Dr. Boyce: Young Black Men Can Learn a Few Things from LeBron James
by Dr. Boyce Watkins
I recently wrote a piece for NewsOne.com about LeBron James. You might have heard of him: He’s that gigantic, highly athletic, incredibly wealthy, heavily accomplished brother who happens to be the latest NBA champion. As I saw LeBron climb his own ladder to greatness, I was reminded that there is a certain degree of mental toughness necessary for all of us to become high achievers.
Being the best is not enough. You have to have the ability to be AT YOUR BEST at all the right times. You also have to have ability to do what is necessary to get what you came for, never feeling sorry for yourself along the way. To be quite frank, I refer to it as the “I don’t give a f*ckedness” necessary to get what you want and to take no excuses. My moment of truth came during the lowest point of my years as a PhD student: I’d just failed a critical exam, I was about to be homeless, and I just knew I would never reach my goal. There was something about hitting rock bottom, and saying “I don’t give a *&^%, I’m going to get there or die trying,” that pushed me to become the only black man in the country to get a PhD in Finance during the year 2002.
You see, in life, you typically have a choice when you are trying to do something unique: You either get what you came for or you accept the excuse for why you never got it. The more difficult the task, the more valid the excuse. A woman seeking to get a medical degree from Harvard University has a lot of good excuses for why she can’t graduate, namely the fact that it’s very, very difficult. But she only gets that degree when she says, “I am not just going to do my best, I am going to do what is required.” This means that if your best isn’t good enough, then you do what’s necessary to make “your best” better than it was before. That’s what it means to grow.
Our greatest hurdles typically become our greatest opportunities for growth. Our most costly losses tend to breed our most valuable lessons. The road to success is typically paved with failure, tears and disappointment because God/Mother Nature have designed processes through which you must be broken down before you can be built back up stronger. If you can make it through the storm that no one else dared to venture through, it is then that you receive the prize that no one else can obtain.
My article on LeBron is here if you’d like to read it. I wrote it for black males, but the thoughts can apply to anyone.
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I fail to see how your experience and Mr. James are reverent to Mr. James being on the latest NBA championship team. Mr.James was part of a team, what you went through was mostly through your own effort.
what the f**k can we learn from some one who plays basketball and gets paid a s**t load of money to do it not dissing him but really what can black men learn realy
I agree with @ Diablo what can my 17yr old son learn from James, it definitely won’t be. Any thing in the academic arena he has been taking college classes since 11th grade as we all know James barely graduated high school I’m not dissing but it is what it is James has been a millionaire since he was 18yrs old and people have been petting and handling him since then probably before. Dr Boyce how can you as a man with a phd after your name be on this young man’s jock after all you accomplished for real? A little more time has to pass for me to get there where you are at. I’ll see what he does post basketball
Well, I thought this article would be about LeBron placing the control of his finances into the hands of his boyhood friends in which he grew up with. You’ve missed the boat on this one. Yes, it has good points but disclosing James’ decision to place his friends over his finances, in my opinion would have made a greater impact.
I agree with the commenters, your article, less the first paragraph, has nothing to do with LeBron James’ path to success. I happen to have a lot of respect for this young man. I have found him, in his youthfulness, to be far more mature than the adults, I’m sure, he has and continues to encounter as he pursues his goals.
I watched him and his singleminded prowess win the championship he sought, how he motivated his team and stepped in when necessary. He is a champion and I believe he is someone young Black men can learn a lesson from, and not just the game of basketball, but the game of life.
I think this was a great article letting us know that you have to do what is necessary to achieve our goals.
It’s strange how women get your message but the men seem to resent your story when all you’re saying is the means to which you must go to acheive.
I think the most important word missing in this article is, Passion. It was LeBron’s Passion to win the play-offs. It was your Passion to be the 1st AA to receive a PhD in Finance. Without Passion we don’t drive ourselves to accomplish those deep desires within our soul. Its our motivation.