John Wooden Quotes
Talent is God-given; be humble. Fame is man-given; be thankful. Conceit is self-given; be careful.
A man may make mistakes, but he isn't a failure until he starts blaming someone else.
Don't measure yourself by what you have accomplished but by what you should have accomplished with your ability.
It's amazing how much can be accomplished if no one cares who gets the credit.
I stress offense without the ball and defense before the other player gets the ball.
Be more concerned with your character than your reputation. Your character is what you really are, while your reputation is merely what others think you are.
Some criticism will be honest, some won't. Some praise you will deserve, some you won't. You can't let praise or criticism get to you. It's a weakness to get caught up in either one.
You cannot live a perfect day without doing something for someone who will never be able to repay you.
If you get yourself too engrossed in things over which you have no control, it will adversely affect the things over which you do have control.
No one overachieves. We're all underachievers to one degree or another.
One of the greatest motivating things that a coach has is the bench. They all love to play, all of them. You sit them on the bench, and they come around pretty good.
One of the greatest motivating factors is the pat on the back, although with some individuals, you have to make the pat a little lower or a little harder.
The general feeling is, if you don't treat everyone the same you're showing partiality. To me, that's when you show the most partiality, when you treat everyone the same. You must give each individual the treatment that you feel he earns and deserves, recognizing at all times that you're imperfect and you're going to be incorrect oftentimes in your judgment.
You have to work hard, and you have to enjoy what you're doing. If you don't enjoy it, no matter how hard you seem to work, you're not going to be working as hard as you can because you're not enjoying it.
Consider the rights of others before your own feelings, and the feelings of others before your own rights.
Success is peace of mind which is a direct result of self-satisfaction in knowing you made the effort to become the best of which you are capable.
How you run the race - your planning, preparation, practice, and performance - counts for everything. Winning or losing is a by-product, and aftereffect, of that effort.
Do those things necessary to bring forth your personal best and don't lose sleep worrying about the competition.
When you give total effort - everything you have - the score can never make you a loser. And when you do less, it can't somehow magically turn you into a winner.
The score will take care of itself when you take care of the effort that precedes the score.
I'd rather have a lot of talent and little experience than a lot of experience and little talent.
I do not judge success based on championships; rather, I judge it on how close we came to realizing our potential.
Define success for those under your leadership as total commitment and effort to the team's welfare. Then show it yourself with your own effort and performance. Most of those you lead will do the same. Those who don't should be encouraged to look for a new team.
Work without joy is drudgery. Drudgery does not produce champions, nor does it produce great organizations.
A strong leader accepts blame and gives the credit. A weak leader gives blame and accepts the credit.
When you punish your people for making a mistake or falling short of a goal, you create an environment of extreme caution, even fearfulness. In sports it's similar to playing "not to lose" - a formula that often brings on defeat.
Confidence must be monitored so that it does not spoil or rot and turn to arrogance.
A person who values winning above anything will do anything to win. And such people are threats to their organizations.
You must truly care about the lives and welfare of your team members, and demonstrate it with concern and support within a disciplined environment.
I believe effective leaders are, first and foremost, good teachers.
Peaks and valleys belong in the Alps, not in the temperament - the emotions - of a leader.
An effective leader allows exceptions to the rule for exceptional results or when circumstance demands.
When people ask me now if I miss coaching UCLA basketball games, the national championships, the attention, the trophies, and everything that goes with them, I tell them this: I miss the practices.
Adversity is the state in which man most easily becomes acquainted with himself, being especially free of admirers then.
When you improve a little each day, eventually big things occur. When you improve your conditioning a little each day, eventually you have a big improvement in conditioning. Not tomorrow, not the next day, but eventually a big gain is made. Don't look for the big, quick improvement. Seek the small improvement one day at a time. That's the only way it happens and when it happens, it lasts.
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