“Have a good time, enjoy life. Life is too short to get bogged down and be discouraged.” Kobe Bryant.

These were the words to he lived by until his final day. He passed away on Sunday, January 26th, in a helicopter crash.

He will be remembered for his dedication to the game, his goodness of character, his contributions to society, and the hours and hours of amazement.

The Genius Of Kobe Bryant

When Kobe joined the Lakers in 1996, he was just an eighteen-year young boy.

He was known for his remarkable scoring ability from the early years of his career. His turnaround jumper was nearly unstoppable for the opposition.

At age 23, Kobe became the youngest player to win three championships from 2000 to 2002 and later won two more rings in 2009 and 2010. He even went on to win two Olympic gold medals and a few years ago, an Oscar.

In total, Kobe has won five championship titles, one shy of Jordan’s six.

He was an 18-time All-Star, making it 17 consecutive years.

Kobe twice led the NBA in scoring and won the league’s Most Valuable Player award in 2008. He is permanently etched into the league’s history. But the greatness of Kobe is shown in the fact that he did it all with one team.

What We Can Learn

Kobe had the “Mamba Mentality” with a legendary work ethic that transcends sports and generations.

For his mentality, he was known among fans as the Black Mamba. His work ethic and drive for success inspired millions of people to push themselves to achieve their goals. Whether it was basketball or being a father, he wanted to be the best. A true example of how putting in the time, effort, and sweat will guide you to achieving your aspirations.

Change is the only constant in modern sports. If you are not continually trying to improve your skills, there’s a good chance you’ll be dropped off during your career.

His mental toughness and skills allowed him to push through the hard times to create the life he wanted. Rather than wait until his career ended, he was proactive and started laying the foundation for his next career move. Kobe made the decision to invest in himself.

In a 2014 interview with Bloomberg, Kobe discussed his habit of cold calling successful people such as Arianna Huffington, Jony Ive, and Oprah Winfrey.

“I’ll just cold call people and pick their brains about stuff. Some of the questions that I’ll ask will seem really, really simple and stupid, quite honestly, for them. But if I don’t know, I don’t know. You have to ask. I’ll just do that. I’ll just ask questions, and I want to know more about how they build their businesses and how they run their companies and how they see the world.”

If you are one who hasn’t been fully embracing each day and living it intentionally, change it starting from today.

Take control of every moment of every day and spend that time purposefully.

Don’t allow yourself to waste time wallowing in negativity or on things that don’t matter to what you want and what you deserve in life.

We all mourn for Kobe Bryant. What a loss, not just for basketball, but for all sports.

Kobe is one of the all-time greats, someone whose impact has extended far beyond the basketball court.

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