The ‘Last Dance’ documentary about Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls ’91-’98 Championship run has been the best thing about quarantine. Originally set to be released in June, ESPN premiered a docuseries about #23’s mental toughness, Phil Jackson, and the two World Championship 3-Peats the team accomplished.
Michael Jordan is arguably the best basketball player there ever was. But as a 90s baby, I really didn’t get to experience any of his greatness. Right now, I know him more for shoes than memorable basketball moments. So the ‘Last Dance’ now added some validity behind my arguments of him being the GOAT.
Before this, I had few tangible references. But now, having watched his documentary, WOW! I feel like I’ve hopped into a time machine and relived his most iconic moments. The Chicago fandom of the 80s and 90s completely swept me up. It was awe-inspiring to watch someone transform an entire industry. But Michael Jordan’s mental toughness is what stood out the most to me. His ability to block out the outside and zone in on the moment is enviable. MJ’s relentlessness to be the best at EVERYTHING is not a common characteristic. And to be a Black athlete and get the kind of respect and reverence that he did worldwide is a feat on its own.
Mental Toughness is a prerequisite of success
Mental toughness is a construct that describes one’s abilities to push through obstacles and adversity. While maintaining focus, someone can continue onward if things are going good or bad (Gucciardi, Gordon, & Dimmock, 2008). A person’s beliefs, attitudes, actions, and values are all centered around perseverance. As you chase your goals, you will encounter many obstacles and setbacks, but your response is what determines your chances of success. Michael Jordan encountered multiple complications, a handful of which we saw in the “Last Dance”. Yet he still went on to win 6 NBA Championships. And in honor of those 6 NBA Championships, I present to you, 6 Lessons about Mental Toughness that I learned from watching MJ in the “Last Dance”:
1. The Bulls Started with Hope
Before a goal becomes real, it’s merely an idea. You have thoughts on what you want to do and how to get there. But, before you get there, it doesn’t exist yet. It’s a hypothetical. For this idea to go from that to a reality, one must start with hope.
Hope is the optimism that your goal is achievable.
When you have hope, you believe and have faith that everything is going to work out. Nothing is guaranteed, but you hold on to the idea that things will fall into place, just like you need them. Hope increases mental toughness because you move past setbacks. You have hope that a setback doesn’t change the end goal. So you just deal with it and scoot past it.
When Michael Jordan started playing, there was no guarantee of his future. No one marked his forehead at birth and told him he was destined to be the greatest. When the Chicago Bulls drafted him, they were one of the worst teams in the NBA in the 80s. MJ hoped that with his help, the Chicago Bulls would become a respected dynasty that people would talk about for years. As a 20 year old kid coming from North Carolina, all he could do was hope that he would make something of himself. That hope drove his ambition and determination to be a hard worker and stay on the right track.
Regardless of what you want to do in life, nothing is guarantee. If you want to be the greatest at something, hope is just the baseline requirement. Hope gets you past the naysayers and doubters. Hope gets you to get up everyday and fight through adversity. When you are full of hope, you keep the faith that eventually all your hard work will pay off. So hope keeps you honest because you never know when you’re turning point will be.
2. It Took One Match to start the Chicago Bulls Inferno
In the last episode of the “Last Dance”, Michael Jordan lamented on how it takes just one match to start a whole fire. The Chicago Bulls 1990s Dynasty was this inferno. Before Phil Jackson and a superstar supporting cast, Jordan was the greatest player on a not so good team. He was limited in what he could accomplish. His limitations were not just because of his teammates, but in the way he played as well. When the Chicago Bulls finally started to make their championship runs in the late 80s/early 90s, the Detroit Pistons smooshed their dreams every time.
The Turning of the Tide for the Chicago Bulls
After losing to them in 1990, MJ had enough. He sought out to get bigger, stronger, and tougher to beat. His hard work paid off as the Bulls finally beat the Pistons in 1991. After overcoming that hurdle, they went on to play Magic Johnson and the Lakers, beating them to win their first every NBA championship. Their dominance continued as they went on to consecutively win two more championships. After a brief break, they decided to make another threepeat run and win again 1996-1998.
As non-NBA superstars, and potentially non-athletes, what we can take away from this, is it just takes one moment for everything to fall into place. When I was applying to medical school, all anyone told me was “It just takes one”. All I needed was one school to say yes. Until I got that one yes, though, I had to keep grinding and working hard. I had to be mentally tough to stay the course and not quit. Doing things the right way and having patience paid off for me when I didn’t just get 1, but actually had a choice of schools to attend. So whatever you are working towards, keep it up because your breakthrough is coming. It could be one yes, or one sale, or one shoutout. Whatever it is, it’s coming. And when it does, be ready for the onslaught of success coming your way.
3. Be a Good Teammate
This may seem weird on a list about being mentally tough. You can’t control what anyone does so what does this have to do with mental toughness? No one accomplishes anything on their own. I don’t care if you worked four jobs to make it through school without asking anyone else for money. Someone had to give you those jobs. They helped you towards your goal. There is nothing in life that we do completely on our own. You wouldn’t even be here if it wasn’t for your parents and the people that helped deliver you. Working together makes life easier for everyone on the team.
Teamwork distributes the workload and the collaboration of ideas enhances the project.
This was something Michael Jordan was both very good and very bad at. He was bad at teamwork because he thought he needed to do everything himself. In his mind, no one else could take the last shot. He put this enormous amount of pressure on himself to make things happen. If he wasn’t in the game making something happen, then he felt like nothing was getting done. His game elevated, when he realized that his teammates were very capable of playing high level basketball.
Just because you’re the smartest, or the “Michael Jordan” of your team, doesn’t mean others can’t benefit or help you.
He learned this lesson when two unlikely teammates were the heroes because he gave the ball up. Everyone knows that in crunchtime, Jordan got the ball. In turn, his teammates were left wide open. Paxon and Kerr, two of his teammates benefited from this. In 1993 and 1997, Jordan passed the ball to Paxon and Kerr respectively. They each hit the game winning shot. He was heavily guarded and pressured, while his teammates were wide open and could take set shots.
That’s what teamwork is about. When you can’t do something, someone else picks up the load and you all get to the same end goal. It takes the stress off you and decreases feelings of loneliness. Mental toughness involves trusting your team to pick up their load so everyone succeeds. Selfishness or pride will only slow you down. Ask for help and create a circle of support.
However, MJ was a good teammate because he pushed his teammates to be their best. Now this is controversial as some disagree with his harsh tactics. Without regard for being liked, Michael Jordan dug into his teammates until they became a championship team. He didn’t want to go after a championship by himself. He knew his teammates could do it if they just worked hard enough. So he demanded he very best from them and he got it.
I don’t 100% agree with MJ and his tough love because that’s just not my personality.
But if you want something bad enough, you will do whatever you need to get it. If there are other people involved, you’ll do whatever you need to get them to where they need to be. His teammates don’t deny he was a jerk. But they are so appreciative of how he pushed them to be winners and create a dynasty that will go down in history.
He pushed himself as well. He worked harder than any of them, making it easier for his teammates to listen to him. It’s one thing to bark out commands, but sit on your laurels. It’s another thing to lead by example. He worked so hard, that everyone respected what he had to say. He wanted to win and he wanted you to work just as hard as he worked.
4. Taking Breaks is Okay
MJ retired three times. That seems ridiculous and it seems like he just kept quitting and coming back when he felt like it. However, when you’ve accomplished your goals, sometimes you run out of motivation. There’s nothing wrong with checking that off and finding a new goal. You also may just need a mental break. In order to maintain mental toughness, you have to give your brain a rest, just like any other muscle.
When Chicago drafted them, his goal was for them to earn respect as a great team. He also wanted to be the best basketball player ever. That meant doing things that even Magic Johnson and Larry Bird hadn’t done. After he won a championship, he knew to beat them out and make history, they had to go for a 3-peat. Neither Magic or Larry had one 3 in a row, so that was his new goal. When he did that, he checked off his last goal. He didn’t have the motivation to keep playing and he was getting older. So he retired and did something else.
Michael Jordan and his Baseball retirement
He transitioned to baseball and fully committed himself. MJ completely removed any basketball thoughts. He didn’t come in and act like a hot shot. He was a basketball god, but he was at the bottom of the totem pole in baseball. MJ was a rookie again and that’s what he wanted. A new challenge. By the time the strike of 95 rolled around and threatened his baseball career, he found a renewed spirit for basketball.
That eagerness and fire he had as a rookie was there again when he returned. He played basketball without his dad for the first time. During baseball he reconditioned his body. And on top of that, he was aging. He had quite a few challenges standing in his way of a good comeback. But, like any mentally tough person, he used these adversities as fire. Then he had a new goal, 3-peat again. He had quite a few new faces on the team and saw an opportunity to make “The Last Dance” a great one.
If you’re chasing a dream, but start to feel apathetic, its okay to be Like Mike and take a break.
Even if you’re doing something as simple as studying, it’s fine to take a brain break. When you’re uninspired and unmotivated, you start going through the motions. You accomplish nothing doing this. Go do something else and come back when you start to miss it or feel reinspired. And if the feeling never comes back, then that’s okay. That dream has run its course and it’s time for the next goal.
5. Find Your Motivation and Keep Your Focus
Gas lights a fire. Ammonia bursts into flame when it comes into contact with oxygen. What lights you on fire? What gets you going? For #23, it was anything that he perceived as a slight. He didn’t like anyone even thinking they were anywhere close to his level. Sometimes he would even make things up that people said or did to him just to motivate him before a game. Throughout the “Last Dance”, all of MJ’s explosive games came right after someone said or did something to insult him. It’s like they didn’t understand their cockiness was his motivation. He didn’t cowar or let their boastfulness deter his goals. He absorbed their energy and used it for his own domination, like Thanos.
In addition to view challengers as motivators, mental toughness is also about focusing. Michael Jordan was superb because he found a way to keep his eye on the prize. Always. He could always block out anything on the outside and only focus on the game. Regardless if they were winning, losing, being boo’d, or celebrated by fans, he focused until the final buzzer. Wins and losses can’t distract you. If something goes wrong for you, shake it off and push forward. If something goes great for you, celebrate a little and get back to business. It’s all about staying focused and not letting anything distract you.
6. Before Your “Last Dance” Give Everything you Love 100%
The “Last Dance” is a 10 part docuseries that took place over 5 weeks. The clip that stands out the most to me is when MJ gets emotional about being a competitor.
The raw emotion he shows about giving his all to this sport shows just how passionate he was. What we can take away from this is don’t half ass anything. Whatever you decide to pursue, give it your all. People will hate you or talk about you. You may suffer from FOMO or lack of sleep. Being mentally tough will get you past all of that. That’s surface level. But none of that matters once you accomplish what you want.
When you make an impact, your dedication is suddenly worth it. ESPN made a 10 hour documentary of him and his team because of all the work they all put in. His message is simple, if you don’t want to do it, then don’t. However no one wants to hear shoulda, coulda, woulda in 20 years. Either put in 100% or don’t do it at all because you’re wasting everyone’s time, especially yours.
Once you get to the level where you are great, everyone who comes in and puts in half effort will piss you off. You’ll feel like they’re wasting your time. It’s an infectious energy that will either spread to everyone or push the weak ones away. Either way, if you really wanted to accomplish something, you would. You don’t have to be the best in the room, but you do have to be YOUR best. I can’t make any promises, but I would bet that by consistently giving things your best effort, you’ll eventually be one of, if not, the best.
A sad farewell to the Last Dance
Whether you grew up during the Bull’s championship run, or the Last Dance was your first time ever hearing about them, this docuseries was phenomenal. As we were in the depths of quarantine, we needed some excitement. The “Last Dance” gave us 10 whole hours of greatness. It was exciting, scandalous, nerve racking and breath taking all at the same time. “The Last Dance” gave us a boat load of lessons. We only discussed a small handful.
The main takeaway from Michael Jordan’s dominance is to give your craft your utmost attention. You have to be mentally strong if you ever want to accomplish anything. You must push past barriers and look at the bigger picture. If you stay down when you get knocked down, opportunities will pass you. That’s not being mentally tough. Find ways to build mental toughness and start looking at life as an opportunity, rather than a challenge. Thank you Michael Jordan for a brilliant story and I pray his ambition flies through everyone who watched it and lights a small match of hope.
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