The Bulls set an NBA record for most wins. It should have been a celebration. It wasn’t
‘More’ Should Have Been Enough: On April 16, 1996, in Milwaukee, the Chicago Bulls won their seventieth game. No team had ever done it. They won ugly, by six, and when the horn sounded they hugged, because that is what you do.
Then ‘More’ Took The Microphone: Phil Jackson, courtside, to announcer Red Kerr: “We didn’t have a beautiful game tonight, Red, but we got away with it.”
Seconds later, Scottie Pippen responding to Kerr: “It’s kind of great to get this pressure off our backs.”
At the press conference, Michael Jordan: “It was a sigh of relief... It was gratifying, no matter where we did it, to get it over and done with.” And then the sentence that gives the whole night away: “I must admit we didn’t start the season and say we’re gonna win seventy.”
In the locker room, Jackson, to reporters: “I think relief is the overwhelming emotion.”
The fans got a win. The Bulls didn’t. The Bulls got relief.
Relief, Pressure, Over, Done: The best team basketball had ever seen did the thing nobody had done, and those were the words they reached for. One goal’s weight came off. The next one picked it up before they reached the bus.
Seventy looked like a balloon. It carried like an anchor.
It Hurts ‘More’ To Lose Than It Feels Good To Win: Three researchers, Chip Heath, Richard Larrick, and George Wu, studied what a goal does once you set it. A goal is a line. Above it, a gain. Below it, the same result is a loss. And the two sides are not the same size. Falling short hurts more than clearing it by the same margin feels good.
So a goal drawn at the ceiling pays in two currencies only: relief when you reach it, and failure on every day you don’t. The night before, at sixty-nine and nine, they had already tied the Lakers’ twenty-four-year-old record. By their own line, they were still short.
Here is why that matters to you, whatever your seventy is. The workout a day. The weight you wrote down on the first of January. Every ordinary day since, that line has filed you as short. Not wrong. Short. And the day you finally reach it, the line disappears, and you get relief.
Relief is something no longer owed. A win is something gained. Ask the Bulls which one they got.
‘More’ Is A Comparison. Enough Is A Decision: There is another place to draw the line. Not at the ceiling. Where you will actually cross it. Cross it, and the day is a win, and nobody can bill you for the rest.
The Bulls could not do that. Seventy was a public number. Jordan said so himself. Yours isn’t.
The Lesson? Tomorrow can ask for ‘More.’ But let today keep what it earned.
Where, exactly, do you draw it? Here is the next essay: a husband, a wife, one exercise bike on a porch, and the app that told him FORTY MINUTES SHORT.
Footnote: Twenty years later, the Golden State Warriors chased that number, caught it at seventy-three, and lost the championship.
Different Champion, Same Perspective: Draymond Green, in a 2023 video, after setting the new record, “If you told me today, ‘Y’all can win 73 games next year and actually close the deal and win a championship,’ I may say, ‘No, I’m cool.’”
‘More’ is patient.
Just What Are Before Rules? Before Rules turn wisdom into action by making progress clearer, repeatable, and real. “Before Rules” are three-word sequence tools—simple yet powerful, repeatable patterns that clarify what must come first so you can achieve outcomes.
Before Rules vs. Laws: Laws are written for you. Rules are decided by you.
Here are a few examples:
There Before Here What can a chocolate bar teach you about your work?
Say Before Show - Show Before Spark How To Connect With People: When The Hammer Changes Hands, The Story Changes Owners.
Effective Before Efficient A story about two AI models. One model is concise, the other, ‘does the right thing.’ Which is better for you?
Simple Before Complex What isn’t simple becomes complex. Truth gets buried one syllable at a time.
Verify Before Trust How to make ‘your’ AI more trustworthy. A script for you to copy.
Decision Before Choice Why choices are loud, but decisions are quiet. A true story - ‘Eddie would go.’ The man came first. The sticker came later.
Your Thoughts May Vary: Return On Thought welcomes your constructive comments and invites you to share your perspectives and experiences. Together, we can all refine our understanding and application of these concepts.
Disclaimer: Click here for our Disclosures, Disavowals, And Declarations (aka - I told you so).