Character
Be more concerned with your character than your reputation. Character is what you really are. Reputation is what people say you are. Reputation is often based on character – but not always.
Character is how you react to things – sensibly, without getting carried away by yourself or your circumstances. A person of character is trustworthy and honest, and for a dollar he or she will give you a dollar.
The other kind of person looks for the easy way out.
I like to think the players I coached, however they came to UCLA, left as men of character. But in truth, if they didn’t have it when they came, I couldn’t give it to them. By then it was too late. That’s a job for a mother and father.
The Fundamental Goal
The goal in life is just the same as in basketball: make the effort to do the best you are capable of doing – in marriage, at your job, in the community, for your country. Make the effort to contribute in whatever way you can.
You may do it materially or with time, ideas, or work. Making the effort to contribute is what counts. The effort is what counts in everything.
Perfection
Perfection is what you are striving for, but perfection is an impossibility. However, striving for perfection is not an impossibility. Do the best you can under the conditions that exist. That is what counts.
Our teams at UCLA had for perfect seasons, but we never played a perfect game, never played as well as we could. That’s perfection. We didn’t reach perfection, but we constantly strove toward it.
I believe there is nothing wrong with the other fellow being better than you are if you’ve prepared and are functioning in the way you’ve tried to prepare. That’s all you can do.
But there is something wrong if you’ve failed to measure up to your ability because you haven’t prepared.
From “Wooden” by Coach John Wooden with Steve Jamison 1997
Managing IA's 