Summary: "At some point Sports Illustrated concluded: 'There has never been a finer coach in American sports. Nor a finer man.' It's the last part – ‘nor a finer man’ – that makes John Wooden JOHN WOODEN.” The Wisdom of Wooden, Page 1 If you were to tell me that there was a picture of Coach John Wooden in the dictionary under "Success," I wouldn't be surprised. Born on October 14, 1910, Coach John Wooden was one of the most successful NCAA Basketball coaches in history; leading UCLA to 10 NCAA Championships in a 12-year span from 1963 to 1975, including four perfect 30-0 seasons, a record 88 game win streak, and, at one point, winning 7 straight championships. ESPN ranks him as the greatest coach of all time - in all sports - and he is the first person to be inducted in the Basketball Hall of Fame as both a player and coach. But what made "Coach" - as he's affectionately known - so successful, was more than basketball. His legacy went beyond the basketball court. He was more than a Coach. More than a Teacher. More than a Mentor. He was a person with a genuine interest in bringing out greatness in everyone: be it the players he coached, students he taught, children he raised, or lives he touched. "From the first days of my first week as a teacher and coach, I loved my job because of the great opportunity it gave me to change the lives of youngsters in a positive way.” The Wisdom of Wooden, Page 19 Coach inspired and motivated everyone around him through a simple, yet profound, philosophy. Golden Egg Make Each Day Your Masterpiece “You cannot change yesterday, and a better tomorrow will be the result of what you do today. If you do your best, angels can do no better. And this present moment – right now – is when you have that opportunity.” The Wisdom of Wooden, Page 8 Make Each Day Your Masterpiece. Read the previous sentence again: Make. Each Day. Your Masterpiece! If there's one piece of advice Coach wanted us to learn and apply fully, it was this: Imagine not only the possibilities, but progress and experience you would have if each day was truly your masterpiece. “Thus, if I may offer you one piece of advice that I hope you'll apply after reading our book, it is this suggestion from my father: ‘Make each day your masterpiece.’ When you do that as the weeks and months and years (and, for me, century) unfold behind you, you'll have the deepest self-satisfaction knowing your life has really meant something.” The Wisdom of Wooden, Page 2 GEM # 1 Redefine Success “Success is peace of mind, which is a direct result of self-satisfaction in knowing you made the effort to become the best you are capable of becoming.” The Wisdom of Wooden, Page 54 As a high school English teacher and basketball coach, Coach didn't agree with the traditional definition of success everyone had at the time; the belief that success should be strictly measured by outcome. He believed it was “grossly invalid and unfair” to judge success by the number of victories a team had or the number of A’s a student had. Coach believed success was about much more than just the end result. More than another "A". More than another win. And more than another trophy. That's not to say Coach didn't care about winning and losing. He did. He just felt there was something more important than winning and losing. “I want to be clear about something: Winning or losing matters. Why else would we keep score? When you win it usually feels good. Losing hurts, and it should. But my belief is that winning and losing are a by-product, offshoot, consequence of something more important. That's why in my early years of teaching, I sought to figure out what that ‘something’ was.” The Wisdom of Wooden, Page 60 So in 1932, he created his own definition of success. A definition which he shared in his memorable TEDTalk in 2001. A definition he felt was “a more realistic and honest appraisal of success”: “My definition of success,
