We all know how competitive Michael Jordan was, but there are details that we’re yet to discover about his mindset. The Chicago Bulls legend was always trying to be better every night, using some incredible tactics to reach his goals.
It’s well known that he could make up rivalries to take things personally and more, but MJ was hard on himself when he felt he could have done more to help his team. Former trainer Tim Grover recently revealed he used another stat sheet to be motivated to work on his game.
During a recent interview with Chasing Excellence, Grover talked about MJ’s desire to be better every day and how he used to watch at his negative stats to improve his game (19:12).
“At the end of the game, there’s the stat sheet that all the teams get. The stat sheet has how many minutes you played, how many points you scored, how many shots you took, rebounds, assists, fouls, free throws, and all those things. Michael used to have a second stat sheet. He would have a stat sheet of all the free throws he missed, the fouls he committed, the turnovers he had, all the negative stuff. And I asked him ‘explain this to me.’”
Even after posting great numbers, Jordan focused on the things he did badly to improve and be better than he already was.
“He goes ‘I’m supposed to score points, I’m supposed to get rebounds, I’m supposed to make my teammates better. I don’t want to get acknowledged for the things I’m supposed to do’… He’s just like ‘I’m not supposed to turn the ball over. I’m not supposed to miss free throws, I’m supposed to make my teammates better. So I need to work hard consistently on those three things on a regular basis, and the other things will automatically get better.’”
This perfectly explains how obsessed this man was with excellence. Jordan was always trying to reach the next level, and he found new ways to keep himself accountable.
No wonder he won six NBA championships, plenty of individual awards and became the greatest player of all time. His Airness was just different. As we learn more details about his approach to the game, we can’t help but admire him even more.
