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Lead Like a Champion: Jalen Brunson's Calm, Consistent Leadership · D-constructing Topics

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  What's going on everybody and what's going on folks?
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  My name is David and I am your legendary host of this legendary podcast,
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  the Deconstructed Topic Podcast, where we grab a topic and we deconstruct it
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  and we break it down and today we got a good one.
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  Today we're going to break down what make great leaders on and off the court.
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  And today's episode, it's about one of the NBA's most respected rights and leaders
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  my boy 11 from the new york knicks who one week ago deliver and got us to the
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  promised land an nba championship after 53 years,
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  and yes today is going to be an interesting because i am one to have always
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  have said that when you grab something uh in life,
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  i always kind of see things to the lens of a sports fan and sports in itself
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  because there's a lot of elements in regards to sports, teams,
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  individual that you could apply in your everyday life, whether it's your professional,
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  your, you know, anything that has to do it.
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  Listen, personal and your household and your job and your dream job, whatever it is.
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  We got some good stuff going on. And welcome to the Deconstruction Top Podcast.
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  I try to get a little bit uncomfortable here. And today is how to be a leader like Jalen Bronson.
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  And how to be a leader. And now, keep in mind, I put the name Jalen Bronson.
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  You could visualize this player, this individual.
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  And I always want to emphasize to people, it's this, in regards to being a leader
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  and how you get to the top. That is one of the things that we're going to talk
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  about. We're going to break it down. Feel free to hit the like button.
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  And it does, does do a lot of good for me.
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  I put my little, hey, listen, if you want to feel like, hey,
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  you want to help out this podcast, just because your boys, your boy deconstructing
• 1:43
  topic podcast, I'm on a mission.
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  And we're going to get it. And we got my information somewhere in the bottom in the description.
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  Feel free to leave the information in regards to the PayPal.
• 1:53
  Feel free to, hey, listen, feel free, make it happen. But what I would definitely
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  appreciate is once again, hit the like, feel free to comment,
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  talk to me. What do you feel?
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  Is there something that you're lacking to be a leader? Do you feel like you're a leader?
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  Do you feel like, hey, listen, there's something that I'm missing.
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  And I'm saying we as well, because you are listening to this podcast.
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  You are taking time to...
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  You listen to the podcast, but I'm on the YouTubes and all that good stuff.
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  And you could just look at me, my expression. Let's go.
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  Let's make it happen. And today, it's one of those things that,
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  hey, face your hand if you're one of those people that feel like you're a leader. And I got the labor.
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  I'm a labor union leader for 20 plus years.
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  And I'm one of those people that have lead by example. Many of my members have
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  called me a leader because, hey, I like to help out.
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  And not only to help out, but to lead by example. And one of the things that
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  we're going to see in the picture here, because it's not easy to be in the role of a leader.
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  Again, it doesn't mean that you're
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  a boss. It doesn't mean that you're a supervisor or you're a manager.
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  It doesn't mean that you are in some type of, in your professional life,
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  that you are in or leading a team or law firm or whatever it is.
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  You don't necessarily have to be in those high spots.
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  Just you in itself, it's a leader. And if people look up to you and reach out
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  to you, text you, call you, email you, if they always looking to pick your brain,
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  that means that you're somewhere, somewhere of a leader.
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  We're going to grab all that and we're going to combine it that by the time
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  that you finish listening to this podcast, you're going to grab those car keys
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  and you're just going to be like, you're going to grab a basket.
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  You're going to do something and you're going to show out there who you are
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  and what you're capable of.
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  One of the things with Jalen Pronson, you know, he's not a flashy dude. You know, just relax.
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  If you've seen his interview, he's a download guy. If you're watching this, he's a download guy.
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  What's going on? Well, you know, I had a good game. But it's, you know, my teammates.
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  And if it's not for the team, very, very quiet. Kind of for those sports fans that are listening.
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  You know, I'm a New York Giants fan, New York Yankees fan, Knicks fan.
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  And guess what? If I look at the championship that we have won,
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  if there's one thing that they have in common when it comes to New York Knicks, we got Jalen.
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  When it comes to New York Giants, Eli Manning. When it comes to New York Yankees,
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  I got me done, Derek Jeter.
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  And what is the one thing that they all have in common? They lead by example. They're not flashy.
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  They just compose. And when it's time to bring it on.
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  Those are the people that you trust. And trust me, Eli Manning wins two Super Bowl rings.
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  Derek Jeter wins four rings, four or five rings or whatever it is.
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  Jalen now one, looking for more. It's that when the game is on the line,
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  they all stay calm and composed under pressure. And that's where I sometimes ask myself.
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  I'll be honest. I sometimes pressure. You know, when I get pressured, even me, I say leader.
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  And in a position in my professional life, as a leader, you know,
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  pressure. pressure from the boss, pressure from the top, pressure from all over.
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  It gets to me. I ain't going to lie.
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  Come on. I'm just a human being. But you see, that's where you got to look up.
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  And when you're under pressure and you can't handle it, it's not that you cannot
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  handle it. It's that you didn't put the work. See, and that's the thing here
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  in regards to one of the things that I would like to say.
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  And one of the things that Jalen Bronson said, it's only pressure when you're
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  not prepared. Listen to that.
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  It's only pressure when you're not prepared. See, that's where people kind of
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  flustered in the spotlight when it comes to pressure. That's because you're
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  not prepared. You didn't work hard.
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  See, Jalen Brunson worked hard. And I know that some people might out there
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  command his parents and so on and so forth.
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  You know, not everybody is going to be in that situation.
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  But how many times we've seen people, you got the tools, you're surrounded by
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  people, make the best of what you have and think about, you know,
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  how to just kind of like squeeze the best out of people that's around.
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  And I mentioned that because sometimes he said, well, you know,
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  I don't have this and, you know, I, I, I, I'm one to grow up when I was a young kid.
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  Was there a lot of positive mentoids in my life? No, but, you know,
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  my family, you know, over there in Puerto Rico.
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  So, you know, in a sense that I have to kind of build myself.
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  Was there people that made an impact on me? Absolutely. There's a lot of people,
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  teachers, you know, my mother, my siblings.
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  People believe in me. That's why I created this podcast. I didn't create this
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  podcast on the sheer sense of, let me talk.
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  This is 20 years of making. One of the reasons I created this podcast once again,
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  because I want to instill that into that kind of thing of, I know that I believe
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  in you just like people believe in me.
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  And one of the things that Jalen Bronson, my parents raised me to never be a
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  follower and always be a leader. Let that sink in.
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  Yeah, let that sink in. People out there, there's a lot of followers.
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  I'll be honest. I'm surrounded by many people that are followers.
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  They let the news dictate whatever it is that they do.
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  They let certain things dictate what they do. No, no, no. You got to think on
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  your own. That's why it's one of my models is think on your own.
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  Unplug yourself if you have to.
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  And that's why sometimes what happens in life is this, that when you think on
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  your own and then you start being surrounded by people that's going to help you, whatever it is.
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  Then you know what? If you got like a little team out there,
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  let's say I got a little team out there.
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  Got a couple of teams out there. Am I professional? Hey, I got my gym brothers
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  and sister very supportive of what I do.
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  Shout out to them. But I want to be like, you know what? Let me put the team before yourself.
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  That's what makes a great leader as well. If you own whatever it is,
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  a little small business, mom and pops, a little your family,
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  whatever, big business, medium
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  sized business, whatever it is that you do, that you are with a team.
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  Always put that team before you, before yourself. Trust me, you're going to
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  get the best out of people. That's why I always say lead by example. Let's go.
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  Let's go. One of the things that I also have been talking about is that,
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  you know, you always want to lead with that calm, calm things.
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  You don't have to be like, yo, let's go, you know, put it in,
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  go in people's face. Hey, sometimes, hey, listen, even me, I could sometimes
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  understand that you try to pet people. I'm like, let's go.
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  Let's go. I'm not going to do the Mike Brown thing. We're the dogs.
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  And then, you know, wait, wait, wait. I think I wasn't in with that song.
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  But I was going to channel my Ray Lewis.
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  It doesn't work for everybody. I learned that the hard way.
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  There are people that are very, their demeanor is very calm.
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  So how do you work with that? And just because someone is calm and their demeanor
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  is calm, it doesn't mean that they don't have fire.
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  Sometimes you got to control your emotions. That's the thing with me.
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  I got to learn how to control the emotions. Once you control your emotions,
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  you're going to control that moment. You're going to seize that moment.
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  You know, as a leader, do people feel more calm? Do people feel more stressed?
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  See, you know when you are a leader, when people react to you without you saying
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  much. Thank you. I appreciate that. Oh, thank you. You know,
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  they put in the work without you even asking.
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  Because that's what leaders are. They don't have to speak loud.
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  They don't have to get emotional. But second, you know, one of the things that
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  I always have said is that, you know, you got to put in the work.
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  When you put in the work, do it when nobody's watching.
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  Have you, you know, read books? Have you studied? Have you done something?
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  When there's nobody around and you'd be like, okay. And then the next,
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  whatever it is that you learn, you apply it to that, whatever situation that
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  comes next. You got to take accountability. One of the things that says there
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  for wins and loss that you might say.
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  You know, are we talking about sports here now? We're talking about life.
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  What makes a good decision a bad decision? We can't necessarily sit here and
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  guarantee that in life that whatever decision you're going to make is always good.
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  See, there's no such thing. We're going to make the decision.
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  And we're going to have a couple of dubs in that decision, whether it's the
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  right decision or the wrong decision.
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  It's going to be W's and L's there. But you've got to take accountability.
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  If you have lived life as a leader and you say, damn, there's a couple of mistakes I've done.
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  Take that accountability. Grab that what you lost and turn it into some witch.
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  You know, practice and prepare yourself and discipline yourself.
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  And it's not just discipline. You know, people talk about discipline.
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  Maybe we might talk about practice. Practice? We're talking about practice? Great Alan Iverson.
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  But practice things constantly, especially consistently. Practice consistent.
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  Because once you practice consistent, you're going to start to kind of realize
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  that whether you made the right decision or you made a wrong decision,
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  you'll make the decision and you felt comfortable about making that decision.
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  Sometimes you just got to improve quietly. And I'll be that I,
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  listen, I'm going to say it's this, I've been hitting the gym a little bit hard,
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  but I know I can elevate myself. And you like, when I go to the gym,
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  people are like, oh yeah, look at you, you're looking good, papi, looking good.
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  You know what I mean? But you see, that's when you improve yourself quietly.
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  No one needs to know. You just do it.
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  And so you have to practice, be consistent every day.
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  A leader will make other people's better. And that's why I kind of was thinking
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  about that. Put your team before yourself and what a great leader is.
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  You make others better. You don't necessarily have to be, yeah, let's go. Let's go.
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  You don't have to be on that, you know, kind of type of person.
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  I do that. I'll be honest. Let's go. I'll be hype. Sometimes I'll be too hype.
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  But, you know, my thing is that sometimes I am surrounded by so many people
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  that have bettered themselves. And they have thanked me.
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  Now I learned something. That's why you got to hit the like and subscribe to
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  my podcast, my channel, YouTube, Spotify.
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  App with all that trust me i'm here i want to make other people's better
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  and i'm pretty sure that i'm gonna feel better because there are people out
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  there that's gonna be like hey let's go again once again you you in the position
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  because you're gonna make others better if you don't make other people better.
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  Bail back don't lose your confidence sometimes i always should i said in one of my podcasts i
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  you know it was one of those uh motivational podcasts i'm doing so much content
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  i mean but i did say sometimes there's people that cannot be safe you know we
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  Surrounded by people that are just, you know, they got that crab thing in a bucket.
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  You know, they're just pulling us back, pulling us back, pulling us.
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  And that's not the lack of your leadership skills. It's just,
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  that's life. That's why in sports, teams get, you know, players get traded.
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  Hey, things ain't working out here. So, you know what? You know, you get traded.
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  But make others better. And that's one of the things that with Jalen and he
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  done extremely well. He elevated his teammates.
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  The fact that Mikael Bridges and Josh Hart played with him in Villanova,
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  and 10 years later, they won a championship, and I'm sorry, they won a championship
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  as a college team in 2016,
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  and as an NBA professional team growing adults, they won a championship together.
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  See, I've got great leaders. They don't shine alone. They just help each other,
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  and I'm one of those people that be like, yo, I always got this motto, if I eat, you eat.
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  I mean, I've elevated my podcast, and I've been sharing the numbers, and I appreciate you.
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  I appreciate everybody that's following me on the YouTube. My number is climbing
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  up, climbing up. And I always say, you know what? See, I'm not going to forget that.
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  Because I'm not here doing this alone. I need you. And that's where the great leaders come in.
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  They will step up when the pressure's on the line and they'll grab whatever it is, but I got you.
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  But sometimes you got to ask yourself, you know, if you are in a position of
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  a leadership, whether it's in your household, like I said, professional,
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  whatever it is that you're running the show, am I creating opportunities for
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  others? And am I, what am I doing?
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  You know what I mean? Am I building people? And you have to build people up.
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  You have to make sure that you're on top of the game, on top of the line,
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  whatever it is. You just got to do it. That's why I said be consistent.
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  Practice, consistent practice. Yeah, I said practice. Accountability over excuses
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  all day, every day. No, because I can't do this. Oh, because I can't do that.
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  Hey, listen, I'll be honest. You know, I'm doing this little podcast.
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  My beautiful laptop here. You know, laptop, it's a couple of years.
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  You know, it's running on slow motion a little bit. Is that an excuse for me
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  not to do a podcast? Absolutely not. I could find ways. I could do it on my
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  phone. I could find ways. Anything that you do that you take accountability,
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  just take the accountability. Be like my fool. Man, my bad.
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  Because no more excuses. Excuses is like, once you start with excuses,
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  trust me, we are creatures of habit in this world. It's one of the things that I love about Jalen.
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  When they win, it's a team effort. When they lose, he's like,
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  hey, listen, we could have done better.
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  There have been a couple of times that he has taken accountability for the team
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  losing. him, but it's not him saying I'm disappointed in myself.
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  It's me. I'm disappointed in myself to kind of disappoint the team or whatever it is.
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  See, not a lot of people do that in life. People, for some reason,
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  don't want to admit when they wrong, you know, when they did something that
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  they messed up. You know what I'm talking about.
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  I didn't know that, you know. It's a situation that I'm dealing with for quite
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  a while, and I need to address it soon. But it's funny because as a leader and
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  that person, what made better when it comes to, hey, listen,
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  what's going on? Hey, you know, talk to me.
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  Well, you know, they started coming with some excuse about something.
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  It's like, damn, I'm a leader. Remember, I made yourself better.
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  Don't deflect on anything. Don't
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  point the fingers. Don't be that person because you got to take it on you.
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  That's on you. You know, sometimes I say to myself, wow, like this is incredible.
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  And when being that I'm in that position of a leader, I'm like,
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  okay. And I messed up. Sometimes I'll be honest, like, damn, I did I messed up.
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  You know, I question myself. You see, that's the little confidence and calm
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  confidence that one got to need.
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  You put your head up and you'd be like, okay, I did that. You know, it's on me.
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  And I, sometimes I just, you're going to hear that a lot from me.
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  It's like, yo, if that's on me, I'll fix it. I got it. Because I,
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  you know, sometimes even in my workplace, if my boss says something and I didn't
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  do it, yes, you know, a person's going to call me out.
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  Hey, don't do that again. I got it. That's on me.
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  But you see, when, when we make less mistakes, because now we put in the work
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  and trust me that you're going to get, and that's how you build trust.
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  Cause you're going to start seeing that nobody's going to question you.
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  See Jalen Bronson, people always question all the way to winning the championship
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  last week, whether he's too small, you know, it's always whatever it is that he's doing.
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  But if there's one thing about Jalen Bronson, he won it in high school,
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  he won it in college, he won it in NBA now. What now? You know what I mean?
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  Because the one thing that he always have in his mind is that consistent is power.
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  Always remember that. That's why I said, be consistent in everything.
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  Consistent is power. I started to be more consistent in the gym, guess what?
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  Out of nowhere, these different opportunities start to pop in.
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  Out of nowhere, not only am I getting an opportunity, but I'm paying it forward.
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  There's a couple of people out there that I've helped in the last couple of
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  months there, and I'm only going to say they're going to pay it forward as well,
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  but that's what consistent is. When you're consistent with something,
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  then everything in life or just about everything is just going to be like, pop, coming in.
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  I always say, you know, there's this thing, and listen, when you manifest the
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  power of manifestation and so on and so forth, you know, that's another topic.
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  But sometimes you can't just sit down and think, oh, let me close my eyes.
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  Let me manifest that this is going to come to me. Yeah, yeah,
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  you know, affirmation is powerful.
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  But you have to put in the work and be consistent. And people wonder,
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  why am I consistent? Why my life has been consistent? Why things seem not to
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  work out? That's because that's on you. You created that.
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  And I will guarantee, and I will guarantee, if Jalen Bronson came to the Knicks
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  just for money or whatever it is, or he just came for the fame or whatever it is.
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  Or now for him, success is getting a big contract, millions of dollars,
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  and then he would have been very overrated and all that.
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  No, no, you see, yeah, he was on a mission. And every year, we just kept on
• 17:33
  getting bigger. And every year, we just kept on going farther and farther and
• 17:38
  farther until we win the NBA. New York Knicks.
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  He's your 2026 NBA champions But, hey, this podcast or this one It's.
• 17:47
  All about how to be a leader Again, how to be a leader like Jalen Bronson How
• 17:53
  to be a leader like David Malavi How to be a leader and fill in the blank Because
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  you're a leader You need to be a famous, a basketball player,
• 18:01
  athlete Or whatever it is,
• 18:03
  You don't have to be a famous podcaster. I'm just saying, you don't have to
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  be out there in the socials, the platform, whatever it is. Just be yourself.
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  Be consistent and work hard and lead by example. Because trust me, someone is watching.
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  And even if nobody's watching, still stay consistent. All right, my peoples.
• 18:24
  You already know it's your boy Deconstructing Topic Podcast.
• 18:27
  I left all my information in the description.
• 18:31
  Hit the like. Hit the subscribe. Whatever it is, that platform,
• 18:34
  you already know. Share that love. My information, it's PayPal.
• 18:38
  It's David Malave 564.
• 18:41
  That's D-A-V-I-D. M-L-M-A-L-A-V-E 564. And I'm hoping to hear from you and all
• 18:50
  that good stuff. So let's make it happen. You already know.
• 18:52
  Stay consistent. I'm out of here. Peace. I'm out.