“Most people struggle to be present,” Mark Vancil comments on The Last Dance, a documentary about Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls’ “repeat three-peat.” “People go and sit in ashrams for 20 years in India trying to be present. Do yoga, meditate, trying to get here, now.”
MJ, on the other hand? “Michael’s a mystic. He was never anywhere else.”
If you pay close attention while watching the show, you’ll see it. “Will this be your last game ever? The world wants to know.” “Well, the world is gonna have to wait and see what happens.” Jordan refuses to go to the future to give reporters an answer he doesn’t have yet.
“Can I walk in peace?” “We still have to play the game.” “It’s the moment, man. Y’all get in the moment and stay here.” Time and time again, Jordan has to remind everyone else to not jump ahead or get lost in the past. Yesterday’s victories don’t matter. Tomorrow’s failures haven’t happened. All that counts is today. This is the moment. This is the job. This is the practice, the trip to the stadium, the game.
Can he make the shot? Will he make the shot? The only one who never asked that question was the person taking all the shots.
Don’t let the world bully you out of the moment. Greatness only ever happens here.