Only practicing elbow jumpers every day is a great way to become a good shooter from the elbow. It’s not, however, a good way to become a good corner 3 shooter. We have to practice a variety of shots to become well-rounded.
As we progress though, skills begin to translate. As long as we introduce some variety, we don’t need to practice from every square inch on the court before we can become an effective shooter. Eventually, we develop the coordination required to interpolate.
The best NBA players take it to another level. Not only can they shoot from anywhere on the court, but they can also adjust to their environment. When they have a 7-footer coming at them, they can put more arch on a shot. They can also vary their release point, timing, and even their body momentum.
It would be impossible to practice every single possible combination of these variables. But fortunately, their mind and body develops to a level that allows them to fill the gaps on the fly.
Taking it a step further, I’d bet that you could even change the object in their hands and they’d still be ridiculously effective. Steph Curry can probably shoot a golf ball from behind the three point arc better than most people can shoot a basketball – not because he spends all day shooting with a golf ball, but because he has developed the skills necessary to make the adjustments.
Similarly, great athletes tend to excel beyond their particular sport. Even if they haven’t spent much time playing a particular game (volleyball, darts, softball, etc.) it doesn’t take long for an athletic person to become fairly good at the game at hand. The core body movements, hand-eye coordination, and understanding of strategic principles all tend to translate.
And this is where the interesting correlation to everyday life comes in.
Take something like laying flooring as an example. It’s nice that I learned to tile a first-floor kitchen when I did my kitchen, but it’s even better that the process taught me core principles about laying flooring, and construction in general. Because of that experience, the process took much less time as I learned to lay different types of flooring in different environments, and it even helped as I turned my attention to walls and general carpentry.
Similarly, much of my early time on the job was spent learning how to write effective proposals, which eventually become legal contracts. Learning to write one particular proposal for a specific situation is useful, but the real benefit comes from understanding the underlying process that allows me to have a head start as I write future proposals for different customers, types of work, etc.
Generally speaking, it’s the transferable skills that lead to disproportional growth.
I recently wrote about how practical just-in-time learning can be. And I still believe this to be true. But the real value from our experiences come when we’re able to take advantage of these opportunities and learn the transferrable skills that we’ll need in the future.
-Brandon