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| Wooden's Wisdom - Volume 13 | Issue 728 |
| Craig Impelman Speaking | Championship Coaches | Champion's Leadership Library Login | |
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SUCCESS STARTS WITH HOLDING YOURSELF ACCOUNTABLE "Don’t whine, don’t complain, don’t make excuses." — Joshua Wooden
"A person can make mistakes, but they’re not a failure until they blame others." — John Wooden
"The best way to improve the team is to improve yourself." — John Wooden
After the 1961-62 season, John Wooden looked in the mirror. For thirteen years at UCLA, he had quietly accepted the idea that poor facilities and strict academics were holding him back. "Our practice facility, the Men’s Gym, was cramped and poorly ventilated," he said. "There was constant commotion and distraction—hardly a place to teach or learn the finer points of basketball."
Coach Wooden admitted that, deep down, "I just felt there was no chance that UCLA would ever be able to go all the way."
Then something changed. That unheralded 1961-62 team—practicing in that same little gym—nearly won the national championship. "Our near victory was a revelation to me," he recalled. "Suddenly—it became clear that our inadequate basketball facility did not mean we couldn’t win the national title."
Coach Wooden realized the barrier wasn’t the gym, it was his own thinking. "If I had been using the Men’s Gym as a rationale for poor performance…I couldn’t use it anymore. A subconscious barrier had been removed; a light went on."
Coach Wooden held himself accountable at a new level. He reevaluated every aspect of his program and made several significant changes. From that day forward, there would be no excuses, only a ceaseless search for solutions.
Two years later, UCLA won its first national championship in that same Men’s Gym.
Success, like accountability, starts when you stop blaming what’s outside and start improving what’s inside.
"Who looks outside, dreams, who looks inside, awakes." — Carl Jung
Where are you looking?
Yours in Coaching, Craig Impelman
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Life’s Slacker The saddest sort of death to die Edgar Albert Guest (1881-1959)
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