TED Talk Tuesday: John Wooden on True Success

John Wooden was college basketball's most successful coach, and the first person to be inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame as both a player and a coach.  He left UCLA with a 620-146 record, with four of his teams finishing with 30-0 records.


John Wooden knew winning.  But he didn't put winning above everything.
In this simple and profound 2001 TED Talk, this American icon and treasure talks about winning, patience and his definition of true success.

Highlights from Coach Wooden's TED Talk

• Never try to be better than someone else, always learn from others.
• Never cease trying to be the best you can 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've capable, to try and improve the situation that exists for you.
• You reputation is what you are perceived to be; your character is what you really are.
• Character is much more important than what you are perceived to be.
• Wooden's three rules: 
• 1.  Never be late. 
• 2.  Not one word of profanity.
• 3.  Never criticize a teammate.
• Whatever you're doing, you must be patient.
• You must have patience.  And 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.
• We win our lose within ourselves.  
• Never mention winning.  
• You can lose when you outscore somebody in a game.  And you can win when you're outscored.
• When a game is over, and you see somebody that didn't know the outcome, I hope they couldn't tell by your actions whether you outscored an opponent or the opponent outscored you.
• If you make effort to do the best you can regularly, the results will be about what they should be.  Not necessary to what you would want them to be, but they will be about what they should, and only you will know whether you can do that.

John Wooden's Pyramid of Success