In The Know w/ Finke & Hill

Hello to those who have been subscribed and hello to those that are new. It’s been a while. A lot of things have happened since my last blog post and I’d love to get people up to speed. 

When the season ended for me with the Bulls, I decided to take some time off of basketball just to refresh and relax my mind. It was a very adventurous year for me having played for 5 different clubs within a matter of months. Having to learn different systems and getting to know guys 5 separate times. I’m very grateful for all the things I experienced during the journey. 

The year started with me being in the G League with no certainty of making the league, to me being able to experience the NBA playoffs with the Bulls. I would not have been able to predict those cards being played at all. I’m grateful that I was able to stay myself throughout the whole course of it because it’s very easy to get lost in the sauce with all the different changes of environments and circumstances. The NBA is a beast in a lot of ways, on the court and off the court. It’s easy to get comfortable and satisfied because you’re legitimately an NBA player. That status alone only so many people in the world can say that. On top of that, it takes people of certain prestige to be a part of an organization such as the Chicago Bulls. I was raised in Fairview Heights, Illinois. My dad’s favorite team was the Bulls and favorite player at the time was of course Michael Jordan. Even attending the University of Illinois and then years later playing for the professional team down the street? What are the odds that I put on a jersey for the home team? That’s one of the biggest flexes you can have in the state. What’s funny is I never saw myself as that. If I’m keeping it honest, I just saw myself (and still do see myself) as just Malcolm. If you know me, you know me. It wasn’t really until after the season that the thought came across my mind. The whole time throughout the process I was really thinking to myself, ” How and what can I do to put myself in a better position to help make the team better and ultimately allow myself to reach my goals?” Every day was a grind for me, whether that was me sticking to my daily routines and habits throughout the process or whether that was me finding extra time to be in the gym before and after practice. So once the season ended, I reflected on how and what I can do to become a better person and player throughout the course of the summer. 

I probably took around a week off all together. My people recommended me taking about 2 weeks off but, what can I say. I can’t contain myself when it comes to the grind. The biggest thing that I wanted to get done was to refine my habits. Looking back, I can honestly say that my habits are a huge part of how I was able to make it from the G League to the NBA. Understanding myself though, I was getting comfortable with the habits I was able to attain throughout the year and I personally felt like I could’ve been doing more things to improve myself as a person. There is never an ending to bettering self and always room for improvement in all areas.

There were 2 things that I wanted to focus on heading into the off-season. My eating habits and waking up earlier. On the eating side, more so what I was eating. More fruits and less meat. I wanted to get shredded up more so I can move quicker and also replace the fat that I lost with muscle. On the waking up earlier side, I’ve come across a lot of studies and have been recommended by a couple of friends that waking up earlier has plenty of benefits. Now that I have established it in my routine, I can testify and say that it is super beneficial. The thing that I find most beneficial with waking up early is that I find myself able to be more productive. I’m able to get many things done in the day before the day officially starts in the world. I was pushing the 5am range because I saw that some of the most successful people in the world wake up at 4:30 am. That’s some elite stuff if you ask me. I’m able to meditate, read, journal, get some yoga in and be ready to go for the day before the sun even rises. This helped me be more than ready for the first thing I had to do for the day. With that being the case, I have way more energy heading into my first workout of the day and once I finish that early morning basketball workout, I have time in the day to get in a 2nd and even 3rd workout in for the day. Sprinkled in between that, I would either be taking care of my body (stretching, yoga, qigong, massages, therma boots, cold/hot tub, etc) or I would be working on my mind/spirit (meditating, journaling, reading, puzzles, word searches, listening to audios/podcast, etc). This has allowed me to have peace within myself whenever I go about myself each day. I have found that I very much enjoy early mornings over late nights because I would be able to be much more productive throughout the days. Also understanding compound interest I know that doing that will show itself in the future. 

All of this sounds cool and it’s easy to type this but maaaannn when I tell you this is not easy to do, I mean it. It’s the summertime and the season just ended. I literally got a pay raise throughout the middle of my season. Why not enjoy myself a little more? The answer was simple for me. I am nowhere close to where I want to be and I haven’t accomplished the end goal/s. Not even close. I literally had no room in my mental to enjoy much. This is the cost of being great. It takes sacrifices. Let us take life and basketball for example. I would love to live until I’m at least 80+ years old. I’m currently 26 as I’m typing this. With the Lord’s blessing, I hope that I’m able to play until I’m at least 38-39… Maybe 40+? Who knows, let’s look back on this blog post when the time comes. In the time frame, I have around a decade of playing hoops left. Why wouldn’t I give it my absolute all in making the very most of the situation I’m in right now? It only makes sense to me logically. “Life really begins at 40. Up until then, you are just doing your research” – Carl Jung. Right now in my life, I’m doing intensive research on how true these statements and facts that the 1 percenters of every field are saying about being successful. Everything that I’m experiencing and learning through the field of basketball I’m going to take with me and apply it to the next field that I will be pursuing. Most importantly, I will be teaching the ones that are eager to learn and tell them that things never just happened for me and show them how I achieved my successes. Just about all of the successors say the same things about the dedication, the grind, and the ups and downs in the journey. I’m here to say, it is not easy lol. They call it a journey for a reason. Before I would use to say it wasn’t fun either, but I’m changing to the statement to it is fun. It’s fun to sacrifice and put a temporary hold on instant gratification because I’m seeing a little bit of the fruits and benefits of being dedicated to the grind and vision. 

Now let’s not get it twisted, I did do my fair share of fun things. Spent time with my family, hung out with a couple of friends, had amazing conversations, and had some delicious food with close ones of mine at so many different places. My definition of fun is probably very different than most people’s definition of fun. What can I say though, I’m a very simple guy. Which is what I love about myself. I don’t need much to do much and still have a blast. I’ve been able to enjoy experiences such as watching my old teams play, go bowling, or any other type of activity that I do much more enjoyable because I see it as a reward for grinding so hard toward the vision. They aren’t things I do very often, but when I do, I have an amazing time doing it because I’m sacrificing myself not doing these activities very often for the grind toward the vision. 

I’d like to take this part of my blog to thank my friends and close ones for putting up with my communication style because I truly understand that I am a tough communicator. For the reasons as such above. I would like to describe my communication style as the likes of an old soul. Like the people and souls that lived back in the day that didn’t have cellphones and had to write letters and wouldn’t hear from each other for weeks. I do acknowledge that I need to be better and improve on that, but also know when you see me in person it’s all love because that’s the ultimate power that I work with. The only thing I have to really offer is love in every present moment that I’m in. What’s felt doesn’t have to be spoken or written into words. In a future blog post, I’ll talk about this thing called Love and the real power behind using it to live the best life that you can. To the reader; get the ego out the way and become a manifest of Love and watch your reality change. But not to get too crazy off-topic. Back to the subject at hand. 

There are patterns and appearances of things during the journey. I’m understanding this thing called balance in life. I have had good times and I have had tough times living this lifestyle, but what I have noticed is that there has been a steady trend upward for me which I am truly blessed and grateful for. I’m not going to say that the things that I do and sacrifice in my life are the secret formula or the ONLY way to attain a goal, but what I am saying is that this is what has been working for me. I’ve been able to look within myself and find things that have helped me progress toward that attained vision and if you find any of this helpful, I’m happy to be of assistance. I believe in abundance. Everything is for anybody and everybody. All it takes is the belief in oneself to begin the progressive realization toward that certain idea or goal and the rest is history from there. But I guarantee it will take at least one thing from you if you don’t already have the things that you want, and that is sacrifice. 

I’m currently getting ready for my 2nd phase of training for the summer. I just got wrapped with NBA Summer League with the Bulls and I feel that personally went well. Finished 4-1 and I played really solid individually. Took a couple of days to recover and now I’m right back at it. I want to be an even better version of myself when it comes time for training camp and I am excited for the grind I have ahead before I enter this new season. I’m not sure how the future will hold for me with me spending this extra time grinding and sacrificing, but I will say that in the ultimate end I will be satisfied with whatever outcome because I will be sure to not have any regrets with how I’m moving in the present moment. I plan on keeping it that way in the future days and years to come with me on this journey. I wish blessings and abundance to all. May peace be unto you always.

P.S.

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