In 2016 my new year’s resolution was to make 50 three pointers a week. At that point I was studying for my board exams to become a physical therapist, working full-time as an intern. And knowing that my health and mental health were important, but not necessarily taking the time to take care of those things. I love basketball, and a New Year's resolution forced me to do something that I loved, that was physical activity. It was the best New Year's resolution I've ever had, and the longest one I've ever stuck with.
I would go to the YMCA, And my rule was that I couldn't hit more than 25 in a day. So that forced me to go at least two days a week. I like to play a game when I shoot. I pick 5-7 spots on the floor, and make my way around the world. If I make the shot, my rebound is allowed to hit the ground, but if I miss it, I have to get the rebound before it hits the ground, and make a layup. If I made the layup, I could re-take the shot. If I missed the layup, I had to start back from the beginning.
I just like when I played, I had a good shooting days, and not so good shooting days. On the days that were not so good, I learned how important it was to make my layups.
Keep in mind I was studying for my national physical therapy exam board. I had a revelation one day that there were questions as I was practicing for the exam that were three point questions. They were hard, they took a lot of time, and they made me think and challenged the range of my knowledge and understanding. And those practice questions there were also the ‘gimmes’ ,The questions that took very little thought, very little time, and we're very surface level of my knowledge. Those were the layups. The more challenging ones were the three-pointe
And in about mid January, I started to study in a way that made sure I hit my lips. Just like in basketball, I was bound to hit a few three-pointers, but if I hit my labs, I was gonna be just fine. A challenge to use a coach is what are your labs? What are the easy things that you should be doing day in and day out to get right? Of course, there will be points in your season or something challenging comes up, that's your three-pointer. Maybe you'll make it, and maybe a mess, but if you keep hitting your lips, you're bound to be successful.
