Wooden's Wisdom | Leadership Resource Center

Issue 245 - I do it Because He or She Does it is Not a Good Reason


Wooden's Wisdom - Volume 5	Issue 245
Craig Impelman Speaking \| Championship Coaches \| Champion's Leadership Library Login
I DO IT BECAUSE HE OR SHE DOES IT IS NOT A GOOD REASON This is an important lesson to teach young people. The simple application is to teach that just because somebody else is doing something, it doesn't make it okay for you to do it. The broader lesson to be taught in today's environment is that just because they read something on a website, that doesn't make it true. Just because they see somebody doing something on YouTube or Instagram, that doesn't make it a good idea. The next step with this idea is to convince our young people that they don't need to try to keep up with the Joneses. They don't need a pair of Steph Curry sneakers just because their five most popular friends have a pair. Sixty years ago our young people were exposed to good and bad examples, and what the Joneses had primarily in their own neighborhoods. Thirty years ago our young people were exposed to good and bad examples, and what the Joneses had in their own neighborhoods and what they saw on TV. Today young people are bombarded with good and bad examples, and what the Joneses have on the Internet on a daily basis. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and any number of applications constantly communicate what other people are doing and have all over the world. Social media is a valuable communication tool but our youngsters must be taught at a very young age to think for themselves. These three Coach Wooden's ideas should be part of the foundation of what we are teaching our young people at home and in school: “I do it because he or she does it” is not a good reason. Be more concerned with your character than your reputation, as your character is what you really are while your reputation is merely what others think you are. Never try to be better than someone else. But always be learning from others. Never cease trying to be the best you can be. One is under your control; the other isn’t. Let's educate our young people to use the Internet and social media as a resource for learning, not a place for bad role models and additional peer pressure. This doesn't necessarily mean filtering their intake because that is only a short term solution. It does mean they should learn Abraham Lincoln's valuable advice: I never met a person from whom I didn’t learn something, although most of the time it was something not to do. Spread the word. This might be good advice for some grown-ups as well. Yours in Coaching, Craig Impelman www.woodenswisdom.com Twitter: @woodenswisdom	COACH'S Favorite Poetry AND PROSE Some Favorite Thoughts from Coach Wooden’s Library One fact stands out in bold relief in the history of man’s attempts for betterment. That is that when compulsion is used, only resentment is aroused, and the end is not gained. Only through moral suasion and appeal to man’s reason can a movement succeed. Samuel Gompers (1850-1924) The man who trusts men will make fewer mistakes than he who distrusts them. Camillo di Cavour (1810-1861) The way we generally strive for rights is by getting our fighting blood up; and I venture to say that is the long way and not the short way. If you come at me with your fists doubled, I think I can promise you that mine will double as fast as yours; but if you come to me and say, “Let us sit down and take counsel together, and, if we differ from one another, understand why it is that we differ from one another, just what the points at issue are,” we will presently find that we are not so far apart after all, that the points on which we differ are few and the points on which we agree are many, and that if we only have the patience and the candor and the desire to get together, we will get together. Woodrow Wilson (1856-1924)
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