Kobe Bean Bryant (August 23, 1978 – January 26, 2020) was an American professional basketball player. A shooting guard, he spent his entire 20-year career with the Los Angeles Lakers in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Widely regarded as one of the greatest basketball players of all time, Bryant won five NBA championships, was an 18-time All-Star, a 15-time member of the All-NBA Team, a 12-time member of the All-Defensive Team, the 2008 NBA Most Valuable Player (MVP), and a two-time NBA Finals MVP. Bryant also led the NBA in scoring twice, and ranks fourth in league all-time regular season and postseason scoring. He was posthumously voted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2020.
Here are some of Kobe Bryant’s success lessons:
1. Becoming obsessive
Kobe didn’t just invest his time and sweat into basketball — he dedicated himself in every way to becoming one of the best. “If you want to be great in a particular area,” he once said, “you have to obsess over it. A lot of people say they want to be great, but they’re not willing to make the sacrifices necessary to achieve greatness. They have other concerns, whether important or not, and they spread themselves out.”
There was no hiding Kobe’s deep love for basketball, and that’s exactly the mentality you must have if you want to become the best in your niche. Embrace your passion, your obsession, and use it to reach heights others can’t. Fall in love with the process of what you do. If you’re only in it for the money, fame or accolades, you’re not going to make it very far.
2. You Can Always Learn More
It doesn’t matter how good you become at your chosen skill or craft, there is always potential for more learning and development. Many successful people might let their achievements go to their head, and make them think there’s nothing they can improve upon. This really isn’t true; there’s always room for people to improve and learn more, which is exactly why Kobe Bryant and many other people have continued to grow year by year. It’s all about being hungry to learn more, always.
3. Embracing new skills
One of the questions Kobe often asked himself after retiring in 2016 was, “What do I enjoy doing?” When he found the answer — storytelling — he pushed and founded multimedia production company Granity Studios.
In 2018, Kobe won an Academy Award, a Sports Emmy and an Annie Award for his short animated film Dear Basketball. He was proud of being the first African American to win an award in that category and believed there needed to be more diversity. Kobe said then, “I remain focused on changing the world in positive ways through diverse stories, characters and leadership in order to inspire the next generation.”
4. Respect People Close to You
Earlier on in Kobe’s career, he was very aggressive towards his team mates, and would often give them plenty of orders that they didn’t seem to happy about, because he knew the game and knew what had to be done.
However, as he progressed through his career and got older, he realized it was more about respecting his team mates and communicating better. Not only to produce better results, but also to have happy relationships with everyone else.
5. Leaders create leaders
“I liked challenging people and making them uncomfortable,” Kobe once said. “That’s what leads to introspection and that’s what leads to improvement. You could say I dared people to be their best selves.”
On the court, Kobe was a powerful-if-controversial leader for his team. He always aggressively pushed his teammates to be their best, and while some have called Kobe a bully, the former Laker explained his strategy in his book, Mamba Mentality: “I varied my approach from player to player. I still challenged everyone and made them uncomfortable, I just did it in a way that was tailored to them. To learn what would work and for who, I started doing homework and watched how they behaved. I learned their histories and listened to what their goals were. I learned what made them feel secure and where their greatest doubts lay. Once I understood them, I could help bring the best out of them by touching the right nerve at the right time.”
6. Break Your Problems Down Into Smaller Pieces
If you have an incredibly big problem that looks too large to be solved, chop it down into smaller pieces. This way, it allows you to focus on specific issues individually which gives you a better chance of fixing them.
As Kobe explains below, this is what he did back in 2003, after all the endorsements he had dropped him and told him the situation couldn’t be fixed.
And this problem also relates back to the “where there’s challenge, there’s opportunity” success lesson. This was a big challenge for Kobe to overcome, but he did it and proved people wrong.
Which Kobe Bryant’s success lessons do you love most? Leave a comment below.
