Work and Winning

For over twenty years (1958-1980) professional golfer Gary Player was among the very elite in the golf world, being one of ‘the big three’—the other two being Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus.  Legend has it that one day while practicing sand shots from a bunker he ‘holed out’ three or four shots in a row—an unheard of feat.  A man who observed him doing this asked, “How do you do this?”  Player answered, “The harder I work the luckier I get.”  Hmmm. 

It was this work ethic that garnered Gary Player 24 PGA tour victories, 19 Champions Tour victories and 115 International professional and open victories.  It was this same work ethic that enabled the UCLA basketball team under another of my ‘giants,’ coach John Wooden, to win 9 national basketball championships (including 7 in a row) with different players.

 

Another winner was Green Bay Packer coach Vince Lombardi who, it is reported to have said, “Winning isn’t everything, it’s the only thing.”

   

But winning is not the subject of this essay.  (For I happen to disagree with Coach Lombardi; winning is just an outcome, what makes one a ‘winner’ is of much more interest to me.) 

 

I believe—as did my teaching mentor (through his writings, clinics, and example) Coach John Wooden—that  “striving for self-satisfaction that always comes from knowing that you did the best you could to become the best of which you are capable” is the standard for success.  This I have found to be true whether in athletics or in life.  It takes effort, and, again, effort is what people call work. 

 

But work is not drudgery.  All my adult life I have enjoyed working because I have done it with the right attitude toward the effort I was making.  I did it at the university in the library; I did it with my students; and I have done it on the athletic field and on the golf course.  Preparation and practice, to me, have always been fun.

 

I like the slogan we sometimes tell the youth in our Church: “Find joy in the journey.” Find fun in the work.  Your work may even be tied to your ‘glory.’