with minimal referee intervention (i.e., no blood, no foul). I watched video of one game, where a guy I know lost, basically because he got tired late in the game while the other guy wasn’t as fatigued.

It was clear from just that one game that the best strategy to winning was to make sure you didn’t fatigue. Have skills, yes — but a tired skilled person immediately becomes significantly less skilled.
Think of yourself when you’re drowsy or otherwise not at full energy. Are you as good as you would be at 100%? No.  

The Mental Workbook: The Daily Program To Transform From Who You Are Into Who You Need To Be
Which brought me back to my own one-On-one experiences.
You may think that the player with the most “Game” usually wins in such a game. Well, yes — but not for the reason most people think.
As a player, I came to realize realized that putting immense pressure on my opponent — playing really physical on defense, fouling if necessary, and making my opponent expel lots of energy on defense himself — would usually tire guys out. Then, I could easily finish him off by making my now-uncontested shots and watching his shots fall short due to his fatigued arms and legs.

A guy I beat once rationalized that I wasn’t better than him, I just “had more energy than [him].”
“Mofo, energy is a SKILL!!”

He was right about the energy part. What he didn’t get was that energy is part of the game. Which is why athletes do conditioning drills. It’s why I always emphasized conditioning in my own training — I never wanted to lose a game because I was too fatigued to finish strong. And whatever you do for work, energy is part of your game — it’s either winning games for you or losing them. But it’s doing something.

As I finished by stationary bike ride, I asked myself how all of this could apply to business. I mean, you can’t flagrantly foul the owner of the business down the street who’s competing with you for clients. What can you do, then?
Fatigue them.

Apply pressure in form of making more calls, creating more content, offering more value, being more active in the community and otherwise utilizing your skill of energy to wear them down — even if and when the rest of their skills or resources far surpass yours.
A tired player is not a good player. When someone’s energy isn’t as high as yours, you control the situation.
Where’s your energy on a daily basis? Is there anything keeping you from ratcheting your energy up on a daily basis? Reply to this email and let me know.

Ps - if you don’t have my latest book, The Mental Workbook yet, order a copy here.