Buzzer Beater

I wouldn't do very well if I were in the NBA playoffs.

There are a number of obvious reasons for this. I'm not very big. I'm not very fast. I'm not very strong. And I'm not all that good at basketball. Also, I don't have a killer instinct. That's a very important element for being a successful NBA player in the playoffs. Now that that playoffs are in full swing, I hear a lot on TV about certain players having a killer instinct--the ability to put a game away when it comes down to the wire. A player with a killer instinct isn't afraid of the spotlight. In fact, he shines in the spotlight. He plays his best when its a one-possession game and the final seconds are ticking.

But that's not me.

I used to have it, I think. I even got an award for it. Not in basketball, of course. The only award I ever got for that were the little trophies all the kids got when I played in elementary school. One year, when the coach gave me my trophy, he said my award was being "The Best Shooter in Traffic." Which I don't think meant that I was a great shooter. I figure it meant I had poor shot selection.

In any case, I did get an award for having a killer instinct when I was on my high school's newspaper staff. At the end of each semester, we had a staff party, and we would eat chips and queso, and I would flirt with all the girls, and they would shoot me down. It was a good time. Then the editors would give out awards to everyone and say something nice about them. They called the award "Warm and Fuzzies." That's what happens when you have 20 girls on the staff and only three guys.

Anyways, one year my Warm and Fuzzie was for being "The Best Under Pressure." I was pretty proud of that. When I was on the newspaper staff, I knew how to get it done. Deadline day was my day. If there was someone who was sick and hadn't written their story, I would take it. If we needed a quotation to fill out an article, I would go do an interview. I'd do whatever needed done in order to get the paper ready for printing.

I had a killer instinct. Nowadays, though, I think I've lost it. A person with a killer instinct rises to the occasion. When they are in a situation when they need to perform, they don't disappoint. These days, when I face a situation when I need to perform, I do my best to put it off. When it's crunch time and I need to have a book written for class, I figure I can find some time later. When I agonizingly finish writing a paper, I don't bother reading back over it. When the spotlight shines, I duck back behind the curtain.

Is a killer instinct instinctive? Is it an innate trait that some people have and others don't? Or is it something that can be developed?  Are there steps a person can take in order to produce when it matters most?