John Robert Wooden was born on 14 October 1910 and died on 4 June 2010. He was a dazzling performer as an American basketball player. After his playing career ended, he became an award-winning coach. John Wooden was the first person to feature in the Basketball Hall of Fame both as a player and a coach. He co-authored many books after his 90th birthday and received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2003.
John Wooden was a successful basketball player and coach. His approach to coaching others to perform focused on developing the whole person to work to their full potential. He developed a self-improvement plan he called the pyramid of success.
The pyramid of success is a concise picture of John Wooden’s approach to life, basketball, and work. He set out fifteen qualities that result in success in any situation. His approach is flexible and universal in that it applies to every life from student to captain of industry.
Talent is God given. Be humble. Fame is man-given. Be grateful. Conceit is self-given. Be careful.
John Wooden
Hard work and enthusiasm are the cornerstones of his philosophy. In working with others, you need to practice friendship, loyalty, co-operation, and team spirit – putting the needs of the team before your personal goals. Desirable traits include self-control, observation, taking the initiative, and sticking with your goals. You pay attention to rest, diet, and exercise, so you are in the right condition for action. You develop your skills and love to meet and beat life’s challenges. You build self-awareness and the confidence that comes from living well and striving for and achieving success.
Be more concerned with your character than your reputation, because your character is what you really are, while your reputation is merely what others think you are.
John Wooden
One of John Wooden’s great strengths was his humble approach to life and others. His focus was not on achieving fame and success for himself but on coaching others to perform at their best. He shows the leadership qualities of putting the shared goal center stage. John Wooden quotes are highly valued by business leaders and athletes today because of his approach to teamwork.
John Wooden Quotes
If you don’t have time to do it right, when will you have time to do it over?
John Wooden
Don’t mistake activity with achievement.
John Wooden
Don’t let making a living prevent you from making a life.
John Wooden
The true test of a man’s character is what he does when no one is watching.
John Wooden
We can have no progress without change, whether it be basketball or anything else.
John Wooden
If you don’t have time to do it right, when will you have the time to do it over?
John Wooden
You can’t live a perfect day without doing something for someone who will never be able to repay you.
John Wooden
The best thing a father can do for his children is to love their mother.
John Wooden
You can do more good by being good than any other way.
John Wooden
Ability may get you to the top, but it takes character to keep you there.
John Wooden
All of life is peaks and valleys. Don’t let the peaks get too high and the valleys too low.
John Wooden
Never make excuses. Your friends don’t need them and your foes won’t believe them.
John Wooden
Winning takes talent, to repeat takes character.
John Wooden
Seek opportunities to show you care. The smallest gestures often make the biggest difference.
John Wooden
Young people need models, not critics.
John Wooden
You can’t let praise or criticism get to you. It’s a weakness to get caught up in either one.
John Wooden
Just try to be the best you can be; never cease trying to be the best you can be. That’s in your power.
John Wooden
It is amazing how much can be accomplished if no one cares who gets the credit.
John Wooden
Success comes from knowing that you did your best to become the best that you capable of becoming.
John Wooden
Don’t let yesterday take up too much of today.
John Wooden
Make each day your masterpiece.
John Wooden
Don’t let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do.
John R Wooden
Succeeding is performing at your best when your best is required.
John Wooden
Failing to prepare is preparing to fail.
John Wooden
Mistakes come from doing, but so does success.
John Wooden
Discipline yourself and others won’t need to.
John Wooden
Success is peace of mind which is a direct result of self-satisfaction in knowing you did your best to become the best you are capable of becoming.
John Wooden
A coach is someone who can give correction without causing resentment.
John Wooden
Success is never final, failure is never fatal. It’s courage that counts.
John Wooden
Happiness begins where selfishness ends.
John Wooden
Nothing will work unless you do.
John Wooden
Listen if you want to be heard.
John Wooden
Things turn out best for the people who make the best of the way things turn out.
John Wooden
Players with fight never lose a game, they just run out of time.
John Wooden
Earn the right to be proud and confident.
John Wooden
Never try to be better than someone else. Learn from others, and try to be the best you can be. Success is the by-product of that preparation.
John Wooden
It’s important to keep trying to do what you think is right no matter how hard it is or how often you fail. You never stop trying. I’m still trying.
John Wooden
Five years from now, you’re the same person except for the people you’ve met and the books you’ve read.
John Wooden
It is the little details that are vital. Little things make big things happen.
John Wooden
Things work out best for those who make the best of the way things work out.
John Wooden
It’s what you learn after you know it all that counts.
John Wooden
Don’t let making a living prevent you from making a life.
John Wooden
It’s not so important who starts the game but who finishes it.
John Wooden
Be quick, but don’t hurry.
John Wooden
Just try to be the best you can be; never cease trying to be the best you can be. That’s in your power.
John Wooden
Consider the rights of others before your own feelings, and the feelings of others before your own rights.
John Wooden
If you stay intent and your ability warrants it, you will eventually reach the top of the mountain.
John Wooden
Being a role model is the most powerful form of educating…too often fathers neglect it because they get so caught up in making a living they forget to make a life.
John Wooden
Today is the only day. Yesterday is gone.
John Wooden
It’s what you learn after you know it all that counts.
John Wooden
The best competition I have is against myself to become better.
John Wooden
There is nothing stronger than gentleness.
John Wooden
You can’t let praise or criticism get to you. It’s a weakness to get caught up in either one.
John Wooden
Tell the truth. That way you don’t have to remember a story.
John Wooden
Adversity is the state in which man most easily becomes acquainted with himself, being especially free of admirers then.
John Wooden
If we magnified blessings as much as we magnify disappointments, we would all be much happier.
John Wooden
The most important thing in the world is family and love.
John Wooden
Being average means you are as close to the bottom as you are to the top.
John Wooden
Whatever you do in life, surround yourself with smart people who’ll argue with you.
John Wooden
Don’t measure yourself by what you have accomplished, but by what you should have accomplished with your ability.
John Wooden
There are many things that are essential to arriving at true peace of mind, and one of the most important is faith, which cannot be acquired without prayer.
John Wooden
How many of us have conflicts with someone else- and how many of us pray for that person? We have individuals with whom we are competitive, or whom we dislike or have a quarrel with; but very few of us have true enemies in the martial sense. And yet if Lincoln could pray fervently- and contemporary reports indicate he did- for the people who were opposing him, how much more can we do for someone we just find a little irritating?
John Wooden
No one can really honestly be the very best, no one.
John Wooden
Although there is no progress without change, not all change is progress.
John Wooden
Be more concerned with your character than your reputation, because your character is what you really are, while your reputation is merely what others think you are.
John Wooden
You are not a failure until you start blaming others for your mistakes.
John Wooden
If we magnified blessings as much as we magnify disappointments, we would all be much happier.
John Wooden
If I were ever prosecuted for my religion, I truly hope there would be enough evidence to convict me.
John Wooden
The key ingredient to stardom is the team.
John Wooden
Worry more about your character than your reputation. Character is what you are, reputation merely what others think you are.
John Wooden
Next to love, balance is the most important thing.
John Wooden
Success comes from knowing that you did your best to become the best that you are capable of becoming.
John Wooden
Coach Wooden didn’t treat everybody the same; he treated people the way they deserved to be treated.
John Wooden
The man who is afraid to risk failure seldom has to face success.
John Wooden
A strong leader accepts blame and gives the credit. A weak leader gives blame and accepts the credit.
John Wooden
It isn’t about what you do, but how you do it.
John Wooden
When opportunity knocks, it’s too late to prepare.
John Wooden
The importance of repetition until automaticity cannot be overstated. Repetition is the key to learning.
John Wooden
Always try to be the very best that you can be. Learn from others, yes. But don’t just try to be better than they are.
John Wooden
Never try to be better than somebody else. But most importantly, never cease trying to be the best you can be.
John Wooden
You cannot live a perfect day without doing something for someone who will never be able to repay you.
John Wooden
We are many, but are we much?
John Wooden
We will begin by learning how to tie our shoes.
John Wooden
Remember, results aren’t the criteria for success — it’s the effort made for achievement that is most important.
John Wooden
It is most difficult, in my mind, to separate any success, whether it be
in your profession, your family, or as in my case, in basketball, from
religion.
Wooden
Did I win? Did I lose? Those are the wrong questions. The correct question is: Did I make my best effort? That’s what matters. The rest of it just gets in the way.
John Wooden
If you want to achieve success and still be able to look at yourself in the mirror, then follow the example and inspiration of John Wooden, a man who expected the best of himself and everyone whose lives he touched.