Life Lessons from an All-American Journey
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John Wooden and Steve Jamison
Notes
“Don’t try to be better than somebody else, but never cease trying to be the best you can be.”
Joshua Wooden
He believed you should do your best, and if the results were unsatisfactory, keep quiet about it and work harder next time…You lose, you feel bad—sometimes very, very bad. But a much worse feeling is knowing that you haven’t done everything you possibly could have done to prepare and compete.
Nevertheless, even though his drills were punishing, no player would ever voluntarily take a short breather. If you did, Piggy Lambert would give you a long breather: sitting on the bench watching whoever had taken your place. It was his way of encouraging toughness and conditioning…Ward Lambert’s priorities in basketball were simple: conditioning, fundamentals, and team spirit. His priority as a person was more direct and demanding: stand up for what you believe—even when you stand alone.
Young people need good models, not critics.
We need to couple firm discipline with fairness and reason, understanding and compassion……taught me that arrogance, selfishness, and envy are unacceptable in a player…It never got personal, because the purpose of criticism or discipline is not to punish, embarrass, or ridicule, but to correct and improve…No two individuals under our supervision are alike and shouldn’t be treated as if they were.
Mistakes of commission, to a point, are accepted, but not mistakes of omission—that is, the mistake of not doing anything.
Quick was good. Hurrying was careless…An opponent who makes a mistake tends to hurry and try to correct the mistake. This often can cause another mistake; one compounds another.
Success is not something that others can give to you…do your best, that is success…before casually discounting the potential of any individual or team, give them a chance to succeed—give them your sincere belief and full support.
I grew to love seeing little things done well, and I believe it is probably the greatest secret to success…sloppiness in one area breeds sloppiness in another…practice is where a championship is won.