Coach Wooden’s Pyramid of Success - Part 1

I shared with you in my last post (Like Minds - Lessons from John Wooden) the definition of success provided by legendary UCLA basketball coach John Wooden.  I want to follow that up with portions of his “Pyramid of Success.” 

However, first things first, I realized that I was taking for granted that you would all know his track record of success as a college basketball coach at UCLA. Below are the highlights of his coaching career. I believe it is important to establishing his expertise on the subject of success.

Unequaled Records as a College Coach:

88 consecutive victories - Next best is 60
10 NCAA championships - Next best is 4
7 consecutive NCAA championships - Next best is 2
38 consecutive NCAA tournament victories - Previous record was 13
4 undefeated full seasons - Next best is 1

Coach’s Pyramid of Success contains 25 elements; 15 building blocks and 10 mortar qualities. It is available online at http://www.woodencourse.com/woodens_wisdom.html.

I am going to share with you what I believe to be the 9 mission critical elements of his Pyramid; 4 in this post and the remaining 5 in the next one.

1. Intentness or Drive - Set a realistic goal; concentrate on its achievement by resisting all temptations and by being determined and persistent.

Intentness embodies determination, perseverance, persistence and tenacity. Intentness is the ability to resist temptation and to avoid the rabbit trails of distraction. An intent person will stay the course and go the distance. He or she will be concentrated on objectives with determination, stamina and resolve.

Intentness is the quality that won’t permit us to quit even when our goal is going to take a while to accomplish. Intentness is patience with action. It’s not wanting and waiting. Rather, it’s being able to wait while we act out a specific plan.

Difficult yet realistic goals produce purpose-directed lives. Roadblocks may cause us to alter our course a bit, but we cannot let them deter us from our destination. We grow stronger through adversity. This is the purpose of a weight-lifting program. Without intentness we can’t possibly become all we can be.

2. Enthusiasm - Wooden emphasizes enthusiasm; it brushes off on those with whom you come into contact.

Regardless of the task, leaders must be enthusiastic and really enjoy what they’re doing if they expect those under their supervision to work near their respective levels of competency.

Quiet enthusiasm gets results; it exudes confidence and rubs off in a wonderful way.

3. Conditioning is growing ourselves. Wooden believed in conditioning; mental, moral and physical. Rest, exercise and diet must be considered, moderation must be practiced and dissipation must be eliminated.

4. Alertness - John Wooden says we grow ourselves through alertness. By observing constantly, staying open minded and being eager to learn and improve. We must be alert, and we can do that by observing what is going on around us.

President Lincoln said that he had never met a person from whom he did not learn something, although most of the time it was something not to do. The point is that Lincoln was always observing, alert to what was going on around him, and he was constantly learning.

Please share with us your formula for success. 

We would love to hear from you!