You Got Game?
Achieving the Best Version of Yourself in Work and Life
Ever wonder what it would be like to achieve a world-class lifestyle? By your own standards of course. Your own definition.
For me, when I arise every morning at 4:00 am, this quest is encapsulated in one word:
Freedom
Mental Freedom. Emotional Freedom. Physical Freedom. Spiritual Freedom. Economic Freedom.
Over the years I have found myself inspired by elite athletes who in sports vernacular “have got game.” They are committed to becoming world-class through daily growth and expansion. They embrace their unique talents, skills, and superpower by putting them to best use.
This is why the work of performance coach and author Alan Stein Jr. has such appeal to me. Alan has spent over fifteen years working with some of the elite basketball players on the planet. Through his work, he vicariously inspires others to reach new heights by boosting their mindset, habits, and productivity. These are the same strategies used by athletes who are at the top of their game to achieve infinite levels of success.
A year ago I read Alan’s book Raise Your Game: High-Performance Secrets From The Best of the Best and it surely didn’t disappoint. In it, he delivers proven principles used by high-level performers that readers will find useful in their productive endeavors to become the best. As he notes in his book:
“The very first step to raising performance is learning how to live in the present. The happiest, most influential, and most successful people I’ve ever met are able to put their full attention into the present moment.”
High achievers, he says, are at the top of their game because of the discipline they display when others aren’t watching. In other words, these elite performers set, pivot, and reinforce affirming habits in everything they do in life.
In his book, Alan examines the best of the best in sports and in business demonstrating that reaching the highest rungs of achievement is a result of the little things we do on a regular basis.
He trained superstar NBA players Steph Curry, Kevin Durant, and the late Kobe Bryant who we all admire, and has witnessed their routines in unseen hours.
Alan’s story is all about serving others. He always seems to be working on his craft, humbling meeting himself right where he is at that moment.
Now in a new book entitled Sustain Your Game: High-Performance Keys to Manage Stress, Avoid Stagnation and Beat Burnout Alan addresses a perpetual issue impacting all high-level performers:
“Sustaining Your Game Once You’ve Raised Your Game”
As Alan notes about his new book:
“My last book, Raise Your Game, was all about bringing your A-game to your job, your relationships, and your life. But that is really only half the battle. Keeping it up is even harder. The commitment to raising your game—in any area of life—is no easy feat. But the commitment to sustaining your game is even more challenging.”
Recently, I reached out to Alan on the heels of his new book release (it just hit the shelves on April 12th) and asked him for a response to some questions I had. Amid this busy time for him, he kindly obliged:
Briefly describe the main message of your new book Sustain Your Game?
Alan: The key to consistently improving performance and sustaining true excellence comes down to what you do during the Unseen Hours (when ‘no one is watching.’). Sustain Your Game examines how the highest performers across a plethora of industries have been able to create long-term success while simultaneously managing unparalleled pressure and stress. It unpacks their standards, systems, and strategies and provides proven principles that can be implemented immediately to create sustainable excellence… and sustainable fulfillment… in every area of life.
What was the impetus behind your decision to write “Sustain Your Game?’ What did you discover about yourself during the process of writing it?
Alan: I felt compelled to follow up my first book, Raise Your Game (January of 2019) with an extended message. The premise of Raise Your Game was to teach practical strategies, perspectives and approaches to reaching optimal performance (both personally and professionally). Sustain Your Game takes it a step further and teaches how you can maintain optimal performance for years and years while simultaneously feeling fulfilled. In it, I took specific aim at three areas that were rampant but became exponentially heightened during the pandemic: stress, stagnation, and burnout.
What did you discover about yourself during the process of writing the book?
Alan: I was constantly reminded of the fact that I am not speaking from a place of mastery! Rather, I am speaking from a place of humility. While I am proud of the progress I’ve made and the path that I am on… and while I have a very strong understanding of the principles that manage stress, avoid stagnation, and beat burnout, I continue to find these areas of my personal evolution and growth extremely challenging!
Share a little with us about your journey and how that led to your association with such superstars like Steph Curry, Kevin Durant, and the late Kobe Bryant
Alan: Basketball was my first identifiable passion. I fell in love with the game at 5 years old. During my collegiate playing career (Elon College, 1998), I started to develop an equal love for performance training (strength & conditioning, fitness, nutrition, mindset). So when I graduated from college, I decided to pursue a career that combined my original love with my newfound love and I became a basketball performance coach.
So how did your path evolve from there?
Alan: I was able to work as the head performance coach for two internationally renowned high school basketball programs: Montrose Christian School (where Kevin Durant graduated from) and DeMatha Catholic High School (where Victor Oladipo played). In the 13 years, I was at those two schools, we had over a dozen graduates make it to the NBA. Given that notoriety, I earned opportunities to do contract work for Nike Basketball and the Jordan Brand. All that led to being able to work events for Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, Steve Nash, and Chris Paul. I was fortunate to have the opportunity to take a peek behind the curtain and observe their greatness firsthand.
What do you find are the biggest barriers to the achievement of one’s highest potential? And what advice did you glean from these athletes in terms of their quest for greatness?
Alan:
There are 3 primary barriers to becoming your best self:
Skipping over the basics and ignoring the fundamentals
Lacking humility and being closed off to feedback/coaching
Believing you aren’t good enough (negative, defeating self-talk)
The highest performers I’ve ever been around – from Kobe and Kevin Durant to executives and companies like Intuit and Pepsi – consistently overcome and breakthrough these 3 barriers. They believe in the basics and they work towards mastery of the fundamentals every day. They earn their confidence through demonstrated performance, but they paint humility into everything they do (no matter how good they are, they know they can get better and they recognize that feedback/coaching is the conduit to growth/improvement).
While they hold themselves highly accountable and have unparalleled personal expectations, they know they are good enough… and they know they have earned the right to deserve success.
In your view, what are the biggest stressors people are facing these days amid today’s rapidly changing, post-pandemic world? How does your book directly or indirectly address this?
Alan:
These alarming stats have only been heightened since the pandemic:
34% of workers consider themselves overworked
77% of workers feel burned out on the job
The ‘average’ US worker spends 25% of their day reading/responding to email
Fewer than 16% of companies have a program to help employees deal with stress
40% of the US population believes work/life balance is unattainable
The ‘average’ US worker works 47 hours per week (49% work 50+, 20% work 60+)
Sustain Your Game offers a different approach. In other words, it offers a way to improve productivity, impact, results, and fulfillment while simultaneously decreasing stress, stagnation, and burnout. My new book will not only empower you to get clarity on your true purpose but help you in knowing and embracing what you need to do during the Unseen Hours. In other words, how to view accountability from your inner circle as a gift and to effectively manage stress through heightened emotional intelligence.
How do you believe your book differs from others with a similar theme or intent?
Alan: Most resources share ideas on how to improve performance. Some provide thoughts to sustain performance. Very few, if any, do both of those while also addressing burnout, lack of work/life balance, and a general feeling of being overwhelmed and constantly stressed out.
Who is your book best geared for?
Alan: Sustain Your Game is for anyone who is not looking to just improve their performance and productivity – but strives to do so consistently year after year without feeling burned out, hyper-stressed, or overwhelmed. It is for high performers who want to learn practical strategies and actionable steps on how to maintain excellence in the short, intermediate, and long term. It assembles invaluable advice and lessons from successful athletes, entrepreneurs, social scientists, journalists, CEOs, motivational speakers, business coaches, and consultants, as well as my own unique personal stories.
Finally, how has the power of books been beneficial in your own life? And are there particular authors who have influenced your thinking?
Alan: I’ve been a voracious reader for my entire adult life and have tremendous reverence and respect for authors and books. Books have the power to educate, entertain, and engage mentally/emotionally… to really shape one's perspective. To that point, I’ve been heavily influenced by the writings of James Clear, Mark Manson, and Ryan Holiday as well as the teachings of Peter Crone.