An Entrepreneurship Lesson from a 1970's NBA Sharpshooter
Cam Houser
Ecosystem and ESO builder | Thoughtful approaches to startups, AI, and getting new business | Wildly engaging programs for entrepreneurs and innovators
If 1970's NBA sharpshooter "Pistol" Pete Maravich, loss aversion, and the challenges of entrepreneurship are interesting to you, read on...
The Pistol
"Pistol" Pete Maravich was one of the greatest shooters to ever live. (He was THE greatest until a young man named Steph Curry came along).
Here's a story about Pete that made me smile. Hopefully it makes you smile, too.
Hooping superstars then and now put on summer basketball camps for kids. One day while the kids are eating lunch he sets up ball racks similar to a 3 point contest:
The Pistol is putting on a shooting clinic!
Assistant coaches start feeding him balls and he's ripping threes. Ball after ball, firing away.
Milliseconds after each release, he's bounding to the next spot.
At times there are three balls in the air at once. Because he's Pete Maravich and therefore has Pete Maravich's talent and work ethic, he's draining these shots.
Bucket after bucket.
Campers are losing their minds. Make after make with the occasional miss:
Swish
Swish
Donk
Swish
Swish
Swish
Swish
Donk
Swish
领英推荐
Swish
When he runs out of balls he asks crowd, "How many shots did I miss?"
The young hoopers scream in unison: "3!"
"How many did I make?"
Silence.
Looks at his assistant. "Coach J., how many shots did I make?"
"154"
Pistol Pete says: "You guys focused on the negative. Focus on the positive!
Why do we focus on the negative? Why did those kids, without being asked, count the misses?
Loss Aversion
Our brains register the bad feelings of a loss more intensely than the good feelings of a win.
Losses hurt more than wins feel good.
It's for this reason that we overemphasize flaws in our work and our process. We forget what's good about it.
It's quite common to be halfway through any creative work—from building a prototype to crafting a pitch—and come to the realization that what you made is complete garbage.
Except you're wrong. It's not garbage.
You're just in too deep. You made a lot of shots to get this far.
You're just over indexing the misses.
So keep shooting and keep building.
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SO to OG shooter Pete Maravich, Steph Curry, the Marginal Revolution commenter who shared the story, and all you beautiful people trying to build great companies and products.
Strategy, Innovation, Leadership, and Passion
3 年And he didn't make all those shots because he was sitting around theorizing about the best way to make them. He practiced and failed a ton early on and continued to practice even at the top of his game.