John Wooden: Success Is Becoming the Best That You Are Capable of Being
Wooden won 10 national championships in a 12-year stretch as the head coach of the UCLA basketball team. However, he wasn’t always successful. Through consistent application of the philosophies he shares in his book, Wooden: A Lifetime of Observations and Reflections On and Off the Court, he became one of the best and most accomplished basketball coaches of all time.
Focus on What’s in Your Control
Stay focused on what you can control: actions you take each day, and your emotions
- You can control how you react to things that are out of your control, but you can’t control the past, present, or future.
Enjoy the journey
Set goals that are not oriented around the end result (winning), but rather the process of putting in the work to improve
- “A successful journey becomes your destination and is where your real accomplishment lies,” he wrote
- He derived satisfaction from the preparation and knowing that he had done everything he could to get the team ready
Learn from failure
It’s ok to make mistakes as long as you’re doing your best and learning.
- You can never achieve perfection, but you can work towards it. Learn from the mistakes you make along the way, but don’t let them debiliate you.
Success is doing your best
True success is attained only through the satisfaction of knowing you did everything within the limits of your ability to become the very best that you are capable of being
- Make one’s own best effort
- If your dreams are too far beyond what is realistically achievable, you will inevitably be disappointed
- Keep expectations in line with reality
Be Patient
In addition to hard work, meaningful accomplishments take time.
- Don’t look for the big, quick improvement. Instead, seek the small improvement one day at a time. Worthwhile things come only from work.”
- Anything of significance has a price and you must be willing to pay that price.