Quotes from Wooden: A Lifetime of Observations and Reflections On and Off the Court by Coach John Wooden w/ Steve Jamison
Perfection
“Perfection is what you are striving for, but perfection is an impossibility. However, striving for perfection is not an impossibility. Do the best you can under the conditions that exist. That is what counts.”
Nothing is Stronger than Gentleness
“My dad, Joshua Wooden, was a strong man in one sense, but a gentle man. While he could lift heavy things men half his age couldn’t lift, he would also read poetry to us each night after a day working in the fields raising corn, hay, wheat, tomatoes, and watermelon.
We had a team of mules named Jack and Kate on our farm. Kate would often get stubborn and lie down on me when I was plowing. I couldn’t get her up no matter how roughly I treated her. Dad would see my predicament and walk across the field until he was close enough to say “Kate.” Then she’d get up and start working again. He never touched her in anger.
It took me a long time to understand that even a stubborn mule responds to gentleness.”
The Real Coaches and Teachers
“A father and mother must be there to set an example for their children, strong and positive models of what to be and how to behave when the youngsters grow up.
Being a role model is the most powerful form of educating. Youngsters need good models more than they need critics. It is one of a parent’s greatest responsibilities and opportunities.”
Pride or Punishment
“Joshua Wooden was a disciplinarian, but not from a physical point of view. I’d almost rather have taken a whipping than hear him say he was disappointed in something I’d done.
I wanted to please him and not let him down with my behavior. It wasn’t a fear of punishment that motivated me. It was my desire to live up to his model and expectations.
Later, as a teacher, I wanted those under my own supervision to be motivated in the same way, to strive to be their best because I believed in them rather than from any fear of punishment.”
Make Each Day Your Masterpiece
“When I was teaching basketball, I urged my players to try their hardest to improve on that very day, to make that practice a masterpiece.
Too often we get distracted by what is outside our control. You can’t do anything about yesterday. The door to the past has been shut and the key thrown away. You can do nothing about tomorrow. It is yet to come. However, tomorrow is in large part determined by what you do today. So make today a masterpiece. You have control over that.
This rule is even more important in life than basketball. You have to apply yourself each day to become a little better. By applying yourself to the task of becoming a little better each and every day over a period of time, you will become a lot better. Only then will you be able to approach being the best you can be. It begins by trying to make each day count and knowing you can never make up for a lost day.
If a player appeared to be taking it easy in practice, I told him, “Don’t think you can make up for it by working twice as hard tomorrow. If you have it within your power to work twice as hard, why aren’t you doing it now?”
If you sincerely try to do your best to make each day a masterpiece, angels can do no better.”
What You Are
“A favorite observation of my dad’s was the following: “Never believe you’re better than anybody else, but remember that you’re just as good as everybody else.” That’s important: No better, but just as good!
I attempted to keep that in mind both when we weren’t winning national championships and when we were. It helped me avoid getting carried away with myself.”
Love and Marriage
“Love means many things. It means giving. It means sharing. It means forgiving. It means understanding. It means being patient. It means learning. And you must always consider the other side, the other person. You can give without loving, but you cannot love without giving.
And all those thing you must not take for granted, but continue to work at.
I agree with Abraham Lincoln. He once said that the best thing a man can do for his children is to love their mother.”
Team Wooden
“People ask if I raised my own family the way I ran the UCLA basketball team. I tell them, “No, I ran the team pretty much like I ran my family.” Only with the family I had the greatest co-coach working alongside me, by the name of Nellie.”
Sports, Books, and Kids
“Most kids, especially boys, are drawn to sports and would rather pick up a basketball or baseball than a book. This is where parents must guide the youngster’s thinking.
Sports are fine, but children must be exposed to other things by their mothers and fathers, and that includes books, reading, learning.
My own love of poetry came directly from my dad’s willingness to read to all his boys each night back on the farm. It was exposed to reading very early on and developed a love for it before I realized it. It has stayed with me – to my great benefit – all of my life. All three of my brothers became teachers.
A child must develop a love of academics early, and it usually doesn’t just happen. Mom and Dad have to provide the guidance with how they spend their time.”
Parents, Children, and Goals
“A parent can help direct a child when it comes to goals. Show leadership. Show discipline. Show industriousness. Have traditional values. The person you are is the person your child will become.”
Parenting and Coaching
“I think parenting and coaching or teaching are the same thing. And they are the two most important professions in the world.
Parents are coaches, the first coaches a child has. Too many parents expect the coaches and teacher at school to do what they are not doing at home. The parents must set the foundation early. It is often too late by the time a child goes to school.”
The Fundamental Goal
“The goal in life is just the same as in basketball: make the effort to do the best you are capable of doing – in marriage, at your job, in the community, for your country. Make the effort to contribute in whatever way you can.
You may do it materially or with time, ideas, or work. Making the effort to contribute is what counts. The effort is what counts in everything.”
Preparation Is the Prize
“Cervantes wrote, “The journey is better than the inn.” He was right and that is why I derived my greatest satisfaction out of the preparation – the “journey” – day after day, week after week, year after year.
Your journey is the important thing. A score, a trophy, a ribbon is simply the inn.
Thus, there were many, many games that gave me as much pleasure as any of the ten national championship games we won, simply because we prepared fully and played near our highest level of ability.
The so-called importance of a particular game didn’t necessarily add to the satisfaction I felt in preparing for the contest. It was the journey I prized above all else.”
A Successful Journey Is the Destination
“You know where you’d like to go, whether it’s to a national championship in basketball or a particular goal in your business or life. You must also realize that this goal will be simply a by-product of all the hard work and good thinking you do along the way – your preparation. The preparation is where success is truly found.”
Underdogs
“I have never gone into a game thinking we were going to lose. Never. Even though there have been games where the experts said there was no way we could win. Even if we were big underdogs I always felt anything could happen. Often enough, I was right.
That’s also why I never assumed we were going to win.”
Details Create Success
“I believe in the basics: attention to, and perfection of, tiny details that might commonly be overlooked. They may seem trivial, perhaps even laughable to those who don’t understand, but they aren’t. They are fundamental to your progress in basketball, business, and life. They are the difference between champions and near champions.
For example, at the first squad meeting each season held two weeks before our first actual practice, I personally demonstrated how I wanted players to put on their socks each and every time…this may seem like a nuisance, trivial, but I had a very practical reason for being meticulous about this. Wrinkles, folds, and creases can cause blisters. Blisters interfere with performance during practices and games. Since there was a way to reduce blisters, something the player and I could control, it was our responsibility to do it.”
Hopes and Dreams
“Having a dream is often like hoping for something. It’s easy to let our dreams and our hopes get away from reality…I never dreamed about winning a national championship. It happened before I even thought it was possible.
What I was dreaming about each year, if you want to call it that, was trying to produce the best basketball team we could be. My thoughts were directed toward preparation, our journey, not the results of the effort (such as winning national championships). That would simply have shifted my attention to the wrong area, hoping for something out of my control. Hoping doesn’t make it happen.
Mix idealism with realism and add hard work. This will often bring much more than you could ever hope for.”
Peace of Mind
“Many people go through life unhappy with what they have regardless of how much they have…usually it’s a result of comparing themselves to others, of trying to keep up with the Joneses.
Did I find peace of mind by winning a national championship in basketball in 1964? Then a second, a third, a fourth, and so on? No. I had my peace of mind as a coach long before a national championship was ever won.”