How you can Implement the Kobe Mamba Mentality into your life.

This table highlights the key elements of the Mamba Mentality popularized by Kobe Bryant. Each aspect represents a characteristic or mindset that individuals can adopt to excel in various areas of life, such as sports, career, or personal development.

How can you implement the Mamba Mentality?

Maintain a commitment to working hard.

Kobe was known for his laser focus and commitment to excellence. His work ethic was unmatched, and he refused to be complacent. He constantly outworked his peers, putting in those extra reps before and after practice. He knew the price of greatness, and he was more than willing to pay it. As Kobe said, “Without studying, preparation, and practice, you’re leaving the outcome to fate. I don’t do fate.”.

How you can implement it: Always keep your goals in mind and stay focused on achieving them. Eliminate your distractions and surround yourself with a circle that’s hard working and aligned with your goals.

Remain curious.

During his playing career, Kobe was notorious for reaching out for advice from some of the best to do it such as Michael Jordan and Muhammad Ali. Even after retiring from the NBA, Kobe reach out to other great minds, including: Steve Jobs and Oprah Winfrey.

In an interview with Bloomberg, he said:

“I’ll just cold call people and pick their brains about stuff. Some of the questions that I 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 business and how they run their companies and how they see the world.”

Everyone of us can learn something from Kobe’s curiosity. Curiosity in the workplace has been proven to promote innovation. In a team setting, curiosity among teammates often leads to better communication and as a result the team will perform better. Enhancing your inner curiosity will lead to greater experiences in your life.

How you can implement it: Most people don’t have direct access to the executives of their company, or a way of contacting top athletes from their favourite leagues. However, you can try to reach out to someone who you respect on your team and ask for their approach to life. Also, we live in the age of technology, so search around on the internet for your idols approaches or send out a DM on Instagram and hope for a response.

You can also try and be more open to new ways of doing things. Open your mind to new methods of solving problems, new exercises, new diets. You can also be more observing. Watch and learn from others. You will be surprised by how much you actually learn from actively observing and listening.

Be authentic.

When Kobe was younger, he was really careful about how he was perceived, he wanted to be liked. But as he grew older, he stopped caring as much and just grew into who he was meant to be.

“As I become more experienced, I realized, no matter what, people are going to like you or not like you,” he said. “So be authentic and let them like you or not for who you actually are.”

In a workplace, it can be difficult to be truly authentic, but you will be your happiest if you’re authentic at work. You will also find more satisfaction and enjoyment in the work you do and you’ll be much less likely to become disengaged with what you do.

How you can implement it: You need to find your inner self. Understand your strengths and weaknesses. Accept yourself for who you are and who you want to be. Do not be afraid to articulate your ideas in your own language, not someone else’s. Speak honestly and openly to yourself.

Pay close attention to the detail.

Kobe constantly paid meticulous attention to the smallest details. He regularly picked things up that other athletes would fail to notice, and then he used that to his advantage. In an interview, he said:

“When you watch me shoot my fadeaway jumper, you’ll notice my leg is always extended. I had problems making that shot in the past. It’s tough. So, one day I’m watching the Discovery Channel and see a cheetah hunting. When the cheetah runs, its tail always gives it balance, even if its cutting a sharp angle. And that’s when I was like: My leg could be the tail, right?”

This insane attention to detail is what enabled him to become one of the greatest athletes to ever play the sport.

How you can implement it: If you work with numbers, always recheck the numbers for accuracy. If you work in reviewing documents, always check the document for consistency, even with formatting. Whatever it is you do, pay attention to the smallest details, that is what will set you apart from your competition, helping you get that raise or promotion you desire.

Share your knowledge.

One of the most effective ways to encourage others to be their best is through sharing the knowledge you have gained throughout your career. Kobe was obviously great because he put in countless hours, blood sweat and tears, but many greats shared advice with him. Towards the end of his career, Kobe advised many younger athletes, including the likes of Jayson Tatum.

“The most important things is to try and inspire people so that they can be great in whatever they do.” – Kobe Bryant.

How you can implement it: Mentor a younger teammate. Volunteer to train colleagues. Lead a lunch and learn at work. Write a blog about your work.

Everyday you should be in competition with yourself.

When Kobe conducted his 2016 Mamba Mentality tour, in Philippines, he said: “To sum up what Mamba Mentality is, it means to be able to constantly try to be the best version of yourself. That is what the mentality is. It’s a constant quest to try to be better today than you were yesterday.”

We should constantly be striving to make daily progress in every aspect of our lives. If you aspire for anything less than daily progress, you’re cheating yourself. It would be completely contrary to the mamba mentality.

How you can implement it: Make a schedule. Allocate time every single day where you develop a new skill, exercise, read and grow. Set achievable daily goals and track your progress. Keep a journal so you can keep track, see your progress and tack new ideas.

Embrace your failures.

As a rookie in the 1997 Western Conference playoffs, Kobe attempted 4 notorious shows against the Utah Jazz that were air balls. The first air balls was an attempt to win the game in regulation. His last shot that was an air ball was to tie the game at the end of overtime. Consequently, the Lakers ended up losing and being eliminated from the playoffs.

Most players would have been completely broken down by the experience, but not Kobe. After the game, Kobe returned to Los Angeles, and went to a local high school and got jump shots up for many, many hours. He repeated this exercise daily throughout the entire offseason. He committed himself to an insanely intense workout regimen to strengthen both his arms and legs so that he would have the endurance to hit clutch shots late in the game.

How you can implement it: Stop dwelling on your past mistakes and failures. Failures enable personal growth. View your failures as growth opportunities. Address the root cause of your failure, learn from it, and develop a plan to attack the future.