Skill Vs. Will

One of the wisest men I know, Jalen Rose, is fond of dividing NBA players into 2 types: “Skill” players and “Will” players. I probably don’t need to explain this distinction to you. Needless to say, both attributes lie on a spectrum. Almost no one can credibly claim to be both. LeBron, maybe. The list is short.

I love this distinction. I think it applies to life, not just sports. Skill vs. will is not a binary choice. It’s a spectrum. And it’s important to grasp this: the players that Jalen is describing are all successful. They are all in the NBA. Skill vs. will is a false choice: both types are well-represented amongst the greatest athletes in the world.

Some of you are skill players. Some of you are will players. And, while it’s a spectrum, some of us are more “extreme” than others. You can tell how extreme you are by your response to “the other.” If you find yourself unable to resist telling people that they “should” do a thing, you’re probably a hard case, one way or the other.

Or, this construction: “I don’t understand why you don’t ….[fill in the blank].” In my youth, this type of line bothered me. Today? My answer is uniformly this: “Correct. You don’t understand.”

And here’s the point: the more you identify as a skill player, or a will player, the less effective “the other” is at motivating you. I have a lot of friends who are…