Big Idea Daily | Think Like a Warrior
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The Five Inner Beliefs That Make You Unstoppableby Darrin Donnelly |
“I often refer to our players as elite warriors, not because they are going to war and certainly not because what we are doing is anything remotely as serious as war, but because they are trained in an incredibly rigorous way and are constantly engaged in physical, mental, and spiritual combat.”URBAN MEYER |
BIG IDEA
John Wooden on Effort + Attitude
FROM THE BOOK“I sincerely believe that the difference was that I didn’t talk about winning and losing.
I didn’t talk about beating opponents. I kept our focus on only what we could control: our effort and our attitude in the present moment.’
‘This philosophy came from my Dad. He told me that I should never try to be better than someone else. But, he also said that I should never stop trying to be the very best that I could be. ‘You have control over that,’ he said. ‘You don’t have control over others.’
‘This was the difference-maker. I taught my players that being successful had nothing to do with the final score. Success could only be measured by whether you put in the maximum effort. You could lose on the scoreboard and still be successful if you gave your absolute best effort. You could also win on the scoreboard and be unsuccessful if you didn’t give your best. Regardless of what the final score says, only you can know if you’re successful because only you can know if you truly did your best.’
‘By focusing on only the things you can control, it also forces you to think, live, and act in the present moment. This is so important. People waste too much time and energy thinking about past mistakes or worrying about the future. But there’s nothing we can do about the past and the future is determined by what we choose to focus our thoughts and actions on right now. You have to focus on the present. That’s where your life is lived. How often people forget this.’
Wooden’s words hit me square. I had been wasting too much time and mental energy stressing myself out by replaying past mistakes or worrying about what might happen in the coming weeks and months.’”
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Brian's Notes
That’s wisdom from the first coach we meet: John Wooden.
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As you may know, The Sporting News named Wooden the “Greatest Coach of All Time.” His UCLA Bruins won 10 NCAA Championships in 12 years and once had an 88-game winning streak. He’s also the ONLY person to ever be inducted into the NCAA Hall of Fame as BOTH a player AND a Coach.
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Wooden is one of my all-time favorite teachers and heroes—which is why his Heroic portrait is staring at me as I type this. (Check out our Notes on Wooden and Be Quick But Don’t Hurry.)
What you may not know is that Wooden spent ELEVEN years coaching high school basketball. Then, during World War II in 1942 (at 32 years old), he joined the United States Navy. He served until 1946 and left as a lieutenant. Then he coached college basketball for another SEVENTEEN years before he won his first NCAA Championship in 1964. He was 54 years old.
By that point, he had been coaching for nearly THREE DECADES. I always find it helpful to remember that our heroes weren’t always heroes.
Here’s what’s even more important for our purposes: Wooden didn’t focus on winning or losing. OF COURSE he wanted to win, but he knew that the only way to have the best shot at the outcome goals WHILE winning the ultimate game of life (RIGHT NOW!) was to focus ALL of his and his players’ energy on what was 100% within their control: their effort and their attitude.
Here’s the essence of Wooden’s wisdom the hero of the story writes down: “I FOCUS ON ONLY THE THINGS I HAVE TOTAL CONTROL OVER: MY EFFORT AND MY ATTITUDE. By focusing on only what I can control, my effort and my attitude in the present moment, I will have the peace of mind that comes from knowing the results will take care of themselves. I will not lose myself in the past or worry about the future. I will focus on the present. If I truly give my maximum effort to be the best I can be today, I will be successful. NOTHING can take that from me.”
P.S. As Darrin points out, Wooden’s approach was very similar to another legendary coach: Nick Saban. Saban calls it “The Process.” We talk about The Process in our Notes on Ryan Holiday’s The Obstacle Is the Way where he quotes Saban telling us: “Don’t think about winning the SEC Championship. Don’t think about the national championship. Think about what you needed to do in this drill, on this play, in this moment. That’s the process: Let’s think about what we can do today, the task at hand.”
The great mental toughness coach Brian Cain echoes this wisdom in The 10 Pillars of Mental Performance Mastery where he tells us: “Remember, depression is obsession with the past, anxiety is obsession about the future, and optimal performance is obsession about the present.”
Big Ideas
01: JOHN WOODEN
02: BUCK O’NEIL
03: HERB BROOKS
04: BEAR BRYANT
05: VINCE LOMBARDI
“I focus only on the things I have total control over: my effort and my attitude.”DARRIN DONNELLY |
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