John Wooden has won more national championships than any other college basketball coach and he did it not by dreaming of championships but simply by staying focused (and keeping his team focused) on being the very best that they can be on a day-by-day basis."I have often been asked when I first started dreaming about winning a national championship. Was it at Indiana State Teachers College or after I arrive at UCLA? Perhaps while I was a college player?
I never dreamed about winning a national championship.
What I was dreaming about each year, if you want to call it that, was trying to produce the best basketball team we could be. My thoughts were directed toward preparation, our journey, not the results of the effort (such as winning national championships). That would simply have shifted my attention to the wrong area, hoping for something out of my control. Hoping doesn't make it happen.
Mix idealism with realism and add hard work. This will often bring must more than you could ever hope for.
We talked more about practice. What you do in practice is going to determine your level of success. I used to tell my players, 'You have to give 100 percent every day. Whatever you don't give, you can't make up for tomorrow. If you give only 75 percent today, you can't give 125 percent tomorrow to make up for it."
-John Wooden
From "Today Matters" by John Maxwell
From "Today Matters" by John Maxwell
