Basketball is a results oriented business. Do you produce? More points. Better efficiency. More wins. Scholarships. Playing time. The result is what everyone sees. It’s what the stat sheet says. It’s what the film says.
But here’s the hard truth:
The results are the results
It’s not random. It’s not luck. And it’s rarely unfair.
If you want a different result, something has to change. Just keep in mind just because you change doesn’t mean it will be better.
Definition of success
That’s up to you. It can be points. It can be wins. It can be “attention”. You don’t have to let other people define success for you. But you better know what success looks like to you so you even know what you’re trying to do.
The Three Drivers of Every Result
Every basketball (life) outcome—good or bad—comes from the combination of three things:
- The Player (Person)
- The Player’s Process (Person’s Process)
- The Environment
These three elements are always working together, whether you’re aware of them or not.
1. The Player: Who You Are
The player is the person.
This includes:
- Physical traits (size, strength, speed, mobility)
- Mental makeup (discipline, focus, resilience, competitiveness)
- Their past (good and bad)
- Willingness to be coached
- Willingness to be different
Who you are as a person directly impacts how you train, how you compete, and how you respond to adversity. Two players can run the same drill, but get completely different outcomes based on mindset, intent, and effort.
You don’t need to change who you are overnight—but you do need to be honest about who you are right now and how that influences the results that you’re getting.
2. The Process: What You Do Every Day
The process is everything you do when no one is watching.
It includes:
- What you eat
- How you sleep
- How often and how intentionally you train
- Strength and conditioning habits
- Film study
- The list goes on
Your process is your daily vote toward the player you’re becoming.
Great results don’t come from one great workout or one great game. They come from boring consistency. The same great choices, made over and over again, stacked across weeks, months, and years.
If your process is casual, your results will be casual. All of your choices matter. Including the environment you put yourself in.
3. The Environment: Who You’re Around
Your environment shapes your standards. Your environment heavily influences your results. The best have the ability to change their environment. The rest are heavily influenced by it. Is your environment different because you’re there, or is your environment impacting you?
This includes:
- Teammates
- Coaches
- Trainers
- Friends
- Family
You might not have a choice in some of these areas. For the ones that you do have choices, you need to be extremely picky. If your environment isn’t helping you, it’s hurting you. If the people around you are clowns, then you’re just part of the circus. If you don’t know the difference, you need to find out quick. If people around you normalize shortcuts, excuses, and inconsistency, those behaviors will start to feel acceptable. If your environment doesn’t have the expertise necessary to help you, it hurts you. On the flip side, if you’re surrounded by knowledgeablepeople who work hard, compete, and hold each other accountable, your own standards rise naturally.
Environment doesn’t just influence effort—it influences belief and outcomes. Being around the right people makes high goals feel possible, and it helps make big dreams turn into big outcomes. Being around the wrong people makes it all seem like a waste of time.
Why Results Don’t Change by Accident
When players say:
- “I should be better by now”
- “I’m not getting the opportunities I deserve”
- “Nothing is changing”
The answer is almost always found in one of the three areas above.
If the result hasn’t changed, it’s because:
- The player hasn’t changed
- The process hasn’t changed
- The environment hasn’t changed
Sometimes it’s all three.
Final Thought
If you need motivation, quit playing.
If you have excuses, stop it.
The longer you wait, the more it will stay the same.
You need to look honestly at yourself as a player, your process, and your environment.
Change one, and the result starts to move.
Change all three, and everything changes.
The result is the result.
But remember just because you change something, doesn’t mean you’re changing it for the better. Just when you think it can’t get worse, it can. But you will achieve what you settle for.
