Every September, gyms are packed. Social media feeds explode with workout videos and motivational quotes. Players everywhere are fired up, ready to transform their game. But by November? The gym is empty again and those same players are wondering why they are not improving.
The uncomfortable truth: motivation is overrated. It feels great when motivation is there but it is unreliable, emotional, and worst of all—temporary.
If you are waiting to feel motivated before you train, you have already lost.
The players who actually make it to the next level do not rely on motivation. They rely on something far more powerful: consistency.
You Don’t Rise to Your Goals—You Fall to Your Systems – J. Clear “Atomic habits”
Think about that for a moment. You can dream about playing professionally all you want. You can visualize yourself hitting game-winners and signing contracts. But if your daily habits do not match those dreams, your body and skills will never rise to meet them. Instead, you will fall to the level of what you actually do every day.
If your habits are inconsistent, if you only train when you feel like it, if you skip workouts when you are tired or the weather is not “good enough”—that is the level you will stay at. No amount of dreaming will change that.
Basketball as any other sport is not about feelings. It is about actions. And actions, repeated consistently over time, create results.
The Valley of Disappointment (And Why Most Players Quit)
Here’s something nobody tells you about consistency: it doesn’t feel like it’s working at first.
When you start shooting 50 free throws every day, you expect to see immediate improvement. You put in the work for a week, a month, maybe two months, and you think, “Where are my results?” This is what James Clear calls the “Valley of Disappointment”—that frustrating period where your effort doesn’t seem to match your progress.
Most players quit during the valley. Champions push through to the breakthrough.
This graph shows what really happens. The red dashed line is what we expect: steady, linear progress. The blue line is reality. For the first several months, your actual progress lags behind your expectations. You’re working hard, but the results feel slow. This is where most players quit.
But here’s the secret: if you keep going, the breakthrough comes. Around month 7 or 8, something shifts. All that consistent work compounds, and suddenly your progress explodes. You’re not just meeting your expectations—you’re exceeding them.
The players who make it are not more talented. They are just the ones who refused to quit during the valley.
Small Actions, Massive Results
Let’s talk numbers, because numbers don’t lie.
What happens when you commit to small, consistent actions for one year
Look at what consistency actually looks like over a year:
- 50 free throws after every practice = 18,000 shots in a year
- 5 minutes of stretching daily = 30+ hours of mobility work
- 3 strength sessions per week = 156 chances to get stronger and more explosive
That is the power of consistency. One workout does not change you. One day of shooting does not transform your game. But 18,000 shots?
The problem is, we see someone post a video of a “crazy workout” or “500 shots in one session,” and we think that’s what creates success. It’s not. That one session is meaningless without the 155 sessions that came before it and the hundreds that will come after.
How to Actually Stay Consistent (3 Steps)
Okay, so motivation is unreliable and consistency is everything. But how do you actually build it? Here’s your game plan:
1. Find Your Strong “Why”
If you don’t have a powerful reason for training, consistency is impossible. Your “why” needs to be deeper than “I want to be good at basketball.” Why do you want that? What does it mean to you? How will it change your life?
I talked about finding your why in the episode of Basketball Body and Mind “What Are You Training For” – Link HERE.
When you have a strong enough reason, you will show up even when you don’t feel like it. Without it, you’ll quit the moment things get hard.
2. Set Process Goals, Not Just Outcome Goals
“I want to be a better shooter” is an outcome goal. It is vague and hard to measure. A process goal is specific and actionable: “I will shoot 50 free throws after every practice.”
Process goals tell you exactly what to do. You either did it or you didn’t. There’s no confusion, no excuses. And when you hit your process goals consistently, the outcome goals take care of themselves.
3. Track Everything
“What gets measured gets done“.” Use a simple calendar or app to track your habits. Did you shoot today? Check. Did you stretch? Check. Did you lift? Check.
Tracking creates accountability. When you see a streak of checkmarks building up, you won’t want to break it. And when you see gaps, you’ll know exactly where you need to improve.
*** With athletes that I work with in order to track things I use this simple & free template.
The Kobe Bryant Standard
There’s a famous story about Kobe Bryant spending 90 minutes practicing just one move. A young player training with him asked after 20 minutes, “Are we going to do something different today?”
Kobe’s answer? “No.”
They practiced that single spin-and-fadeaway for the entire session. That’s consistency. Kobe didn’t practice that move once and call it done. He practiced it tens of thousands of times until it became unstoppable.
You might think, “Well, Kobe was talented.” Sure. But talent without consistency is wasted potential. Kobe became Kobe because he was willing to do the boring, repetitive work that nobody else wanted to do.
Your Challenge: Pick One Habit
Here’s what I want you to do right now. Don’t wait until tomorrow or next week. Do it today.
Pick one habit—just one—that you’ll commit to doing every single day (or after every practice). Make it simple, measurable, and repeatable.
Examples:
- 50 free throws after practice
- 5 minutes of ball-handling drills
- 10 minutes of stretching before bed
- 1 minute of baseline-to-baseline running after every game
Write it down. Track it. Do it for 30 days straight, no excuses.
If you can’t stay consistent with one small habit for 30 days, you’re not ready for the next level. But if you can, you’ll prove to yourself that you have what it takes. And that’s when everything changes.
Remember: champions aren’t built on motivation. They’re built on consistency. Choose consistency, and the results will follow.