A night we will never forget
Adversity is one of the most powerful forces in life. It can bring out your best or your worst. Ultimately, it is up to you.
I will never forget December 13th, 2020. What a night we had yesterday.
We made history as the first time two basketball players have played 1v1 in a live Pay-Per-View (PPV) event.
We had over $100,000 in PPV ticket sales…..mind-boggling numbers.
What’s even crazier is that everyone laughed at us for trying to do this. They even said things like this to us
No one is going to pay to watch “two nobodies play”
You guys are just “YouTubers” who cares
This will never work…
and a million other negative things.
Through all of that, we knew what we were doing was game-changing. It’s disrupting an industry and bringing a whole new concept to it. A whole new way for fans to enjoy the game of basketball and their favorite players.
This event will be the start of many special things down the road that will help to build and grow the culture of basketball globally.
At the end of the day, some of you may not know this, but we faced some technical issues during the event. The server couldn’t handle the number of people trying to stream the event and simply only worked for maybe 40% of the people. It was an intense few hours of us trying to get things back up and working.
We were dealing with non stop messages, complaints, emails, and of course social media bashing and comments. We always strive to provide the best possible experience for everyone and we didn’t want this to be an exception. We spent the next 6 hours straight responding to every message and ensuring our voice was heard at the front of the situation.
Now you may be wondering where is this all leading? I want to explain the power of adversity and why you should embrace it.
Adversity is one of the most powerful forces in life. It can bring out your best or your worst. Ultimately, it is up to you.
How will you handle obstacles?
Will adversity turn your focus from getter better to getting bitter?
Or will you see adversity-laced setbacks as true gifts and growth accelerators that provide the opportunity to believe in yourself, revitalize your commitment to what you want to achieve, and reassess what you are willing to sacrifice to make it happen?
The reality is that when you take away adversity you also take away one of the most important ingredients to greatness. This is something we have to embrace.
In simple terms: no adversity, no growth.
Here is how I feel we should view adversity:
Build Character - Overcoming adversity is character building. It shapes us into who we are and who we will become.
Create Resilience - Learning to deal with and address adversity is what creates resilience. Every challenge we face and navigate strengthens our will, confidence, and our ability to conquer future obstacles.
Learn from Discomfort - Regardless of how sharp, clever, or talented we are, we will encounter struggles, challenges, and difficulties.
Draw Out Our True Strengths - Adversity has the effect of drawing out our strengths and qualities that would have laid dormant without it.
Accept It - Accept that adversity is inevitable....it is a part of life. To avoid it or resist it will only make it come back in bigger ways.
We Succeed Because of It - We don't succeed in spite of our challenges, we succeed because of them!
We embraced the challenge on Sunday night, faced all the adversity, and weathered the storm. We are forever grateful for all of our In The Lab family members. You continue to amaze us and show support at all times.
Much love to everyone, In The Lab will continue to innovate and grow basketball around the world.