My mom didn’t know what to think when she opened the door to see who had come to pick me up.
I was a skinny, 15-year-old Jewish kid who had been cut from the freshman basketball team and my “date” for the afternoon was…
Not.
He was a 6-4, 20-something black guy built like a professional athlete.
He greeted my mom with a smile charming enough to rival Magic Johnson’s.
“Hi, Mrs. Spector, I’m Robbie. Nice to meet you. Is Josh here?”
I dashed out the door with him before my mom could wrap her head around what was happening.
We hopped into his beat up Oldsmobile, a gospel/Jesus tape he was playing blared out the windows as he started the car, and we backed out of my suburban driveway headed for parts unknown.
I still laugh thinking about my mom watching us peel out to the soundtrack of “Jesus loves you.”
What my mom didn’t realize at the time was the man who whisked her boy away was a legend.
A local legend at least.
A few years earlier he had been the best high school basketball player in our area – an area that was a hotbed of hoops.
He had NBA potential, interest from big colleges, landed at a small one, and for reasons I never quite knew or understood, it didn’t work out.
But that’s not the point.
Somehow I had encountered him, he had taken an interest in me, and now he was taking me to play ball with him.
I was no stranger to the pickup games on our local playgrounds, but we went to one I hadn’t played at before.
One frequented by college players and should-have-been college players.
Guys taller, stronger, and tougher than me.
With Robbie as my escort, I was now going to play there too.
I was a decent player, but had no business being in that game.
But no one would turn away a guy Robbie brought, so I was in.
It wasn’t pretty.
But I kept playing – that day and on many days to come.
No matter how I struggled, he encouraged me to keep going.
And I improved.
A lot.
Though I have to admit throwing him alley oops wasn’t the hardest thing in the world to do.
I learned first hand the value of surrounding yourself with those more skilled than you.
It exponentially speeds up your growth.
The following fall I made the junior varsity team at my school.
Not just because I was better, but because I was more confident too.
I had become used to playing with players MUCH better than JV players.
I’m sure this experience influenced the rest of my life:
My willingness to step out of my comfort zone.
My determination to stick with hard things.
My belief it will pay off.
That’s why I’m sharing this story.
Put yourself in the orbit of people ahead of you and get comfortable with not being the best one in the room.
It pays MASSIVE dividends.
Speaking of which…
If you want to get better at producing content, I’d be honored to be your “Robbie.”
Let’s chat.
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