Kareem wrote a piece for Esquire called “20 Things I Wish I’d Known When I Was 30“. I enjoyed it, so I thought I’d share as the 30-ish crowd is right in Lobshots’ wheel house. I’ll just share titles to his 20 Things, and you can click through to Esquire to read his commentary on each. It’s worth it, regardless of your age.

When I was thirty, I was living my dream. I’d already accomplished most of what I’d set out to achieve professionally: leading scorer in the NBA, leading rebounder, leading blocker, Most Valuable Player, All-Star. But success can be as blinding as Bill Walton’s finger in the eye when battling for a rebound. I made mistakes. Plenty of them. In fact, sometimes I wish I could climb into a time machine and go back to shake some sense into that thirty-year-old me. If I could, here’s the advice I would give him:

1. Be more outgoing.

2. Ask about family history. 

3. Become financially literate. 

4. Play the piano.

5. Learn French.

6. Get handy.

7. Be patient.

8. Listen more than talk.

9. Career is never as important as family.

10. Being right is not always the right thing to be.

11. Cook more.

12. When choosing someone to date, compassion is better than passion.

13. Do one thing every day that helps someone else.

14. Do more for the community. 

15. Do one thing every day that you look forward to doing.

16. Don’t be so quick to judge.

17. When breaking up with a woman, you can’t always remain friends.

18. Watch more TV.

19. Do more yoga. 

20. Everything doesn’t have to be fixed.

Pretty cool list. I will say, I have no desire to learn French… and I watch too much TV as it is.

-bp