Napoleon Hill once said, “A quitter never wins and a winner never quits,” and Suzy Kassem also said, “Doubt kills more dreams than failure ever will.”
Have you ever doubted yourself at first when very challenging tasks were given to you? Sometimes, it takes other people to see our full potential and give us some tasks we initially think are hard to do. But when we start taking actions one step at a time, we realize that we can do far greater things beyond our imagination.
My guest today is Tim Grover, best known for his training with top NBA legends like Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen, Charles Barkley, Kobe Bryant, and Dwayne Wade. He also mentored Justin Irvin Upton, a top baseball outfielder in the Major League Baseball (MLB), among thousands of other athletes and business professionals.
In this episode, Tim will talk about the mistake most people make when understanding success, the three greatest lessons Tim learned from Michael Jordan, why we shouldn’t allow other people’s doubt to get in the way of our own success, and so much more! It is such a powerful conversation that I had to split it up into two parts. So make sure to stay tuned to part two coming next. This is the first part. So, let’s get started!
Who Is Tim Grover?
Tim Grover is the CEO and founder of Attack Athletics, Inc, a training center for world-class athletes with a 60,000-square-foot training facility that includes four NBA regulation courts in a 1,000-seat multi-purpose arena in Chicago, Illinois. Tim Grover is also a keynote speaker, consultant, and national bestselling author of the book, Relentless: From Good to Great to Unstoppable. This is a book that shows you how to be relentless and achieve whatever you desire.
As a keynote speaker, Tim Grover has traveled around the world doing various speaking engagements for athletes, business leaders, and elite achievers, teaching mental toughness, result-driven performance, and the basic principles of a relentless drive. He is also a featured columnist of Sports Illustrated and Yahoo Sports and appeared in various media outlets like FoxSports and ESPN.
Tim Grover is a former basketball player of NCAA Division I at the University of Illinois, Chicago, where he earned his Bachelor’s degree in Kinesiology and Master’s degree in Exercise Science. He was inducted in 2010 into the UIC Hall of Fame with the Lifetime Achievement Award. The award was given in recognition of his being one of the top personal trainers in the country with high-value clients like Kobe Bryant and Michael Jordan.
The 3 Greatest Lessons Tim Learned From Michael Jordan
When you work with top athletes, you’ll soon learn some lessons from them, even if you are the one providing some guidance. So, I asked Tim Grover for the three greatest takeaways he got from Michael Jordan.
“Three greatest lessons I learned from Michael, I would say [are] competing, accountability, and then winning at all levels.” – Tim Grover
Competing
How do you compete with others? What do you do? Oftentimes, we look at someone at the top as a benchmark in our competitiveness. But Michael Jordan has a different approach. — He’s not competing with anyone else but himself.
“From this point, your strategy is to make everyone else get on your level — you’re not going down to theirs. You’re not competing with anyone else ever again! They’re going to have to compete with you. From now on, the end result is all that matters.” – Tim Grover
What matters most is not how you rank in the scoring system but in the end result. While others are so focused on their ranking, Michael has his eyes always on the end result, which is winning. This allowed him to be more competitive in the end.
Accountability
Some people shy away from the word accountability because it is commonly associated with responsibility, commitment, and ownership of your actions. However, successful people use accountability to gain a competitive edge. It can serve as a motivation to do your best and to be at your highest level of performance because of the commitment factor in accountability.
“My accountability to myself and those individuals has to be at the highest level because they’re doing something … that is so valuable. I have to be at my best.” – Tim Grover
As a part of the Chicago Bulls team, Michael Jordan felt accountable for giving the team the championship it deserved. That’s why he always performed his best with the championship in mind during every game he played. Who are you accountable to?
Winning at all levels
Some people are successful in their careers, but their personal lives are so out of balance because of poor diets, unhealthy lifestyles, and bad relationships. For Michael Jordan, if you are aiming to win, you have to win at all levels.
“You just don’t win in one arena. You win in your sports. You win in business. You win in your personal life. Other people win because you win. It isn’t just about you. It’s about being able to pull the team and show them what it feels like to win. … When you win, your family wins. When your family wins, you win.” – Tim Grover
Winning should not be all about you. It should be the whole team, the entire company or business, your whole family — everyone involved.
“Every time Michael played … he would say, ‘These individuals are giving me something that is way more valuable than the price of a ticket. They’re giving me their time, which is non-refundable, … whether they’re at the arena, sitting in front of the TV, they’re watching the news, listening to it on the radio back then, whatever it may be.’” – Tim Grover
It’s no wonder Michael Jordan performs at his peak in every game. He’s playing to win at all levels, not just for himself and his team, but also for his fans — the people in the stadium who made an effort to be there and also those who invested in time watching the game from different places across the globe. Because of this mindset, Michael Jordan successfully led the Chicago Bulls to six NBA championships, despite the doubts of many critics. He simply did not allow other people’s doubts to get in the way of his success.
