The 90% Free Throw Nobody Wants To Shoot

Let me tell you about Rick Barry, who played in the NBA and shot 90% from the free throw line. In 1978, he only missed 10 foul shots the entire season. Think about that - the league average is around 77%, LeBron's below 80% career, Michael Jordan was maybe 82%. This guy was at 90%.
 
And he shot every single one of those free throws underhand. Granny style. Didn't care what anyone said, didn't care if people laughed at him. He just kept ringing up points - boom, boom, good. Most of them didn't even hit the rim.
 
Here's the crazy part: since Rick Barry played in the league, about 2,700 people have been drafted into the NBA. Guess how many of those players have tried shooting underhand?
 
Zero.
 
Not one player has been willing to try a technique that could dramatically improve their free throw percentage because they don't want to do something that looks funny or weird.
 
Think about that. These are professional athletes whose careers and millions of dollars depend on performance, and they'd rather shoot 75% and look cool than shoot 90% and look different.
 
Most of us are so worried about what other people think that we'd rather fail conventionally than succeed unconventionally.
 
The way you live an exceptional life is you rip up the playbook. You don't give a damn about looking weird if it gets you results. You're so aware of your mortality, so focused on getting the most out of your precious time, that other people's opinions become background noise.
 
I'm going to continue doing what I want to do to get the most out of this life. If people love it, great. If they don't, I'm not going to worry about it.
 
A hundred years from now, none of the people you're worried about impressing are even going to be here. But the results you create by being willing to look different? Those compound forever.