Also See:

• You Want A Career In Pro Basketball/ Overseas? Read This | FAQ
• How Does Overseas Basketball Work? A Detailed Guide
• How To Find An Agent For Playing Overseas Basketball
• I Want To Play Overseas / In The NCAA… But I Don’t Know Where to Begin! Help!!
• How Good Do You Have To Be To Play Overseas/Professionally?
• Can You Go Pro/Overseas Coming from a NCAA D3 School?
• How I Got My First Overseas Basketball Contract
• Choosing The Right Pro Exposure Camp or Combine | Follow-Up Post: What I Know About Pro Camps
• Professional Basketball Camp Reviews (Of Camps I’ve Been To)
• Overseas Basketball And Money: What You Should Know
• Advice and What to Expect at Your First Camp
• Working a 9-5 While Preparing to Play Pro/Overseas
• Do Not Give Money To Scam Artist John Jordan to Play Overseas. Ever.

As I shared in my book Buy A Game, I knew my future after college was in professional basketball. I had no idea how or where or when or who would be involved, but I knew that’s what I was doing.

I don’t work a 9-5 anymore, but during the early years of my career I juggled the working life along with doing my best to make/keep my game pro-level ready. Here I’ll share some of what I did; maybe some of this will help you.

I had a job as a membership sales consultant at a gym in downtown Philly which was perfect for me since I could use it free to work out. Problem was, this gym’s downtown location did not have a basketball court. The company had another location outside of the city, though, with a complete full court. I was living in between the two gyms — my job was 20 minutes south, the bball court was 40 minutes north — and I had to be at work by 9 AM.

Solution: wake up at 4 in the morning, get to the basketball gym by its 5:30 opening time, work out, shower, drive straight to my job, there by 8:30. I usually had league games in the evenings — sometimes at the same gym I’d worked out in that morning — and often got caught falling asleep at my desk at work (pre-5 Hour Energy). My boss at the time actually threatened to send me home if he caught me sleeping at my desk again. My boss’ boss threw me out of a district sales meeting after catching me dozing off multiple times during a quarterly district meeting (which I denied, but it was quite clear I was sleeping). I later joined a gym — which I had to buy a membership for — that was much closer to my apartment, costing me a few dollars but saving me a ton of time (and maybe my job).

Something had to be sacrificed for me to get to where I wanted to be. Sleep was one sacrifice. I rarely went out and didn’t party art all — my income went to living expenses and saving for whatever camp or tryout I was looking towards attending. And that is pretty much all my life was back then: Go to work, go to gym, go home. No leisure. No entertainment. Not even many dates. There was only one mission. Every single action I took was with my career in mind, even though at the time there was no career. If you are incapable of this simple level of discipline while building your career you need to ask yourself if this (your current life, you hopeful life) is what you really want.

Dre Baldwin

Dre Baldwin is an author of 22 books and 9-year professional basketball player who is a certified pioneer in both personal branding and content publishing — with over 13,142 pieces of published content to date. Dre’s latest book is Work On Your Game: Using The Pro Athlete Mindset To Dominate Your Game In Business, Sports and Life. Dre teaches how the Discipline, Confidence and Mental Toughness that made him a professional athlete applies both to the business world and everyday life.

http://www.DreAllDay.com