NBA Mental Strength Coach asks: If everything is taken away in your life, are you okay?
Corporate Competitor Podcast Episode 93
David Nurse – who has helped 28 NBA All-Stars reach their pinnacle – loves to use the example of Steph Curry to make a point of great professional pride: confidence lies in self-awareness. To illustrate his statement, David points to Curry’s 2009 scouting report that listed him as slow, small, unathletic, at best a “backup/fringe” player who “relied too heavily on his outside shot.”
“Are you kidding?” asks David. “If Steph Curry had allowed the report to influence his mindset, he might have said, ‘You know, maybe they are right? But Curry didn’t allow others to cap his potential or give him an excuse.” Thirteen years and multiple NBA Championships later, the only argument anybody has about the Golden State Warrior is where he belongs on the All-Time NBA Team.
As a former professional basketball player, David’s ability to get into the zone and master his mindset led him to two Guinness World Records for shooting. In 2016, the Brooklyn Nets hired him as a coach to help players improve their three-point shooting, and they went from 28th in the league to second.
Since then, David has applied his mindset and leadership programs to more than 100 NBA players. His tools have also helped Fortune 500 CEOs, tech moguls, Hollywood actors, and musicians develop better habits. “Since 80 percent of what we do each day is habitual,” David pointed out, “we need to be intentional about our habits.”
In the podcast, the author of Pivot & Go discusses how leaders can master their minds through confidence, cooperation, service, and purpose.
David poses the question, “If everything is taken away in your life, are you okay? Do you stand for more than what it says on your business card? If that’s where you find your confidence, it will go away. Where does your core self-awareness come from?”
You will learn:
"Don is one of the best storytellers I’ve ever met. I’ve known him for a long time and every time we talk I walk away wiser and more inspired. He is the best in the business at teaching you a skill – storytelling – that will last you a lifetime.”
“The ability for athletes to get hired is carried on through you because you are putting out the message that lessons learned from sports are important in life. It is embedded in this podcast, what you’re doing is significant.”
We speak the same language. I am inspired by the stories you tell, the people you have met, and the things you’ve done. Those of us that are competitors like to follow others that have been down that journey, so it is always fun talking to you!”
“Many of the leaders I have worked with were excellent athletes, and I think there is a direct correlation. You’re one of the few people that really has pursued this study, Don. Keep up the great work. What you are doing really makes a difference.”
“Don, you have mastered the skill of interviewing and asking great questions. That is a great skill all leaders need in order to understand their team members’ thought processes.”
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