How LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers Changed the Name of the Game to Win The team and its star player reshaped the process, blocked out the naysayers and immersed themselves in something much bigger than themselves to become champions.
By Matt Mayberry Edited by Dan Bova
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
This year's NBA Finals between the Golden State Warriors and the Cleveland Cavaliers will definitely go down as one of the most entertaining games of all time. The Cleveland Cavaliers are the first NBA team in history to ever come back from a 3-1 deficit to eventually go on to win the Bill Russell Trophy and to be crowned World Champions.
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Whether you love him or hate him, there is no denying that LeBron James, the finals MVP, is one of the greatest to ever play the game of basketball. Mind you, this is coming from someone who grew up in Chicago when Michael Jordan and the Bulls were practically unstoppable.
This isn't intended to start a debate on who is the greatest to ever play the game, but more about shedding light on a once-in-a- lifetime player who carried his city and team to their first NBA championship in 52 years.
Here are three things that we can all learn from LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavalier's historic championship run.
1. Constantly look for ways to reshape the process.
During one of his post-game interviews, after winning arguably one the most important games of his life, LeBron James talked about how he and the Cavaliers were able to come back after being down 3-1 in the series when everyone had practically written them off. He stated that he didn't play his best basketball the first two games.
Trying to analyze what was wrong, he immediately went back to the drawing board to redefine his approach and process for the next game. As we all witnessed from that moment forward, James played lights out while helping the Cavaliers clinch their first ever NBA title.
What we can all learn from this is to constantly look for ways to reshape the process of whatever it is we're trying to do, and to become the most efficient in helping ourselves get to where we want to go. This doesn't mean you change the ultimate end goal if things aren't working the way you envision. It just means you need to regroup and change your process and approach like James and the Cleveland Cavaliers did during the NBA Finals.
2. Block out the negative naysayers at all costs.
Almost everyone ruled out the Cleveland Cavaliers after they fell to 3-1 in the series. It was easy to draw the conclusion that their competition, the Golden State Warriors, were going to repeat and win another championship for the second straight year. Cleveland blocked out all of the naysayers that insisted they had no chance to come back and win it all.
Instead, they made some tweaks to their overall game plan, trusted one another and fully believed that they were going to pull off the unthinkable. Likewise, there will be plenty of naysayers who will tell you that you can't do something throughout the course of your life.
The best thing you can do is to block them out of your life and go get better while focusing on creating the processes to execute the job at hand. Listening to the negative naysayers is what interferes with many people from reaching their full potential and thriving in the game of life and in business.
3. Immerse yourself in something much bigger than yourself.
LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers made a promise to the City of Cleveland and the entire state of Ohio that they were going to bring home an NBA title. This promise, along with ending a drought of 52 years without a sports championship in their city, became a goal that was much bigger than just LeBron or any of the players on the team.
The team immersed themselves in a goal so lofty that it brought such special meaning to not only them as a team, but to an entire city of passionate fans who had been yearning for this moment for such a long time.
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There is nothing more powerful than immersing yourself in a mission that's much bigger than yourself. It will give you the power, the stamina and focus that is needed to overcome all kinds of setbacks and challenges that you will undoubtedly experience along the way. It will ignite a passion inside of you that you never even knew existed. In embracing this passion, this challenge, you can all become champions in your life.
