Motivation
by John Wooden with Steve Jamison
What did Wooden mean by success?
John Wooden's UCLA basketball teams won ten national titles in twelve years, yet he rarely spoke to his players about winning. In Wooden on Leadership, written with Steve Jamison, he explains what he measured instead, and how he built teams that kept performing year after year.
Hear a sample · read by Laura
Wooden defined success as peace of mind that comes from knowing you made the effort to become the best you're capable of. The score doesn't come into it. He judged himself and his teams on effort and preparation, the parts they controlled, and let the results follow.
Wooden spent years building a pyramid of fifteen blocks, each a quality he thought anyone could develop. Industriousness and enthusiasm are the cornerstones. Self-control, team spirit and confidence sit higher up. At the top is competitive greatness, being at your best when your best is needed.
Wooden avoided fiery pep talks. A team whipped up for one game, he reasoned, tends to slump in the next, and he wanted no peaks and valleys. He tried to keep his own temper level too, so players met the same coach after a win as after a loss.
Wooden saw himself as a teacher first, and planned every practice to the minute on index cards. He taught through four laws of learning, which were explanation, demonstration, imitation and repetition, and he kept repeating until the right move came without thinking.
Success
Wooden judged success by whether you did your best, not by the final score.
The pyramid
His Pyramid of Success rests on two cornerstones: hard work and enthusiasm.
Details
Wooden taught new players how to put on their socks, because blisters lose games.
Teaching
A good leader is mostly a teacher, and the teaching happens in practice, day after day.
The team
A player who scored was taught to point to the teammate who passed him the ball.
A story from the book
At the first practice of each season, Wooden showed his players how to put on their socks and lace their shoes. A wrinkled sock can cause a blister, and a blister can keep a player out of a game. Little things, he said, make big things happen.
One thing to try
Wooden's father gave him a card with seven rules, one of which was to make each day your masterpiece. Tonight, write the plan for tomorrow's most important hour on a small card, in order, with times. Afterwards, judge it by whether you did your best, before looking at the result.
Knotd has the key ideas from 250+ non-fiction books, each in a few minutes, in plain words. Wooden on Leadership comes with a Your Move story to make it stick.
Get the whole book on KnotdOpen in the appWhat did Wooden mean by success? John Wooden's UCLA basketball teams won ten national titles in twelve years, yet he rarely spoke to his players about winning. In Wooden on Leadership, written with Steve Jamison, he explains what he measured instead, and how he built teams that kept performing year after year.
Success, by his definition; The Pyramid of Success; Emotions are your enemy; Call yourself a teacher.
Wooden's father gave him a card with seven rules, one of which was to make each day your masterpiece. Tonight, write the plan for tomorrow's most important hour on a small card, in order, with times. Afterwards, judge it by whether you did your best, before looking at the result.
Yes. Knotd has the key ideas from Wooden on Leadership in a few minutes, in plain words, plus a Your Move story to test them. It's one of 250+ non-fiction books in the app.
Man's Search for MeaningViktor E. FranklPut your effort into what's yours to control, your response.
