timeless principles Archives

Success Building Blocks: Skills

Success Building Blocks: Poise

Success Building Blocks: Confidence

September 11, 2008/by George Krueger & Mary-Lynn Foster

By Bigg Success Staff
09-11-08

Timeless Principles

We count ourselves among the many people who believe that John Wooden was the best coach in the history of college basketball. But his contributions go far beyond the court. He developed an incredible tool called the Pyramid of Success that will help you succeed in any endeavor you choose.

We’ve completed our discussion of three rows of his Pyramid. Industriousness, Friendship, Loyalty, Cooperation, and Enthusiasm form the foundation. The second row consists of Self-control, Alertness, Initiative, and Intentness. The third row, which sits right in the middle of the Pyramid, includes Condition, Skill and Team Spirit.

We’ve also looked at one of the two blocks that form that fourth row – Poise. This fourth row is also the second row from the top, right below the apex of the Pyramid. This week, we’ll look at the block that makes up the other half of this row.

Confidence

Wooden points out that, if you don’t have all three blocks in the middle row of the Pyramid – Condition, Skill and Team Spirit – in place, you’ll never have Confidence. Confidence and Poise are closely related, but Wooden felt the need to include both in his Pyramid.

When we’re confident, we respect the task at hand but we don’t fear it. We know we’re prepared. That’s why the three blocks in the middle row – Condition, Skill, and Team Spirit – are so vital. We know the fundamentals of our craft. Even beyond that, we know that we know them. That’s not a subtle difference!

There’s a fine line between confidence and cockiness. Peak performers get right up to the line, but they don’t cross over it. We don’t strive to be cocky, but it can happen over time. We have to guard against it by keeping all of the other success building blocks in mind.

With that in mind, we won’t succeed bigg if we aren’t confident. We have to win mentally to win physically. We must think we can win or we won’t. We must believe we can succeed or we won’t. When we have this mindset, we’re ready to take action. We’re ready to succeed bigg! And we can’t wait to get going!

Hear today’s lesson and laugh on The Bigg Success Show.

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Success Building Blocks: Skills

Success Building Blocks: Poise

September 4, 2008/by George Krueger & Mary-Lynn Foster

By Bigg Success Staff
09-04-08

Timeless Principles

John Wooden was arguably the best coach in the history of college basketball. His contributions to success literature, though, possibly exceed his accomplishments on the court. He developed the Pyramid of Success, a wonderful tool that will help you succeed bigg in any endeavor you choose.

So far, we’ve discussed three rows of his Pyramid. Industriousness, Friendship, Loyalty, Cooperation, and Enthusiasm form the foundation. The second row consists of Self-control, Alertness, Initiative, and Intentness. The third row, which sits right in the middle of the Pyramid, includes Condition and Team Spirit.

Now we’ll move to the fourth row, which is also the second row from the top. It consists of two blocks. We’ll look at the one on the left this week.

Poise

This success building block sits atop Condition and Skill, but Wooden points out that it also comes from Team Spirit. You’ve worked hard to master the fundamentals of your craft so you know you’re ready to execute.

You’ve practiced every situation so you will be at ease when you’re playing the game. Even when things get tough, you’ll exhibit grace under pressure. You’ll just be yourself, because you know you’re ready! This leads to a calm, cool exterior because you’re calm and cool on the inside. That intimidates rivals who aren’t as prepared as you.

Hear today’s lesson and laugh on The Bigg Success Show.

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Success Building Blocks: Skills

August 26, 2008/by George Krueger & Mary-Lynn Foster

By Bigg Success Staff
08-26-08

Timeless Principles

In our minds, John Wooden was the best coach in the history of college basketball. Even more than that, though, we love what he contributed to the field of personal success. Perhaps his greatest gift has been his Pyramid of Success, a wonderful tool that will help you succeed bigg in any endeavor you choose.

So far, we’ve discussed the bottom two rows of his Pyramid. Industriousness, Friendship, Loyalty, Cooperation, and Enthusiasm form the foundation. The second row consists of Self-control, Alertness, Initiative, and Intentness. We’ve now covered two of the three blocks that sit in the middle of the Pyramid – Condition and Team Spirit.

Now we’ll move to the success building block that sits at the heart of the Pyramid, above Alertness and Initiative.

Skills

The science of peak performance has come a long way. Wooden hits on the “flow” concept with this building block – body and mind working effortlessly, completely immersed in the moment, to accomplish some task.

He felt that his athletes needed to know the fundamentals so well that they didn’t have to think about them. They could just execute instinctively given the situation.

Just like great athletes, we need to know the fundamentals of our game so well that we can quickly pull them out when they’re needed. We’re prepared to deal with any situation because we’ve practiced it over and over again. We know what to do without thinking about it and we’re able to perform at our highest level at every moment.

We’re in the flow, or the zone. We know what we know so well that we don’t have to think about it. When we see it in others, we admire it. When we feel it ourselves, it’s one of the greatest experiences we can have!

Hear today’s lesson and laugh on The Bigg Success Show.

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Hear today’s lesson and laugh on The Bigg Success Show.

August 7, 2008/by George Krueger & Mary-Lynn Foster

By Bigg Success Staff
08-08-08

Timeless Principles

John Wooden was arguably the best coach in the history of college basketball. He developed the Pyramid of Success, a wonderful tool to succeed bigg in any endeavor you choose.

So far, we’ve discussed the bottom two rows of his Pyramid. Industriousness, Friendship, Loyalty, Cooperation, and Enthusiasm form the foundation. The second row consists of Self-control, Alertness, Initiative, and Intentness.

Last time, we started the middle row with the block on the far left side – Condition.

Now we’ll move to the other side of the middle row, to the block that sits atop Initiative and Intentness.

Team Spirit

This success building block sits in the heart of the Pyramid on the right hand side. It’s impossible for a team to succeed with a group of individuals. The individuals need to think and play as a group.

It doesn’t come from begrudgingly putting the team first. Wooden felt that the individuals needed to eagerly forfeit their self-interest for the good of the group. All for one and one for all, put into practice. Nobody cares who gets the credit as long as the team wins.

Team mates don’t necessarily have to like each other to play together in this manner. They do, however, have to respect one another and be considerate. Good team members are selfless, not selfish, always putting the needs of the team above their own.

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