Shoot to make it

What do you want?

James Clear shared the following story from a reader named Mac in his 12/7/23 newsletter:

"My dad and I love basketball. We used to play hoops in the front yard almost every day when I was growing up. He was also my coach for many years.

One thing that always stuck with me was him saying "shoot to make it." I think there's a lot of moments in basketball and in life where we are just "throwing a shot up" and hoping it goes in.

How I interpreted his mantra was to have intention. If you are going to take a shot, take a good one and take it to make it. I always come back to what he said when I'm evaluating decisions I'm making and actions I take.

Am I shooting to make it?"

That's a question I sometimes think about. Usually it's while watching my grand kids play elementary/middle school basketball. So many of them have no concept of the overall object of the game: to score points and keep the other team from scoring points. Merely throwing the ball towards the basket doesn't help achieve your goal. You actually need to know where you want the ball to go, look at it, and aim. Or, if on defense, have an awareness of where your 'man' is, but also where they are in relation to the basket, the ball, and the other players.

The truth is, though, for as simple as it seems while watching them play a game, I am no better when it comes to managing my own life.

Whether it be from a larger perspective like the grand scheme of living, or a project I'm working on, it takes intention to think about what I ultimately want and to aim towards that.

Personally, I want to be growing in Christ-likeness. So I have to ask myself: are the day-to-day things I'm doing helping to make me more like Christ (or like he wants me to be)?

This can also be beneficial in such mundane things as working through my to-do list. Yes, I believe making such a list is a good start to 'shooting to make it,' but depending on the day I made need to assess what needs to take priority at the moment. Is it more important to get the house clean or get some outside work done? Is there a big project I really need to concentrate, or would it be more helpful to cross off a greater number of smaller things? Sometimes projects can be grouped for better efficiency, and then other times maybe it's better to say, "You know, today maybe I'm only going to do one thing because I really need to spend some time in rest."

Anyway, I like this little phrase "Shoot to make it." It's easy to remember, and applies so well to so much of life regardless of what phase we're in.