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Retracing Passion to Build Lasting Career Success with Chris Bosh

Harry, What's Up His Chase. Welcome to episode of the show. This is where I sit down with amazing humans unpack their brains with the goal of helping you live your dreams and career hobby in life. Today's guest is the one and only the inimitable Mr chris bosh. 11 time NBA All Star two time NBA Championship gold medal Hall of Fame, insane athlete. And he has an amazing book that we get to talk about called Letters to young athlete. Now this is not just about sports, although he's an insane sports figure. This is about lessons for life, for business and for changing your life to the life from where you are right now, to the life of your dreams. There's so many the same principles that chris invoked. He has a handful of pillars we talk about in this episode, some of the pivotal moment, some of the pivotal moments in his life uh and with some very very tactical advice things at what he does to visualize. For example, very specifically, um, that you can take away. So I'll get out of the way...

, enjoy my conversation with mr chris bosh. Yeah. Mm hmm, mm. I love you. All right. Ladies and gentlemen brings me great pleasure to introduce our guest today. Mr chris bosh is in the house chris, Welcome to the show. Thanks for having me man. I'm excited to be here, man, appreciate congratulations on the book, let alone obviously a storied career as a basketball legend. Um, but one of the things that I like to start out these conversations with Is for the like, 11 people of the million listeners that we've got. Uh, I want to know if you can describe a little bit about your origin story, take us back for anyone. One of the again, eight people in the universe. You don't know you from your storied career as a basketball legend, but uh orient us to, to your youth, what was it like growing up? Uh and how did you make your way to where you are today? Yeah, so, um I am from Dallas texas, so I'm originally from a small town called hutchins texas, but inside it was a town of 2000 people, I think it's more people there now, but it was more of an industrious uh agricultural, I guess sort of part of town. Um and you know, I would always say hutchins, but I went to school in Dallas, so we just say Dallas from Dallas. But uh yeah, I grew up in Dallas, but in particular hutchins texas, my grandma lived next door. Um you know, very uh you know, very, I don't want to say strict but very disciplined um in our family and our household. Um I was always either in practice or in church. Pretty much whether that was with my grandma, my aunt, I have a lot of aunts and a lot of uncles too. And yeah, you know, I'm just, um, uh, you know, raised uh, within a musical spiritual family and you know, basketball is one of those things that I just gravitated towards. I loved my dad. He would always take us to the recreation centers when he was younger. Um, you know, taking his two sons to the, to the games, he was playing in the church leaks or he would take us to open gym and you know, it was always fun just going to watch my dad play pickup and naturally as a boy watching your dad do something, you want to do the same thing, right? You emulate. So I fell in love with the game and then I saw these games on TV and I know for sure in 91, um, everything started sticking. I start, I saw Michael Jordan playing the championship against magic johnson. That alone was incredible in itself because my dad thought it was incredible. And so did his friends, right? And then once I saw that, you know, you get for those who are lucky. Um, and I've just been blessed to be one of those lucky ones to say, yeah, I want to do that. That is uh, I want to do that. Not necessarily saying that, oh man, I'm gonna be an NBA that was the start, but I just want to play basketball. I'm already playing basketball. I didn't know you could do that. And you know, it was, it was just an incredible feeling seeing that. And I kept seeing these games on the same around the same time my dad would drive us up for the summer and drop us off at my grandma's house in Dayton Ohio you know, this is, It's how brave he was. It's two boys, you know, and before adolescence and you're taking them in a single cab F150 from Dallas to Dayton. And every time he dropped us off and be night And these games would be on. And that's when they started sticking in 91, So after I saw that, I, you know, I couldn't get enough of it committed early. So one of the things that, you know, uh, you're aware that the audience who are listening right now, I mean, we like to have a huge range of guests on the show because um, here we talk about creativity but also creating a living in a life that you love. And so my goal is to bring the world's top performers too, this audience and you, it's not a surprise that the top performers in any discipline share a bunch of the same characteristics. And one of the things that I heard in your story just there is this connection that you had with the game and I was hoping you can go, you know, I want to get into your book obviously, uh, that has just come out and it's huge. Uh I'm seeing it everywhere. I've got a copy of it open here in front of me. Uh, it's an amazing journey, but when I want you to retrace if you can this, the passion that you had for the game and your awareness that this was a thing that you wanted to pursue and specifically, you cover this in the book. But specifically there are people who are supportive of you chasing this passion and there are people who think you are crazy because it's a one in a million, you know, and so try and reconcile for me your passion for the game that you said you really locked onto in 91 with, you know, the supporters and frankly and the haters, so I worked backwards um you know, I wasn't too much aware of criticism until really, until I got to Toronto, which it's more so of the business then, you know, so it stops being magical after about 18, 19. That's when, that's when the real world starts smacking you right a little bit and you know, you find out about world, you didn't realize, you know, working backwards from there, um just developing that love. Um like I told you before my dad, he would take me to um on the parts of the recreation center and it went from me watching him play, to him taking us to go play. You know, there was a transformation and I mean any time I got the chance or the opportunity to watch play, think about it, I would think about basketball, I would play it, my dad got me, my parents got me a ball and I would dribble it through the house, he took the ball, he said I kept doing the same moves without the ball. You know, if it was a basketball movie in in the movies, I wanted to go, you know, watch it, I wanted to consume every, every piece of it. Um and I just enjoyed it more so than anything. Um And in one of those moments it was when I was in school and we started playing organized basketball and I had always played on the playground, so I was chomping at the bit to actually play indoors um to actually play on teams because we usually have to make it up in our imaginations, right? And you know once that happened um it's funny how people start finding you, those people that started helping me just started appearing like literally not out of thin air, but you know what I mean like do and that's what you're doing the thing, you're supposed to be doing people from happening for you rather than to you. That's what I want you to keep telling your story here. And so yeah, and with that, you know coaches, uh I had this one coach in particular, he came and we came to the gym like I can't remember how many, how what the period of time was, but you know that would be was no Uber back then. He was pretty much my Uber driver, you know, he would take me pick me up after school, take me to practice, take me home, the whole team, you know, we pack in this van and we go to the games, you know, this was every saturday and I'm sure, you know, he took the edge off because I'm pretty sure my parents weren't able to do that. Um you know, being trying to provide for a family and keep food on the table and then weekends, my dad, you know, my mom, they were always doing, they want to do this stuff they want to do and my dad's trying to go back to school, you know, it was just so many different things going on, but um um that's when things start happening for me. I always found those coaches who, who just loved nothing better than being a gym and that's how I was um I just want, and I know, you know, once you find that person, it's like this connection, it's like, wow, this kid wants to be in the gym, like all day, every day, I crushed him yesterday and he's back for more, you know, in that, you know, just continue to, you know, evolve different coaches over my lifetime, but that same consistency coach with the Big Van, you know, or that Big Suburban, you know, taking all these long legged kids to practice. I want to I want to read you an expert, an excerpt from your book, and just just to say it out loud here. The title of the book is Letters to young athletes. It's an incredible book that it transcends sports. Um I personally developed a lot of my habits through sports and through reading biographies about people who were inspiring to me and your book hits on a lot of levels. I want to read this particular excerpt and ask you to respond to it. And uh it goes like this. It says there's a lot coming at you these days, whether your once in a lifetime talent, just arriving to the pros or an ordinary kid and after school league, whether you're playing basketball or the cross, throwing a shot put or suiting up as a tight end or whether you're trying to excel in the classroom or start a career, you've got a lot of people coming at you, coaches crushes, teammates, teachers, parents, peers, the crowd. There can also be recruiters, reporters, police haters on and on. And then there's the toughest voice of all the voice inside your own head. Nothing can imitate you like that voice, nothing can mislead you shame, you puff you up, lead you astray, keep you down quite like that running monologue. But wherever they come from, all those voices have something in common, everybody thinks they know. So my question chris is you're just in this book and that you say in the next line. So here I am, just another voice in your ear. But what makes you any different? And I'm hoping you can answer that question for us? What makes you different? Why would we pay attention to you and your life lessons? Yeah, Well, I think the main reason is um, you know, obviously just being, having tasted success just like I was alluding to earlier me getting that feeling of watching Michael Jordan play, I got to do the same thing, you know, and I started remembering and recounting each step, you know, and there are some things you forget, but those moments when you know those things that stick out in your head, and not so much the glory where you hit the game winning shot, because that very rarely happens. It's like we were talking about before those coaches that help you um taking me to go get a hot meal after a game, um you know, taking me to the cheesecake factory, that's how I experienced the cheesecake factory for the first time. You know what I mean? Like those those were the moments that I really, really started thinking about, and and I wanted to kind of just put the cards on the table and the opening of the book because it's like, yeah, I get it. And I don't want people to think that I'm gonna tell them what to do, you're gonna have to do that for on your own. And and that's why I wanted to open up with that because I understand what it feels like to Not no, not really or acknowledge that you're not thinking for yourself because everybody else knows everybody else is an expert the minute they see something in you and just walking the walk in, remembering those lessons and those lessons actually helping me out, not only in the time of my athletic accomplishment, but afterwards too, because during this book I had to kind of eat my own words with that humble pie. You know, you're the one that makes it, that's the one of the things I had to learn, like, oh humble pilot, you eat it. Not necessarily to say that it's a bad thing every time. But those days when you want to be frustrated and want to be mad, I start remembering the process of trying to be successful on the court and you know, it just started helping me out and it helped me actually get through these books and writing this book in recounting these stories and accomplishments and, you know, trying to actually publish a book and put it out because we had obstacles in that as well. Yeah, pandemic and others. Um yeah, no, and having written a couple of myself, I know the lift. It's always way more than you think. You're like, yeah, that sounds like a great idea through and you're like, man, Yeah, like what? Yeah, you know, we were two years and it took three years, three year process, we're two years in and just my head is in my hands, like, you know, I don't know what you go through those and I remember that. So it's like, all right, I got to stay with it. I have to perseverance. We have to keep that up. I have to keep working with my team, keep communicating. And now it's not the time to, you know, just kind of just start falling apart, we gotta stick together and and make it happen. You've got, you've got a series of pillars of framework that you live by that you share about in the book. And I already talked about in other places that is inspiring. And I want to, I want to touch on that, but it seems to me that, you know, lessons that we can learn from a world, one of the world's top performers like yourself. Uh, I do want to to take it out of this general universe and put it specifically in sports. Um, I, you know, I've shared my background in sports, I feel like was critical and for there are people who are listening right now who, you know, had no exposure to sports or don't find it interesting or valuable or, or, but yeah, I have to double down on my own experience. And of course what I read in the book and what I, what I know about you, the the parallels between life and sport and the, you know, it gives whether that's discipline, perseverance. Some of these things your team were some of the things you mentioned or others like how important is that or some analog of that to, uh, to an upbringing, your to a life in order to be a top performer. I mean, you know, there's always as one of the best parts I loved about this book is I'm trying to, you know, really draw those parallels and make allow people to make those connections for themselves because in my, you know, we wanted to have this universal message, you know, so whether whatever your profession is, let's talk about pushing ourselves, you know, let's talk about going ignoring that empty sign. As you think you're on a date, just giving a little more knowing your limits. Um, you know, communicating with those around you, uh, working on your craft daily. Um, you know, those are the things that still have to go on regardless, right? I think we all are in a place and hopefully people have found, um, something that they really want to give their time to. But, you know, This is me drawing from athleticism as a man that lost the game at 30-31 years old. Um, I had to walk the walk. You know, I couldn't say, well, you've just got to find that thing you up. I really had to find the thing I love. And it didn't make any sense. What am I doing writing? Uh it doesn't make any sense, you know? So, you know, I know that it can be some cynicism towards that because it's like yeah, yeah, another athlete telling you you can do it. You know, my thing would be just to know the story, There's a story in this and it's the reason why I'm telling people to chase their dreams, identify that thing that you love because I love basketball. I love I liked other things. I didn't I had hobbies but I'm trying to be the best at basketball. I that's all I ever did. And then to go from that two pivoting to, you know, trying to figure something else in in this, you know, in this new world that I'm in. You know, I had to figure those things out and I'm still figuring them out every day. But in that I wanted to leave some sort of memento for people that, you know, they could they could hopefully get a piece of motivation from or take these lessons and say, wow, I really connect with that right there, because, you know, I was an avid reader during my, during my time and this playing, you know, and this is the book that I had never read, you know, this is the book that I felt like, oh yeah, there's a couple of just gaps that I wanna put my voice on and hopefully um it will help somebody because that is the intent of the writing. Um thank you for that. These pillars was fascinated by them and of course it made a ton of sense after I started deconstructing a little bit more about your life and you can see this, this framework emerge. Um there's a saying, you know, you want to go fast, go alone, you want to go far, uh go as a team and, you know, the second of again, I'll just, I'll read off these pillars that I've come to know about you, perseverance, teamwork, mental preparation, rising to the occasion, staying in the moment, doing the work And visualizing success. And I want to talk about the teamwork one, you know, you um and again, partly because this is universal, it doesn't require sports there to use across all kinds of, you know, uh, you know, it's a, it's a sports foundation, but there are teams in business. Um, there are teams for nonprofits, there are uh, every day, every day and every genre of, of, of work and culture and we're social animals, so we need to work together. Um but specifically, I want to talk about when you transition from uh Toronto to Miami, you know, one of the first super teams yourself, Lebron and wade like what what was it like to play on a high performing team to be a star amongst other stars? I think a lot of people, you know, a lot of a players in whatever field, they sometimes put themselves around B and C. Players to make themselves feel great and we all know that that's not the formula for success, right? A players ought to to seek to be with other A players. So there's a little bit about, you know, you're the you know, our mutual friend tim Ferriss, you know, the average of the five people you spend the most time with so choose wisely. Like what was it like stepping into that environment? Was their intimidation? Was it was it just pure elation? Was it optimism about, you know, being uh you know, having incredible teammates and and just what was your headspace there and advice you might give others who are whether or not they admit it, you know, wanna wanna either, you know, be the stand out in a team or you know, they're intimidated about joining high performing group of other folks well um I think people understand it if better if I tell them want it right that I made that decision to do that. Um I had had tremendous success in my first seven years in Toronto. Um as a basketball player, as the cornerstone of the franchise, the best player, the highest paid guy. That part that we all want to be hidden, shooting the game winning shots, missing them, making them taking them all the glory and all the criticism when it comes, but trying to stay consistent. Um One of the things that I noticed was, you know, when, when, when I, what I thought was a tremendous feat and at least in my mind I accomplish it, nothing would happen. Um, I would still be home during winning time watching the other teams play and just pretty much just getting back in shape for next season. You know, I'm already playing basketball again and you know, I um, I had everything, fans that loved me and I loved them and opportunity to, you know, play at my highest peak and prove to be the best player on that court or try to be. And that's even if Lebron or Dwayne or Carmelo or any of those guys were on the floor with Kobe, you know, I'm trying to be better than Kobe, maybe not, but tonight, you know, and nothing, you know, it's hard. It was tremendously hard and we had a couple of shots at it, but we just weren't good enough. And you know, we couldn't put the team together and then that happens is pro sports. And I would talk to, I would talk, you know, you have to seek out people that hopefully have been in your situation and just ask advice and that's what I did. And um, it was a few people Bill Walton in particular. He said, hey man, you want to play on the big stage. And he said it so quickly. And you know, I asked, you know, talking to many other, many other people that have been in that position. But he said it so quick. It was just something about when he said that I said, okay man, that's what I'm doing. And, and then in that, in the free agency process figuring out which team I'm going to sign with next, um, I encountered Pat Riley and you know, he's a great for those that don't know he's, I mean, he's been he's been great every decade since the sixties. You know what I mean? So he's telling me this is what it's about you, you guys have to get together, it's about teamwork, it's about sacrifice and you know, you have to have the best in the world to be able to accomplish what we want to accomplish. And it just resonated with me. So we all made the decision, um you know, after careful consideration that we joined together and then, you know, in that it was hype, it was manic mania, uh, paparazzi, you name it, you know, we went through the gambit, but you know, at the end of the day, we still had to go out there and perform on the court, um, as a team and then that you go through the ups, you go through the downs, great stunk even in the, in one of the things that I learned from that whole process is no matter how good the individual talent is, you still have to jail together as a collective and um, and in that everybody has to accept their role. And for me, my challenge was, you know, I was known as more of a scorer, I wanted to score, I wanted to be dynamic on the offensive end, defense, needed a little work, you know? But in that I said, oh yeah, well Lebron and Dwayne, I'm gonna average so many points because they're gonna pass me the ball and I'm going to get the ball where I get it now. Oh my God, it's gonna be amazing. It wasn't like that, it's like, no, no, no, hey Curtis, we need you to put we need you to play this position over here, you know? And that's where I had to kind of understand what team is because in what ego is because it's like no, I want to know I score all the points. It's like, no, no, no, no, you can score the third most points that you need to be, you know, best defender out here. It's like I don't want to do that, you know what I mean? So I had to fall into my role and I had to learn like, hey, if you want to be part of a championship, this is what it's going to take. And you'll be surprised how many players I've experienced that won't do it. And it could be something as simple as taking out the garbage, Somebody won't do it. If you want to be an NBA champion, take out the garbage every day and somebody won't do it, you'd be surprised. And so not that that was my role, but just using that as an analogy to, you know, be like, okay, yeah, this is more strenuous, more physical work, less glory, you know, because brian, indeed they're the superstars, they are, and these are the roles of the team, that's a role to be the leading scorer, you know, to be the second leading scorer to be coming off the bench. So there was these different roles that we had to fit. And then even in that there was, it was still hard, you know, just trying to overcome the challenges that they came, but we were able to get through it and it was just a major lesson and wine, so important to understand those values and team because I've seen it be successful, I've actually sacrificed something and it worked, you know, so that's what, that's one of the main messages I tried to tell people, I think it's an incredible message of matches my experience and the experience of a lot of the other folks we've had on the t on the show here and again, this idea of going fast, you know, go ahead and go alone, you want to go far surrounding yourself with incredible humans is um you know, is pretty much required, you know, it is, and you know, that takes me to another one of these pillars and that is this mental preparation and again, looking to kind of strings from your experience as one of the top, you know, basketball players to ever play the game, What role did the mental part of the game play and just be as candid as I think because uh again, I believe this is extrapolate able to every area of life, but tell me how important was and what are some of the things that you did in order to prepare mentally? I would read that's where um I found peace where I solve problems where I would go to sleep. Uh that was that was my preparation. Even mentally, I would read all the way up until coach started talking. Um I just, I just found that thing and that's what I love. Um you know, mental, you know, it's hard to give it a percentage, but it's everything, you know, um you definitely have to have a great approach. My grandfather had a saying, he said use the thing in between your ears because you don't or you know, yeah, if you don't, no one else will. Um so you know, developing your mind um not only having other interests and hobbies, but sharpening visit that. And that's what I mean by visualization going over that process. For us, it was watching film and going over these situations over and over and when you get tired, you do it again, you know, and as well see yourself being successful, I'm seeing myself making those free throws. I'm seeing myself dive on the floor for that loose ball. You know, I'm seeing myself be successful in that moment of truth and there's a bunch of moments. So you gotta, you know, I like to keep a running dialogue, a healthy dialogue of seeing myself going through these motions when I'm not are performing. Um, and you know, just for the mental edge. Um, you know, I like to take in information that would help me, um, you know, be successful. I got into this one book called The Way In the Power Good friend of mine gave it to me and it's a japanese uh, book on the, on the samurai, that section of a samurai spirit, how you get there to practice the repetition and then, you know, becoming hopefully a master when they and incorporating these philosophies, you know, and I would read these things, but I felt that it got me prepared to take on these challenges that were coming because sometimes you feel like things are out of your control, right? But you can control your reaction. And that's what it was. All, it was always like that in sports, especially the harder it got, the deeper you got into the playoffs or into the championship rounds, the better the team is right. And so you're going to deal with situations you don't want to deal with probably 100 times a night in each game. You know, it's keeping, keeping yourself in check, keeping that mind there and understanding, like regardless of what happens, this is what we do next. Let's stay in the moment, lets you know, the next evolution is always constantly moving on to the next thing being present and then moving on accepting it, moving on to the next phase. And you know, you don't read your heart, but we've talked about Ryan and stoicism uh, previously and you know, this idea of acceptance and reality and then sort of just stepping into the moment and present being there. What you're the only athlete that I've ever spoken to at length about this with respect to reading. I think that's fascinating and that right up to game time. So, are you reading these samurai books right up to game time? I mean, is that is that the material? Yeah, yeah. It would depend the material depends on the time of year that's like winning time, that's championship playoffs. That's like if my wife sees me reading that, she'll leave me alone on the couch, you know? You know what I mean? Like? Yeah, he's probably, yeah, he's over in his own. Yeah. Okay, cool. I'll come back in like 30 minutes and or she'll ask me a question like, okay, yeah, what's on your mind? I see you pop the book out, you know? Um And then we'll talk about that. But, you know, usually in the season I would read a lot of, you know, I read everything fiction, nonfiction, uh motivation. I would go based off of what I'm feeling at the moment. Um And I just, I just I just enjoy it. Just, I just enjoy it, you know, I just I still do. But back then it was kind of like a challenge to and it was time to get my reading done to be honest with you. Um I found peace in it because I know It's like 65 minutes on the clock and it's counting down, coach will be here in about 20 minutes. It's about to get hectic. I'm going to physically have to push myself and compete. You know what I mean? And push these guys and then strive for greatness and that's stressful. It's going to be for the next 2.5 and I'll be tired and sore after. But right now I've got these 2030, 40 minutes. I'm going to read my book because I can escape and just get lost in the words. And then when it happens, all right, let's do I have my young fellas. They would tell me like, we look at you and when you close the book it's like, all right, you ready? Let's go. You know? So that's what no time to play. Yeah, so, again, it's fascinating the reading any other titles you care to share, share that. Uh we're regulars, like you mentioned, the obstacle is the way the obstacle is the way, you know, Ryan course um uh, grid by Angela dot org, that one was pretty good. And our coach, Erik Spoelstra, he would gift us books during, during christmas. So, and I was probably the only one to read, you know, I would actually read them and I loved it because I think good to great um was one of them. Uh man, what was the other one? Uh it'll come to me as we keep talking. But you know, he would give us these books and you know, we would talk back and forth about the books and when things got challenging, sometimes I would have to, we pull each other's card and be like, hey, push versus pull, you know what I mean? Come on, come on man. You know what I mean? But we would always kind of share knowledge in that one. Uh, he funny story that I tell all the time when we first met, he gave me the book Outliers and that's like one of, you know, definitely one of the red as soon as it came out and this was not played well for those who don't know the Gladwell write a great book. And so you know, he gives me the book and he's like, hey, I heard you're an avid reader, welcome to the team, looking forward to this season. And he gives me the book. And I said, oh, I can't remember my delivery. But I told him like, yeah, I read it and it's look at me, it was like, oh damn, you know what I mean? Okay, who is this dude? You know what I mean? And, and you know, we, that was always kind of a fun thing. Uh we go back and forth with, um, and you know, I would, you know, ask him questions during this process and just bounce ideas. Uh, you know, he didn't know that the book was already done. Hey man, yeah, I want to send you some stuff, you know, I got a book coming and we have these discussions, but yeah, man, that was like a connection that we had. You know, I knew every christmas you give team books, I go through it and we'd eventually talk about it and then, you know, try to get some wins. I just love it. That's a wild stand out from other uh top performing athletes. I think there's all these synergies, of course it makes a ton of sense. Reading right up to game time is fascinating to me as a mechanism for yeah, escape or just calm. I want to go into a little bit of detail. You talked about visualizing yourself diving for loose balls, making free throws, making the game winning. Can you give us, like, one layer deeper? What is the process there? Is this at home, laying on your back, pillow over your head? Visualizing is this, you know, while you're out on the floor, you're going through some mental exercises. Seeing yourself, you know, you're smelling the smells of the gym floor and the sweat of the guy next to you on the free throw line. Like, you know, pay a picture of how specifically you visualized and it doesn't have to be changed involved, but just paint a picture for us. So many stories in that when any time you can I would say I would daydream about it, definitely walking through uh, the situation sometimes you write it down, type about it. Think about it. Yes. What does, what does it look like? How bright the lights and I had a desk. I should maybe have lunch, you know, let's make sure I'm fully ready. I'm hydrated. Okay. You know, one story in particular for me was when I um, I wouldn't hold the trophy. I was very superstitious about holding the trophy. You know, it's bad luck and stuff like that. And we lost our first crack at the championship in 2011. So the next year I said, Yeah, let me, let me get it, let me hold it. Alright, how heavy is it? Okay, let me see my Yeah, that's heavy. So I'm gonna have to do it like this when we went, okay, cool embrace that, you know how heavy it is, smell the popcorn. Um, and like I say, even diving for that loose ball, use that analogy. What happened? Why is it a loose ball? And then what scenario? Because it's only so many scenarios that I'm going to see that happen. So mentally I have to just go for it because I know already know I'm going to be the most retired, you know, most fatigue I've ever been in my life. I still have to put my head on my face on, you know, going through that process, going through our exercise. Um, you know, we would the defensive and offensive game plans for for playoff series in basketball is pretty intensive, you know, and it's changing every day because we're dealing with real world situations. So we're always critiquing analyzing, taking those, see what we can do better the next time in these real world situations. So yeah, I would constantly if I was, you know, if I had five or 10 minutes just to be like, okay, just think about this. All right. When this happens, when they sick, I'm gonna sack. All right. And then these scenarios might happen okay? And I would just go through the beginning all the time and just get that rhythm down. And, you know, eventually you see it help the game, for me will slow down maybe of someone who's speaking or uh in a board meeting. Um They need to go over there stuff. You go over your stuff if you prepare, see the people in front of you, you know, Okay. What happens if I don't have my notes? Okay. What happens if the teleprompter goes out, play these real world catastrophes in your mind? You want it to happen in your mind first? Yeah. And and not to go too deep into it, but just say, hey, I got it. Let's work on that answer. Okay, I'm going to make sure I know my speech by heart, let me make sure I'm engaging. Let me make sure I'm talking to my co worker to deliver this information and communicate effectively, even if it's stressful right now, because we have to make sure we all, you know, one of our things were playing basketball is, hey, keep the main thing, the main thing, this is what our focus is. If you're getting emotional or if you're getting just down on yourself. No, no, no. It's about, the main thing is about winning this game right now. We'll address the rest later and you just have to start compartmentalizing and you know, you look back, it's like, wow, it kind of worked, you know, it worked better than if I hadn't have done it, you know, so it's just a great process to do. Um part of uh thank you for the detail around visualizing. I find that that is a very common thread in the highest performers um in the world is some sort of mental preparation, visualization, meditation, mindfulness, stoicism, you know, so many of these and we talked earlier about team, um you've had a chance to play for some of the greatest coaches, have some of the greatest teammates, some of the friends that, you know, across the league, uh advice that you have received from others that you feel like is worthy of passing on you. There's a couple of great examples in the book, but I want people to read the book, so I don't want to go verbatim. I want, I want to let you share some, you know, I took this nugget from Kobe and this nugget from uh, from, you know, from Michael or from uh, anything stand out to you, um, one in particular and only because it helped me tremendously, which I do write about it in the book, one of my coaches throughout my career, he pretty much coached me in, me, trying to establish myself as a consistent all star, he coached my hero in Kevin Garnett, um, and you know, played alongside him. So I had a great deal of respect for him and um, you know, we went through the whole coach, best player process, It was great and one time in particular, um, well, he would always challenge me, I was kind of joking about my defense and you know, if I wasn't, he called me out in front of the team one time and he communicated that, you know, it's unacceptable for me to be the best basketball player on the court with the ball in my hands. But just because I don't have my ball in the hands, my effort goes down. You know, uh if I'm not scoring the ball at the clip that I usually do, if I'm not getting my 25 or 30 points a game, my my shoulders start slinking. I'm not communiqu communicating like I should be, I'm not giving my effort that I should be. And he said, you know, that's unacceptable. You can you still should play just as hard on defense as you do on offense and you know, you can still affect the game in these ways, even if you're not scoring And I had to go through that and realize that in lifetime, you know, uh, in particular for those who don't know about sports, game seven situation, winner take all situation and I'm having a a terrible out performance on offense, but I'm not getting a foul trouble. I'm going through live the situation that you don't want to go through in that, you know, winner take all is happening right now. And a voice came in my head and it was sam. He said, hey man, play defense is unaccepted. You can still be the best player out there. And so, you know, I just made it a point to focus all my energy on, on the defensive end, on winning the game or being a good teammate. And we came out successful. And you know, that was the thing wherein to where I could have, I could have just started freaking out because you don't let me know. I was cool, I was cool for a little bit. Then in the second half I was like, oh, I had to accept knowing saying like I'm not going to score today because the universe is not on my side right now, it's not on my side. But you know what I can do, I can dive on the floor, I can, I can, I can just be a dominant presence down there and I can try my best to guard Tim Duncan who had been pretty much annihilated me up until uh, for the last couple of days, up until that point. So I had to, I had to kind of, you know, let the training kick in, trust my teammates to bring it home. You know, they were going to have to do the brunt of the scoring and just be available and willing in that moment to do what's necessary. But it probably wouldn't have happened if if my coach years ago, like years ago, like seven years prior to that in chewing me out because I wasn't given the same effort, I wasn't being the best defender on the team, which was unaccepted. Um I'm gonna put paupers pause for a moment on all of the uh sports committee stuff because one of the things that I appreciate about your, not just your career as an athlete, but as a human. Um dear friend of mine, Dedalus shrimp, former NBA All Star, just play, just play golf with that yesterday. Super good human. But he's also been on the show. One of the things he talked to me about, it's just this is about legacy and it's about being a member of the community that transcends, you know, just the way they make a living in a life. And you know, that manifests in lots of ways through kindness, through helping others. And I just I want to know what role that's played for you. I'm aware of the work that you do and underserved communities bringing technology to bear. Um I also know a little bit about some of the hobbies outside, you know, your music label, Daddy Jack. Um I'm wondering if you can paint a picture for those who might, you know, might just think of chris, chris bosh superstar, crazy. You know, one of the best athletes ever played the game of basketball and paint a picture for us about being a complete person because I think that actually feeds into what it is that we want to do in this world and with this one precious life. So tell me the role that that plays for you and yeah, what what role treat others like you want to be treated right? The golden rule. I think about that every day I talk about that, you know, every day I teach it to my Children. Yeah, I try to do my best. Um, you know, I was, I didn't paint the picture all the way. So I pretty much come from a lower middle class household. My parents were both there. Um, luckily both of, I've had a friend who said he only had two friends that had both parents in the household that was one of um, you know, very, I guess modest upbringing to say the least. But you know, I come from a place where it's an underserved community where there were no resources and I've been so lucky to have basketball, but I think about those kids that and I have experienced with these kids because, you know, once upon a time joke about this all the time, I was in the robotics club and when I was in my senior year, in my junior year, and I would notice how some of the people in the club would be like, wow, dude, you saw her cable, you know what I mean? And this yo and you know, let's keep it real. He's got a grill, he's got goals in his mouth. There can be a stereotype associated with somebody looking at him and they will think certain things, but he knows machinery, he's sauntering cable, but you know, this is the only resource, this is our little robotics club. I think about the uh the kids who don't have those resources and you know, I want to bring that, you know, my wife tells me all the time to tell people you guys didn't have a c in your gym, you know, we're in texas, it's no a C, you know, we we only have one good gym and we had to split it. So every other day we'd be in the old gym and there was no a c in that texas heat, you know, we're just trying to strive to be a good team. So, you know, I know what it feels like to just be hovering that poverty line and then that, you know, we still had a great time. We still were able to find something, you know, and put our time into development of our minds and our bodies. So I want to bring that to kids, I want to bring that awareness because a lot of people don't know that a lot of people just see me and now and I'm well spoken and I can afford to get a haircut, you know, every now and then and you know, there can be some preconceived notions with that, but um I want to bring awareness to it um you know, there are kids in underserved communities that need help, they need access to technology and education, we need more girls in coding and engineering and stem education, you know, those things are, are very important and I want to promote that because somebody helped me, you know, you were telling me before, I thought you were crazy, people literally did and I'm sure my dad, even, my dad probably like this kid thinks he's going to the NBA uh you know, like, but he never said he needs to get real son, I just kept working on it and kept working on it and just I've seen what it can do for me and not to say that each kid is gonna be the professional best in the world talent, but man, to be able, it started off with me just trying to get a scholarship, attempting to get a scholarship because my dad told me he didn't have any money, You know, and I was years old, so I was like, oh well let me put my time into this and and more so on coding and stuff like that. Like I've had kids come up to me who are teenagers now and say, yeah, you're the reason I do coding, Mr Bosman, don't call me Mr Bush do my name's chris, you know, it's cool, but I've seen and heard the stories um and I want more, I want to hear more stories because it's not about me, it's about just giving a helping hand. I've had a coach. tell me one day to say, look, I don't want anything from, I want you to be successful and you, you know, to reach, you know, as far as you can reach. And I feel that I owe that um out there. So I think about that every day and without that on one of these car rides, going to go get a meal and work out and drive me home, he told me I don't want anything from you. So I try to bring that same mentality. I just want to see people, you know, accomplish goals and reach their dreams in this lifetime. Two time NBA champion, 11 time All Star olympic gold medalist, Hall of Famer, now author. Um congratulations. I want to, I want to part ways today with one question and it's admittedly loaded. Um ah the difference between wanting to be proficient and this is, this is to be fair, this is a question for a very small percentage of our listeners, but I have to ask it nonetheless. There are people who are listening right now that want to truly in their heart, want to be the best in the world at something and to maximize their potential in any given thing. I'm wondering if you can speak to that person to the sacrifices that you've made To become a two time champion, 11 time all star gold medalist. What does it take in no uncertain terms to be that? And I want you to be to be real. Um, you know what? Me and Kobe had a conversation, I have to give credit to him because this is something that he said to me and it was so profound. Um, you know, it's all over the magic isn't doing the work, loving going to do what you're about to do because they're going to be highs, there's gonna be some loads, but just getting in, building yourself into the repetition of doing those things daily. Um, even when it's hard, even when you don't feel like going to the gym, go to the gym that day to get to work in, because it's required, um, if you're trying to be the best, find, identify that news and work backwards from that, I'm big on working backwards. So, you know, if they wrote pages, build yourself up to work in 100 pages, even if it doesn't make any sense, just get into the routine, find out these routines and then of course, you can always put your own splash on it, but it's about to me, um, it's about the daily work and just every day trying to go for excellence, um that's why I have those pillars, you know, to, to, to to guide me when things start getting a little rough, you know, prepare my mind, let me visualize, let me communicate, make sure I'm being a good teammate, you know, and in those things you begin to see in the daily work, how you can, you know, accomplish that thing, keep the main thing, the main thing, right? And, you know, it's about work, it's about putting in the work, right? It's about preparing your mind. A lot of that confidence comes from between the two, and confidence is the work that you put in, you know, get you get into the work, become what you're trying to do, um totally immersed yourself in, how much do you know about the subject and then just start digging who's your favorite writer? Okay, well, what else did they write? Read those books? Well who influenced that person? Well, what other genres are out there, You can just keep going deeper and as deep as you want to. But if you're wise intact, if you've asked yourself why I'm doing this and you know, deep down what you're trying to do, then then, you know, the execution is in the daily practice every day and then you know, hopefully things work out. Thank you so much for for inspiring us. Just a quick restate here. Uh, the book letters to a young athlete, Congratulations on the crazy success, all the history of literature and writing here you are. Right in your own books. Um, I'm looking forward to the next one already. Congratulations, is an incredible read. It transcends sports to, to life lessons. Highly recommended chris thanks again for being on the show. It's a real treat. And uh, what's next? This another book? You're gonna go put your feet up for a little bit where you're going, man? Uh, yeah, so yeah, I'll be pretty much preparing for Hall of Fame late this summer. So yeah, and then it will be time for the kids to go to school and then all kind of restructure and go from there, man, congratulations on the Hall of Fame to man. That thinks of course it's your obvious shoe in. Um, but uh, what a career. Uh, you're an incredible human. Thanks for inspiring so many, keep doing what you're doing. We respect and appreciate it, appreciate you, man. Thanks a lot. All right. Thanks for being the show for everybody out there in the universe. Check out chris's book. I hope you enjoyed this episode. Stay tuned for another one soon. Hopefully even tomorrow until then I bid you all. Yeah, yeah, yeah, mm Yeah.