Control What You Can Control

Basketball has a way of humbling you. Shots don’t fall. Refs miss calls. The other team goes on a hot streak that feels unfair. You can’t control any of that. What you can control is how you show up.

Effort, attitude, and preparation, those are yours. No one can take them from you. You decide if you dive for the loose ball, if you run back on defense even when you’re winded, if you stay ready for your shot when it finally comes. You decide whether you let a bad call spiral you out of focus, or whether you shake it off and get back into position.

The same thing applies off the court. You can’t control the algorithm, the economy, or whether someone says yes to your pitch. But you can control the work you put in before the moment comes. You can control whether you keep showing up, whether you stay disciplined in the face of setbacks, and whether you carry yourself with the kind of attitude that makes people want to line up next to you.

It’s easy to waste energy on things outside your hands. Players do it all the time, glaring at the scoreboard, barking at the refs, hanging their heads when a shot rims out. But all that energy could’ve gone into the one thing that actually makes a difference: the controllables.

Control your preparation: put in the reps before the lights are on. Control your attitude: stay steady no matter what’s thrown at you.

Control your effort: give everything you’ve got, every possession, every day.

The rest? Let it go. Because the game, like life, has too many variables to waste energy fighting what you can’t change. Focus on what’s in your hands, and you’ll always give yourself a shot to win.