Gilbert Arenas Shows Success is Built on Boring

What's the "secret" to an NBA level work out?

There are a lot of athlete podcasters out there and you’d be forgiven for underrating Gilbert Arenas. He’s got a playing days history of questionable decisions and when he goes viral now it’s usually over something like a bombastic comment about Europeans. He’s a good story teller, though, and insightful about the NBA lifestyle. He’s especially interesting when talking about his son, Alijah Arenas, who’s now the fifth ranked prospect for the class of 2026.

As discussed with Razib, a lot of NBA players are related to other NBA players. Gene inheritance is an obvious component but so too is a leg up in professional knowledge, conferred by family. Gilbert is a funny case because he’s regarded as a highly skilled, exciting player who wasn’t prudent in the handling of his own career. Famously, Gil’s former teammate Richard Jefferson told the story of how Arenas tanked his own draft stock in an extravagant act of self sabotage.

Gil seems far more serious about his son’s future. There’s a Youtube clip of Arenas on Paul George’s podcast, discussing the pro level workout he puts Alijah through. Since it’s a Youtube clip, seeking maximum engagement, the caption primes you for a mind blowing story:

Gilbert Arenas Reveals INSANE NBA Workout Plan for Son & High School Phenom, Alijah Arenas.

Then you watch and the described workout does seem difficult, but as Gilbert explains, the difficulty is more in its tedium.

Gil says:

It’s more mental, just the mental of doing it over and over and over and not get bored with making shots. What happens with young kids today is, you tell em’ “I need one dribble pull up.” Just one dribble. We’re going to do 50 makes of this. After ten makes, they’re going to start adding shit. They’re going to add a little step back, step to the side. “No, no, what’d I just say? I said PULL UP. REGULAR.” Goddamn it. We gon’ add the shit later. That’s going to be the next 50 and the next 50, so, me, it’s more high value and the same movement. So, that movement becomes normal. 

There is a lesson in this and I think it applies to far more than basketball. People are so often in search of a revolutionary means to improve, some novel, exciting way to leapfrog the competition. It’s become something of an NBA meme that Instagram-friendly trainers like to sell absurd-looking workouts that present as a cutting edge technique. But no, the way to get better is simply to master the basics, long after others would have lost interest.

We all intuit this, and there are a thousand aphorisms to this end (“Walk before you run,” etc), and yet it’s difficult to implement the obvious, especially with kids. It’s a bit easier, though, if you’ve the professional standing to sell the case that tedium pays off. I can tell my son to keep taking the same exact shot till he gets to 50 makes, but who am I? The NBA player offers his kids not just the workout itself, but a proof of concept that getting to the end of it works.

We can all learn from what works, in general, though. It’s fashionable to seek “life hacks” that make existence more frictionless. Many of these tips are quite helpful. Overall, it’s good to reduce the time spent doing activities we dislike so we have more time for what we enjoy. And yet, the biggest market inefficiency of all might just be in refusing to run from a time suck. The key to ultimate success is not some exciting secret. It’s not a magical tip on how to “work smarter, not harder.” Instead it’s an acceptance, followed by a repeated commitment. It’s mostly the embrace of boredom powering your growth.