In a recent podcast, former NBA player and Duke basketball legend, JJ Redick, talked about a simple analogy he uses with his kids.

"If you want to have a full bucket of water, that's a goal in life. But all you can do is add one drop at a time, then just drop as many as you can. So every time you get in the cold tub, every time you lift weights, every time you have an hour shooting workout, every time you do your pre-game shooting workout, every time I do my post-shoot around shooting, it's all drops in the bucket."

A mistake we make with young athletes is thinking that the bucket has to be full at a young age. So instead of praising the process, we tend to criticize early outcomes.

It's okay that kids have mediocre and even bad performances. That is a part of every athlete's journey. What's important is learning to understand the discipline that small drops make toward the full bucket of water.

Have a bad game? That's okay; add another practice drop tomorrow.

Not strong enough? No problem, add a strength drop tomorrow, the next day, the next day, and so forth.

In the 25 years I've been watching athletes grow, those who live by this bucket analogy not only make it farthest in their sport, but become the most successful in whatever they choose to do.