Relentless

DON’T THINK

To be the best, whether in sports or business or any other aspect of life, it’s never enough to just get to the top; you have to stay there, and then you have to climb higher, because there’s always someone right behind you trying to catch up.

Most people are willing to settle for “good enough.” But if you want to be unstoppable, those words mean nothing to you. Being the best means engineering your life so you never stop until you get what you want, and then you keep going until you get what’s next. And then you go for even more.

if you don’t make a choice, the choice will be made for you.

It’s time to stop listening to what everyone else says about you, telling you what to do, how to act, how you should feel. Let them judge you by your results, and nothing else; it’s none of their business how you get where you’re going.

Being relentless means demanding more of yourself than anyone else could ever demand of you, knowing that every time you stop, you can still do more. You must do more.

The minute your mind thinks, “Done,” your instincts say, “Next.”

People don’t change.

If you’re aiming to be the best at what you do, you can’t worry about whether your actions will upset other people, or what they’ll think of you. We’re taking all the emotion out of this, and doing whatever it takes to get to where you want to be.

From this point, your strategy is to make everyone else get on your level; you’re not going down to theirs. You’re not competing with anyone else, ever again. They’re going to have to compete with you. From now on, the end result is all that matters.

the Zone, that deeply personal space where you can quiet your mind until you have no thoughts, it’s just you and your instincts, focused and unemotional. Where you feel no external pressure, just the internal pressure to prove yourself, over and over, because you want it for yourself, not anyone else.

You want to be the best? Then you ignore the pain and the exhaustion and the pressure to please everyone else. You don’t let your enemies take your balls, you don’t let them set up shop in your head. When all hell breaks loose on the outside, you barely notice; you’re calm on the inside because you’re ready, prepared, and the best at what you do. You don’t tell anyone how you’re going to handle the situation, you just handle it.

We never saw obstacles or problems, we only saw situations in need of solutions.

“In order to have what you really want, you must first be who you really are.”

Being relentless means never being satisfied. It means creating new goals every time you reach your personal best. If you’re good, it means you don’t stop until you’re great. If you’re great, it means you fight until you’re unstoppable.

If you want to be great, deliver the unexpected. If you want to be the best, deliver a miracle.

Michael set the standard for killer instinct and competitive drive. Each time his Chicago Bulls sealed another championship—there were six—he wouldn’t just hold up the number of fingers for the rings he had already won; he’d hold up an extra finger for the next championship. After the first win he held up two, after the second he held up three . . . after the fifth he held up six.

A Cleaner’s attitude can be summed up in three words: I own this. He walks in with confidence and leaves with results.

Cleaners don’t do it for show, they don’t go through the motions. A true Cleaner never tells you what he’s doing or what he’s planning. You find out after the job is complete. And by the time you realize what he’s accomplished, he’s already moved on to the next challenge.

Cleaners are rule-breakers when they have to be; they only care about the end result.

When things go wrong and everyone else starts to panic, the Cleaner is calm and unflappable, cool and steady, never too high or too low, never too happy or too depressed.

Failure is never an option; even if it takes years, he’ll find a way to turn a bad situation to his benefit, and he won’t stop until he succeeds.

Cleaners have a dark side, and a zone you can’t enter. They get what they want, but they pay for it in solitude.

They never stop working, physically or mentally, because it gives them too much time to think about what they’ve had to endure and sacrifice to get to the top.

Excellence is lonely.

the worst thing a Cleaner can do is sell out. He knows what he’s worth, and he’ll remind you if you make the mistake of forgetting.

the most important thing about a Cleaner, the one thing that defines and separates him from any other competitor: He’s addicted to the exquisite rush of success. His lust for it is so powerful, the craving is so intense, that he’ll alter his entire life to get it.

Cleaners understand they don’t have to love the work to be successful; they just have to be relentless about achieving it, and everything else in between is a diversion and a distraction from the ultimate prize.

All that matters is the end result, not the instant gratification along the way.

A Cleaner is rarely understood, and he likes it that way.

• Cleaners never feel as if they’ve achieved success because there’s always more to do.

There are circumstances and outcomes, and you can control both if you desire.

You make decisions, not suggestions; you know the answer while everyone else is still asking questions.

You don’t celebrate your achievements because you always want more.

keep pushing yourself harder when everyone else has had enough.

those who talk don’t know, and those who know don’t talk.

The fact is, you can’t train your body—or excel at anything—before you train your mind. You can’t commit to excellence until your mind is ready to take you there.

Teach the mind to train the body.

Physical dominance can make you great. Mental dominance is what ultimately makes you unstoppable.

Do. The. Work. Every day, you have to do something you don’t want to do. Every day. Challenge yourself to be uncomfortable, push past the apathy and laziness and fear.

Cleaners do the hardest things first, just to show there’s no task too big. They might not be happy about it, they don’t ever love it, but they’re always thinking about the destination, not the bumpy road that takes them there.

crave the result so intensely that the work is irrelevant.

you have to be comfortable being uncomfortable. Every time you think you can’t, you have to do it anyway. That last mile, the last set, the last five minutes on the clock. You have to play the last game of the season with the same intensity as you played the first.

You don’t go through the motions and watch the clock until it’s over. You invest in what you started, pushing yourself again and again beyond where you’ve already been.

We always get back to work.

If you do what you always do, over and over, you’re always going to get the same result.

The work is about testing yourself and preparing all your options, so when you’re performing, there’s nothing to think about.

Do the work before you need it, so you know what you’re capable of doing when everyone else hits that panic button and looks at you.

Few people know what they’re truly able to accomplish, and even fewer want to find out.

Complete focus for complete results.

Ask yourself where you are now, and where you want to be instead. Ask yourself what you’re willing to do to get there. Then make a plan to get there. Act on it.

This is your life. How can you not invest in that?

get into the Zone, shut out everything else, and control the uncontrollable.

A Cleaner never gets cranked up or emotional; he stays cool and calm and saves it all for game time.

Quiet, dark, alone. Always alone, even in a crowd, even when you’re surrounded by an entire arena of fans screaming your name. Alone in your head, alone with that buzz no one but you can feel . . . no outside static. No distraction.

No emotion, because in the Zone the only sensation is anger, a quiet, icy anger simmering under your skin . . . never rage, never out of control.

Everything you feel, all your energy, it’s right under the surface. No ripples, no waves . . . no one can see what’s coming. Leave the drama and chaos to others, that’s not you. You’re saving it all for what’s ahead.

once you step into the Zone, that’s it. You own time.

For all the time we spend working on our careers and talents—going to school, building a business, making money, training the body—it’s ultimately your mental focus and concentration, your ability to control your environment and the heartbeats of others, that determines whether you succeed or fail.

I don’t want you giving me or anyone else that kind of control; as soon as you allow others to push your buttons, they’ve won.

The Zone belongs to you alone, and only you can decide how and when that fire gets lit.

Before a game, I don’t want to see guys dancing and shaking and screaming each other into a frenzy. It looks good for the fans and the cameras, but all that emotion pulls your focus toward manufactured pregame hype and away from your mission.

Watch the true leaders. At game time, Kobe comes onto the court the way a CEO walks into a shareholders’ meeting. Shakes a few hands, says hello to the players and the refs, and gets down to business. Michael wanted no physical contact before a game—no hugs or handshakes. He’d give his teammates a fist bump or a subtle high five—hands never too high, always low and contained—and he never made eye contact.

When you’re a Cleaner in the Zone, you operate with no wasted motion, no chaos, no warning. You don’t tell anyone what’s about to happen, it just happens.

as Kobe says, you know you’re in the Zone but you can’t think about it, because thinking is a distraction.

But once a Cleaner steps into the Zone, he’s detached from everything on the outside. Whatever else is going on—personal, business, anything—it can’t affect him until he’s ready to return.

No fear, no intrusion. Total concentration. You’re not thinking, because thinking turns your thoughts on to everything, and the Zone is about the opposite, turning your thoughts off to everything except the task at hand.

you go inside that space, and nothing can touch you, nothing can hurt you, no one can call you or text you or hassle you or bother you. The headaches will still be there when you’re done, but you have to get to that place where you control time and space, and nothing controls you.

I can’t stand hearing athletes say, “When I’m under the lights, that’s where I turn it on.” No. When you’re in the Zone, you shouldn’t even notice the lights. Or need them.

emotions make you weak.

When you feel jealousy, you shift all your attention and energy to whoever is making you jealous. Doesn’t matter if it’s a colleague’s success or your girlfriend’s new man; either way, you’re thinking about something other than what you’re supposed to be doing. And you fail.

The only exception to the emotions rule is anger: controlled anger is a deadly weapon, in the right hands. I’m not talking about a raging volcano that can’t be managed from inside or outside, but anger you can restrain and turn into energy.

Emotions pull your focus and reveal that you’ve lost control, and ultimately they destroy your performance. They make you think about how you feel, and you’re not supposed to think, you’re supposed to be so well prepared that you slide into the Zone and perform with grace and purpose.

Energy instead of emotion. Big difference. A Cleaner thinks, If I’m feeling nervous, how the fuck are they feeling? They have to deal with me.

I want you in a routine, and I don’t want that routine to vary, whether it’s a meaningless preseason exhibition or the championship game of the Finals.

While others are getting heated up, I want you to start cool and stay cool, because anything that starts too hot can only get cold.

As the lights get brighter and the place gets hotter, you should be feeling darker and cooler, pulling deeper inside yourself.

all instinct; you can feel your way in the dark while others have to see and hear and watch what everyone else is doing. You go with what you feel. The people who can get into that space, those are your killers.

know exactly who you are.

A Cooler thinks about what he’s supposed to think about. A Closer thinks, analyzes, and eventually he acts. A Cleaner doesn’t think at all, he just knows.

Born bad. Taught to be good.

You can’t argue with a baby or try to convince him he’s wrong. You can’t put your values on him or explain why he can’t eat right now. Babies tell everyone how it’s going to be, and that’s how it is. They follow their instincts, they thrive, they get what they want. Babies are completely, naturally, insatiably relentless.

From the time you’re a toddler to the time you’re an adult, you’ve been taught to be “good.” What’s wrong with the way you were?

Born relentless, taught to relent.

At some point you stopped doing what came naturally and started doing what you were told. You took all your crazy urges and ideas and desires, and you stuffed them down where no one could see.

When you become too focused on what’s going on around you, you lose touch with what’s going on deep inside you.

With Michael, everything became automatic; he repeated those same movements over and over until he didn’t have to think about anything, he only had to let those instincts take over.

real learning doesn’t mean clinging to the lessons. It means absorbing everything you can and then trusting yourself to use what you know instantaneously, without thinking. Instinctive, not impulsive . . . quick, not hurried.

Knowing without a doubt that all the hours of work have created an unstoppable internal resource you can draw on in any situation.

Every action becomes instinctive if you’re willing to put the time and sweat into building your arsenal of spontaneous responses.

How many millions of diet and exercise books are sold every year? I promise you, every single person who picks up one of those books already knows the answer: eat healthier and move your body. You can eat these calories or those calories, you can move this way or that way, but the result is the same, and you already know that. You bought that book already knowing what you had to do, you were just waiting for someone to tell you.

Stop waiting to be taught something you already know.

learn about yourself, and then trust what you know so you can build on what you already have. It’s not a science. Instinct is the opposite of science: research tells you what others have learned, instinct tells you what you have learned.

That’s the ultimate difference between a Closer and a Cleaner, by the way. A Closer thinks about what he wants; a Cleaner feels it. A Closer tells his heart what he wants the outcome to be; a Cleaner’s heart decides on its own, he never has to think about it.

When you’re great, you trust your instincts. When you’re unstoppable, your instincts trust you.

Trust your gut to navigate the hard road to get there. The satisfaction and sense of achievement will blow your mind when you finally arrive, knowing you arrived on your own with only your instincts to guide you.

Stop thinking. Stop waiting. You already know what to do.

You don’t get to be the best at anything without blistering confidence and an impenetrable shell.

rely on your instincts to know which risks aren’t risks at all.

As soon as a Cleaner achieves success, and the adrenaline rush recedes, he needs more and he gets it. The high of getting that result is so great, it’s just too hard to come back to earth. He needs to devour it, over and over, always craving that taste of total and complete satisfaction.

control your dark side, don’t let it control you.

Cleaners never perform under the influence of anything; they place too much value on their mental state to allow anything to affect their minds and instincts and reflexes.

Who’s in charge, you or your dark side?

The desire to control anything and everything is so powerful, and his belief in his instincts is so strong, he knows he can’t lose.

You’re not intimidated by pressure, you thrive on it.

There is no clutch gene. There’s your predatory instinct that tells you to attack and finish the fight, and there’s the readiness to know how and when to do that.

Preparation + opportunity. That’s it.

If you’re a true competitor, you always feel that pressure to attack and conquer, you thrive on it. You intentionally create situations to jack up the pressure even higher, challenging yourself to prove what you’re capable of.

being relentless means constantly working for that result, not just when drama is on the line.

I always felt Michael’s legendary trash talking wasn’t meant for the other guy; it was another way for him to heighten the pressure he put on himself, because once you’ve told others how bad you’re about to fuck them up, you’re gonna have to deliver on that promise.

I tell my guys, “Pressure, pressure, pressure.” Most people run from stress. I run to it. Stress keeps you sharp, it challenges you in ways you never imagined and forces you to solve issues and manage situations that send weaker people running for cover. You can’t succeed without it. Your level of success is defined by how well you embrace it and manage it.

A Cleaner doesn’t respond to external pressure, he puts the pressure back on the guy trying to get under his skin by refusing to acknowledge him.

Remember, you don’t compete with anyone, you make them compete with you.

You can control what you put on yourself; you can’t control what the other guy puts on you. So you focus only on the internal pressure that drives you. Run to it, embrace it, feel it, so no one else can throw more at you than you’ve already put on yourself.

if you want to be successful, to have that place in the sun, then you have to leave the shade.

you can’t be relentless if you can’t take discomfort, and you can’t be unstoppable if you only deal with pressure when you have no choice.

pressure is a challenge that will define you; it gives you the opportunity to see how much you can take, how hard you can go.

Stress is what brings you to life. Let it motivate you, make you work harder. Use it, don’t run from it. When it makes you uncomfortable, so what? The payoff is worth it. Work through the discomfort, you’ll survive. And then go back for more.

Not everyone gets the opportunity to be stressed by the potential to achieve exceptional things.

Cleaners never feel external pressure; they only believe what’s inside them. You can criticize, analyze, demonize a Cleaner, but he’s still only going to feel pressure from within. He knows what he’s doing right, and what he’s doing wrong. He does not care what you think. He steps out of his comfort zone and challenges himself to get to the next level.

I’m confident in what I do because I know whatever happens, I’m going to adjust and keep rolling.

there’s a difference between confidence and cockiness: confidence means recognizing something isn’t working and having the flexibility and knowledge to make adjustments; cockiness is the inability to admit when something isn’t working, and repeating the same mistakes over and over because you stubbornly can’t admit you’re wrong.

Nothing feels risky to a Cleaner; whatever happens, he’ll know what to do.

Some people know without a doubt they’ll be okay no matter what happens.

You can plan and prepare for ten different scenarios, be completely ready for every variable you anticipated . . . and you can be sure there will be an eleventh scenario you never saw coming.

the trademark of a dangerous competitor: he doesn’t have to know what’s coming because whatever you show him, he’s ready. No fear of failure.

do your thinking and planning in advance, building your reflexes, so you know when your back is against the wall, you’ve got the right move.

How quickly can you make that adjustment if you take the wrong step? Can you recognize the mistake and snap it back?

You have to be willing to fail if you’re going to trust yourself to act from the gut, and then adapt as you go.

“I’m going for this, and if I’m wrong, I’ll make a change and I’ll still be fine.”

You can’t control or anticipate every obstacle that might block your path. You can only control your response, and your ability to navigate the unpredictable.

when I say “figure it out,” I don’t mean thinking about it for a week and asking everyone you know what they think. I mean immediately, instinctively, hearing that voice inside saying, “This way!” And you go.

You want to know a true sign of a Cleaner? He feels no pressure when he screws up and has no problem admitting when he’s wrong

As long as you continue to deny responsibility, you have the added burden of covering your mistake, and you know the truth will eventually come out anyway.

Once you start blaming others, you’re admitting you had no control over the situation. And without that control, you can’t create a solution.

Create your own pressure to succeed, don’t allow others to create it for you.

Have the confidence to trust that you can handle anything.

When you’re confident, you don’t care about what others think; you can take your mistakes seriously but still laugh because you know you can and will do better.

That’s internal pressure at work, getting on yourself for something no one else would even notice and challenging yourself to get it right.

If you did it, own it. If you said it, stand by it. Not just the mistakes, but all your decisions and choices.

When you’re a Cleaner, there’s no such thing as a meaningless game.

You don’t question the methods, you just look for the results.

Trust yourself. Decide.

Every minute, every hour, every day that you sit around trying to figure out what to do, someone else is already doing it.

While you’re paralyzed from overthinking and overanalyzing your next move, someone else went with his gut and beat you to it.

Make a choice, or a choice will be made for you.

You can waste a lifetime sitting around overthinking possible ways to look at something.

We might have a situation that needs to be addressed, or an issue we have to resolve, but never a problem.

Thinking doesn’t achieve outcomes, only action does. Prepare yourself with everything you’ll need to succeed, then act. You don’t need a hundred people to back you up and be your safety net. Your preparation and your instincts are your safety net.

as you sit back doing nothing because you’re afraid to make a mistake, someone else is out there making all kinds of mistakes, learning from them, and getting to where you wanted to be.

People get paid a fortune for being the expert at one thing, so that anytime others need that one thing done, you’re the only one they’re calling.

Figure out what you do, then do it. And do it better than anyone else. And then let everything else you do build around that; stay with what you know.

You good? I’m good. See you in the morning.

Interesting how the guy with the most talent and success spent more time working out than anyone else.

Kobe is the same; he’s insatiable in his desire to work. Some days we’ll go back to the gym twice a day and once more at night, trying different things, working on certain issues, always looking for that extra edge.

Are you willing to make the decision to succeed? Are you going to stand by that decision or quit when it gets hard? Will you choose to keep working when everyone else tells you to quit? Pain comes in all sorts of disguises—physical, mental, emotional. Do you need to be pain-free? Or can you push past it and stand by your commitment and decision to go further?

It’s your choice. The outcome is on you.

Anyone can take what’s sitting right in front of him. Only when you’re truly relentless can you understand the determination to keep pursuing a target that never stops moving.

If you want to be elite, you have to earn it. Every day, everything you do. Earn it. Prove it. Sacrifice.

Ask yourself honestly, what would you have to sacrifice to have what you really want? Your social life? Relationships? Credit cards? Free time? Sleep? Now answer this question: What are you willing to sacrifice? If those two lists don’t match up, you don’t want it badly enough.

Anywhere you go, no matter what you do, there are going to be distractions. What are you willing to give up?

You show up to work ready to go, you face adversity and your critics and those who judge you, you step into the Zone and perform at that top level when everyone is expecting you to falter. That’s being a professional.

There is no privilege greater than the pressure to excel, and no greater reward than earning the respect and fear of others who can only stand in awe of your results.

A Cleaner moves silently under the surface—he makes no waves, so you never know what he’s doing. You can’t see him or hear him. You may not even know who he is.

Do you want to be the guy worrying, or the guy quietly making everyone else worry?

You don’t have to be loud to be the focus of attention.

The loudest guy in the room is the one with the most to prove, and no way to prove it.

A Cleaner has no need to announce his presence; you’ll know he’s there by the way he carries himself, always cool and confident. He’s never the blowhard telling you how great he is; he’s the quiet guy focused on results, because results are all that matter.

When people start broadcasting what they’re going to do, and how great they’re going to be when they do it, it’s a sure sign they’re still trying to convince themselves.

If you already know, you don’t have to talk about it. Talk never goes up in price, it’s always free, and you usually get what you pay for.

The way you conduct yourself in all areas of your life, your ability to show intelligence and class and self-control . . . those are the things that separate you from the rest of the pack.

When you’re completely focused on one thing—your craft—it’s hard to pay attention to other people. You might sincerely care about how someone is doing, but you’re not going to pick up the phone to find out, and if you do, it’s usually because you have a motive for asking.

You don’t have time for chitchat or lunch or anything that distracts you from your single-minded focus.

Cleaners don’t make big, bragging announcements about how they topped someone else; they let their results do the talking.

I want to be noticed for the excellence of my work, that’s all.

When others have to fight you by flinging insults, you’ve already won; it means they have no idea how else to compete with you.

if you’re truly focused on winning, you’re not concerned with friendship or compassion or loyalty, you’re not worried about how others will judge you. You know what people say about you, and it just drives you harder.

Let them hate you; it only shows their weakness and emotion and makes you more powerful.

You don’t need friends; your friends need you. You know whom you can trust . . . and they’d better never let you down.