20.08.18 Coach Wooden (Pat Williams with Jim Denney)
LNV: to the man, a rare beautiful human being, I have much respect but never met, at least appreciate the gracefulness of living in the same era & can watch his speech video in real life.
Probably the reason I have so much emotions & connection feeling to him is that I felt somehow very connected to what he said, what he did, the love, the selflessness of his actions, and above all – a human being relentlessly striving forward, to be the best of himself possibly, but still maintain the pure love for people, the balance, and the inner peace inside. What a remarkable achievement, as a human being, a living legend & angel I think.
Probably lots of common sharing with another man I respect and graceful as well, Abraham Lincoln.
Pat told simple but impactful stories surrounding Coach and especially about his influenced but often neglected figure – his father – such a quiet man but faithful in his beliefs and practice without any complaining regardless of situations his faith had had such rooted influences on his family & childrens.
Very simple but normally forgotten: SHOW don’t TELL.
The coach, the real teacher, mentor in life – show don’t talk, never preach but walk the creed, humble (humility) and solid faith in building his characters.
A true model of how a human being can be & should be!
Family, faith, and friends!
Good talk from John in TED (he’s in his 90s) https://www.ted.com/talks/john_wooden_the_difference_between_winning_and_succeeding
—– Favorite Quote —-
Talent is God-given: be humble
Fame is man-given: be thankful
Conceit is self-given: be careful.
He taught the fundamentals of good character, integrity, a strong work ethic, and teamwork.
Coach was the same man, regardless of circumstances. He was consistent. His walk matched his talk.
The seven-point creed:
- Be true to yourself
- Help others
- Make each day your masterpiece
- Drink deeply from good books, especially the Bible
- Make friendship a fine art
- Build a shelter against a rainy day by the life you live
- Pray for guidance and counsel, and give thanks for your blessing each day.
Never lie, never cheat, never steal
Don’t whine, don’t complain, don’t make excuses.
Just do the best you can. Nobody can do more than that.
What you do is more important than what you say you do.
Success is peace of mind, which is a direct result of self-satisfaction in knowing you made the effort to become the best of which you are capable.
You must have the courage to be true to yourself.
To be true to yourself means having integrity
It means doing the right thing even when no one is looking.
You can fool anyone, but you should never fool yourself. As soon as you fool yourself, you are done.
The thing that strikes you about JW is that he is always at peace with himself.
To be true to yourself means to be true to your greatest potential. It means fulfilling all of your God-given capacity for doing good works and achieving great things.
The truth of the matter is that you always know the right thing to do. The hard part is doing it.
The three most important things in life are Be Kind…be kind…be kind.
My father said there were two kinds of people in the world: givers & takers. The takers may eat better, but the givers sleep better.
Ensuring that people are treated fairly, even when you have to pay a price to do so, is yet another way of helping people.
…helps others purely for the joy & satisfaction of helping others, expecting nothing in return.
Time is all you have, and when it’s gone, you’re dead. When you kill time, you kill yourself, moment by moment, second by second, a little bit at a time.
Make it a great day’ means that I am in charge of making my day great.
Friends help each other; they don’t use each other…If we use our friends to advance a personal agenda, we’ll never have inner peace
Friends help to complete us, and we’ll be better for having taken them along on our journey.
The friend who can be silent with us in a moment of despair or confusion, who can stay with us in an hour of grief and bereavement, who can tolerate now knowing, not curing, not healing, and face with us the reality of our powerlessness, that is a friend who cares.
Much can be accomplished by teamwork when no one is concerned about who gets credit.
Ability may get you to the top, but it takes character to keep you there.
He had given his word, and his word was his bond. He would not go back on it.
An attitude of gratitude
So often we fail to acknowledge what we have because we’re so concerned about what we want. We fail to give real thanks for the many blessings for which we did nothing: our life itself, the flowers, the trees, our family and friends. This moment. All of our blessings we take for granted so much of the time.
An attitude of gratitude begins with a sense of humility.
Arrogant people are incapable of gratitude
Gratitude, like love, is not a feeling but an act of the will. We choose to be thankful just as we choose to love.
What is right is more important than who is right.
Success if never final; failure is never fatal. It’s courage that counts.
The best way to improve the team is to improve yourself.
Life goes on. Enjoy the game.
Make this day – this life – your masterpiece.
Don’t let making a living prevent you from making a life.
