In The Know w/ Finke & Hill

After college, I decided to chase my lifelong dream of becoming a professional basketball player. I am now on my third season and to say it has been a memorable experience would be putting it lightly.

Within the three years of me playing, we have been in five different countries and on six different teams. Through the few years of me playing professionally, I have dealt with many highs and lows. Some days are better than others, but it has been the experiences and lessons I have learned along the way that have made me very thankful for the life I am blessed to live.

To name a few of the positives, we have been able to experience some great cities and countries (Poland, Estonia, Netherlands, Greece, & Cyprus), we have met some great people and lifelong friends, I have played in some great basketball leagues, and I have also won a National Championship In The Netherlands.

Along with those positives, there have been some challenges along the way as well. I have been cut from a team in the middle of the season, I have had a season stopped multiple months short due to Covid, and the unfortunate truth for a lot of overseas hoopers, I have had to deal with late payments and at times not receiving what is owed at all.

Reflecting on all of this, it makes me think back to my time at Illinois. Our head coach, Coach Groce, used to repeat the saying “Control the Controllables” over and over to us. I can still hear him saying “You have to control the controllables fellas”. At the time, I understood it, but if I am being honest, it didn’t really hit home for me until recently.

The saying “control the controllables” means just what it says. Control what you can control. Whether it is on the court or in life, there are always going to be situations that are out of our hands. However, we stress and/or complain about it when in reality, that is only making it worse.

For instance, in basketball, there may be a game where you are getting great looks, but just aren’t hitting your shots or maybe the refs just aren’t calling the right calls towards your team. As a player, you can’t control when the ref blows their whistle or if the ball goes in. What you can control though, is how hard you are playing on defense, how often you are crashing the boards to get the rebounds, and how good of a teammate you are.

The same goes for our everyday life. Whether it’s at work and you are stressing over if you are going to make a certain sale or maybe there is a tough conversation you need to have with a friend and you are worried about how they will take it. Whatever it is, If you give your best and don’t focus on the outcome, then the rest will play itself out.

Recently I was reading “Chop Wood Carry Water” by Joshua Medcalf for the second time. In there he said, “… you had allowed your focus to shift away from the process and onto the uncontrollables. You cannot play present if you are focused on winning or the outcome”.

This is so true and something that I struggle with to this day. Some of my worst games personally are when I put the pressure on myself before the game saying that “we have to win” and “I have to score x amount of points”. When I do that, usually the outcome I wanted doesn’t happen. However, when I go into games putting the focus on how I can help my team win and not putting the pressure on my performance, more times than not, my team comes out on top and I play better.

What situations or circumstances do you find yourself worrying about? Whether it’s financially, relationships, a big move happening, etc. We all have these worries that keep us up at night from time to time. I know I have been there more times than I’d like to admit. What has got me through it though, has been praying to God and focusing on what I know I can control. When I find myself leaning on Him for help and then really focusing on what I can control, I sleep much better at night.

If you know you have given your all in whatever it is you are doing, then there should be no reason to stress. You have already done the hard part.

Control the controllables and life will be that much better.

God Bless.

– Michael

P.S.

As always, leave any questions or comments that you might have for Malc and me. We appreciate all the support!