"This charming talk is like listening to your favorite grandfather give you life advice in the living room"
Good Morning Folks,
With profound simplicity, Coach John Wooden redefines success and urges us all to pursue the best in ourselves.
John Wooden, affectionately known as Coach, led UCLA to record wins that are still unmatched in the world of basketball. Throughout his long life, he shared the values and life lessons he passed to his players, emphasizing success that’s about much more than winning.
Born in 1910, Coach John Wooden was the first person to be inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame both as a player and coach, while ESPN ranks him as the greatest coach of all time, across all sports. In his 40 years at UCLA, he mentored legends such as Bill Walton and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. He has created a model, the Pyramid of Success, and authored several books to impart his insight on achievement to others.
Coach wanted his players to be victors in life and not just on the court, so he treated them as an extended family and emphasized that winning was more than scoring. Indeed, most of his inspiring theories were born from conversations with his father, as a boy on their farm in Indiana. One that sums up his ideology quite well is his often-quoted definition of success: "Success is peace of mind which is a direct result of self-satisfaction in knowing you made the effort to become the best that you are capable of becoming."
The great surprise about John Wooden’s definition of success is the humility in it. It is astounding for someone who didn’t lose a game for 3 straight years in UCLA’s famous 88 game win streak and may be the greatest coach of any team in any sport of all time. Maybe he knew about the importance of humility in success.
Much of this video also reminds me that if you truly believe that something will happen, not just say it or hope it will, you will naturally start to do the things necessary to make it happen.
Sometimes when you get there, there’s almost a letdown. But there’s getting there that’s the fun.
Some inspiring quotes from the Coach:
"If you make effort to do the best you can regularly, the results will be about what they should be."
Wooden’s Definition of Success:
"Peace of mind attained only through self-satisfaction in knowing you made the effort to do the best of which you’re capable."
The Difference Between Winning and Succeeding:
"I believe that we must have faith. I believe that we must believe, truly believe. Not just give it word service; believe that things will work out as they should, providing we do what we should."
"I say to you, in whatever you’re doing, you must be patient."
"Don’t whine. Don’t complain. Don’t make excuses. Just get out there, and whatever you’re doing, do it to the best of your ability. And no one can do more than that."
"Never mention winning. My idea is that you can lose when you outscore somebody in a game. And you can win when you’re outscored."John Wooden wanted to “abolish the dunk,” he hated “the one and done rule,” he supposedly was “disgusted” by Allen Iverson and pretty much disliked everything else I liked about basketball. With that said, I have all the respect in the world for the “Wizards of Westwood” – he also hated that nickname.
Here’s a great video of him on the always entertaining and thought provoking TED Talk series.
Coach Wooden is a humble, private man who has selflessly given up his life to make other people’s lives better ... John Wooden gave us the necessary tools to overcome the adversity and obstacles that he knew from the beginning would always be in our way. He taught us to find a source of motivation to inspire us to ever higher levels of preparation and work.
Have a GREAT Day,
Mitchell D. Weiner
Chief Happiness Officer
Ideas are not set in stone. When exposed to thoughtful people, they morph and adapt into their most potent form. TED Tuesdays on MitchWeiner.com highlights some of today's most intriguing ideas. Look for more talks on Technology, Entertainment and Design -- plus science, business, global issues, the arts and much more— HERE.
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Sadik-Khan has served as commissioner of the New York City Department of Transportation since 2007. Previously she was senior vice president at the engineering firm Parsons Brinckerhoff and served as deputy administrator of the Federal Transit Administration in Washington.
