Monday, November 3, 2014

Wooden—at the Summit




I finish my tribute to Coach John Wooden with comments on the final building blocks or natural consequences of his highly successful Pyramid of Success.  These penultimate blocks are Poise and Confidence which lead to the sought-for accomplishment of what he calls Competitive Greatness. 
 
Poise is the visible (to others) and internal (to oneself) comfort and satisfaction that comes from knowing you have given your very best and have truly functioned near your own level of competence or potential.  You have satisfied your own expectations. 
 
Confidence is to believe in yourself and in your ability to contribute substantially to the group or people with whom you are meaningfully associated (your team, family, organization, etc.).  Poise and Confidence are synergistically related.  They produce the joy that comes from being involved, successfully, with something that has challenged your body, mind, and spirit.
   
Competitive Greatness is the outcome.  “It is being at your best when your best is needed.” It is, in the vernacular, ‘having it all together.’
 
But ‘holding it all together’ so that you ‘have it all together’ takes patience and faith. These two ingredients are the ‘mortar’ that flows between and around each of the blocks  Patience is what it takes to build a player, create a team,  bake a cake or build a man.  It takes time; good things always take time. 
 
Faith.  Finally, in Mr. Wooden’s words, “I believe we must also have faith that things will work out as they should—not that they will always work out as we want them to, but as they should, so long as we do what we should do.  And we must let that suit us.” 
 
The Apex of the Pyramid is Success.  It is not necessarily (neither should it be) the trophy or the glory, the ranking or the riches.  It is not perfection but it is the goal.  It is the satisfaction of knowing that you did everything within the limits of your ability and effort “to become the very best that you are capable of being.”

You can’t do better than that.

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