Now, over to Dame:
👉 During the interview, he told a story about the 2018 playoffs, when the Blazers (3rd seed) were brutally swept out of the first round by the Pelicans.
After the game, the team asked him if he wanted to get up on the podium and answer questions.
“It’s okay if you don’t want to,” they told him. “We know that was a tough night.”
But instead of backing down, shying away, and nursing his wounds in private like many players would…
Dame stepped up in front of millions of fans and media and said, very clearly:
"We got beat by a better team. It was our time to get beat. I didn't play well enough, and I've gotta be better."That, my man, is called Living by your Code.
Later, Dame described what was going through his mind in that moment:
"It wasn't hard for me to get up there and do that on TV because I know it didn't happen because I didn't handle my business.
I was just my turn to go through something.
I handle my business behind closed doors, whether people see it or not. I'm the same person when I'm with all my cousins or if I was walking down the street by myself.
I know that about myself, so I'm Confident because of that.
So when [bad] stuff happens, I know I've handled my business. But for people who skip that stuff, when it goes bad, it goes bad -- it's over for them."I hope you read that ☝️ closely…
…Because when Dame says “handle my business,” what he is describing is his own personal Code — the source of his Inner Confidence.
Finally, he brings it home with some key words of advice to every young player who wants to make it to the highest levels of basketball:
"The number one thing I would share with [young players] is to have character. Be a solid person.
A lot of kids skip that stuff.
I figured out what I've gotta do to give myself the best chance:
I've gotta be responsible. I've gotta handle my business. I've gotta be a good person. I've gotta have compassion. I've gotta really genuinely care about other people and have other people's best interests."I hope you’re taking in every word of this…
Because what Dame is describing, again, is none other than his personal Code — and, the exact reason he feels so much Inner Confidence in every situation he steps into.
I cannot overstate how powerful this is:
When you know your Code, and you Live by it every moment of every day, you become unshakeable.
You know who you are, what you stand for, and what you don’t stand for…
…So no matter what anybody says about you, no matter whether you succeed or fail, no matter what people you find yourself around…
…Nothing can touch your rock-solid sense of Inner Confidence.