Wooden's Wisdom | Leadership Resource Center

Issue 654 - "Help Others (before they ask)"


Wooden's Wisdom - Volume 13	Issue 654
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"HELP OTHERS (BEFORE THEY ASK)" John Wooden Video Clip (1 min. 16 sec.): Coach Wooden is asked: "What is the essence of be quick but don’t hurry?" Great clip! In 1985 I began conducting my own summer basketball camp in Southern California. The enrollment was small and, given the overhead, the future didn’t look bright. One morning while visiting us, Coach Wooden said he wanted to talk to me about my camp. I had never asked him for help or even mentioned the situation with the camp to him. Coach told me that he would like to come and teach fundamentals at my camp two hours a day every day for all three weeks of camp and that I could advertise that he would be there. The only condition was that I was not allowed to pay him. With the addition of Coach Wooden, the camp became a tremendous success for the next 22 years. In those 22 years I never once asked Coach to come speak again. Every year he phoned me to find out when he was scheduled to teach at the camps. Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote, "Rings and other jewels are not gifts, but apologies for gifts. The only true gift is a portion of thy self." Coach Wooden never had an unlisted phone number. He was available to everybody (for free). He was committed to being available to visit with anyone who wanted to meet him. Motivational speaker and author Anthony Robbins interviewed Coach Wooden and asked: Coach,I have interviewed several wealthy people who are not particularly happy. What advice would you give them? Coach’s response was: "They should find somebody to help." I always felt as if Coach got up every morning and said to himself let me see how many people I can help today. I have never known a happier person. "Do not run after happiness, but seek to do good, and you will find that happiness will run after you." - James Freeman Clarke Who will you help today? Click here for personal development exercise: Issue 654. Click here for Printable Poetry: Issue 654. Yours in Coaching, Craig Impelman www.woodenswisdom.com Follow @woodenswisdom	COACH'S FAVORITE POETRY AND PROSE The Painter When my hair is thin and silvered, an' my time of toil is through, When I've many years behind me, an' ahead of me a few, I shall want to sit, I reckon, sort of dreamin' in the sun, An' recall the roads I've traveled an' the many things I've done, An' I hope there'll be no picture that I'll hate to look upon When the time to paint it better or to wipe it out is gone. I hope there'll be no vision of a hasty word I've said, That has left a trail of sorrow, like a whip welt, sore an' red, An' I hope my old-age dreamin' will bring back no bitter scene Of a time when I was selfish an' a time when I was mean; When I'm gettin' old an' feeble, an' I'm far along life's way I don't want to sit regrettin' any by-gone yesterday. I'll admit the children boss me, I'll admit I often smile When I ought to frown upon 'em, but for such a little while They are naughty, romping youngsters, that I have no heart to scold, An' I know if I should whip 'em I'd regret it when I'm old. Age to me would be a torment an' a ghost-infested night, If I'd ever hurt a baby, an' I could not make it right. I am painting now the pictures that I'll some day want to see, I am filling in a canvas that will come back soon to me. An' though nothing great is on it, an' though nothing there is fine, I shall want to look it over when I'm old an' call it mine. An' I do not dare to leave it, while the paint is warm an' wet, With a single thing upon it that I'll later on regret. Edgar Albert Guest (1881-1959)
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