Repisode 948. “What is success?” Feat. Coach John Wooden

Success isn’t trophies or titles. Coach John Wooden defined it as peace of mind—knowing you gave your best effort. In this episode, I break down how effort, not outcomes, puts you in control of your success.

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Transcript

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All right. 3, 2, 1. Let's get it. This morning I'm reading out of uh, coach John Wooden's book, the Essential Wooden, A Lifetime of Lessons on Leaders and Leadership. And this is just a part of my random reading that I do every single morning. I take a book off the shelf. A lot of times I go to Goodwill and I buy used books 'cause I like to kind of see where other people have traveled, what other people have highlighted. And I like to buy those books. Sometimes I buy 'em new too, but that way I have stacks of books as you can see, those of you who are watching on video, you have stacks of books behind me. And then off to the right here, there's others. I've run out a bookshelf and so now they're just, I have a junkie office'cause it's, it's literally books all over the floor and everything like this. So this morning, man, I, I just pulled this one off the shelf and. The section that really pulled me in was what Coach John Wooden's definition of success is. Now for context, he was often asked how his teams could consistently perform at near the highest level in the tightest situations, like they didn't seem to get. Rattled. They didn't crack, they didn't fold. They always seemed to just have these nerves of steel. And his answer said, it came down to one big thing, his definition of success, and he instilled this in them. He said, success is a peace of mind. Phew. I mean, that's the thing. That's the hook that grabbed me right there. Success is peace of mind, which is a direct result of self-satisfaction, knowing that you made the effort to become the best you're capable of becoming. He said this was the highest grading standard that he held his players to. It had nothing to do with the score. It had nothing to do with the titles. It had nothing to do with winning championships. He said it was being able to hold your head high because you gave your best effort, now, he didn't get his players to accept the definition. He got them to believe it. Bro, there's a huge difference with that because you can accept an idea just with a nod like mm-hmm. And most of us reading the definition, his definition of success, Success is a peace of mind. Which is a direct result of self-satisfaction, knowing that you made the effort to become the best you're capable of becoming. Most people would just accept that. They would just nod right along. But Coach Wooden got his players to believe that. And when you believe something, bro, this is, this is in your bones, this is seared into your soul, and then you begin to live by it. And he said, when I moved my players from accepting the definition of success to truly believing the definition of success, it was at that point that they realized that they could control their own success, and the control comes from the quality of your effort. This is where everything's gonna change for you. See, you're in control of your success. If you only focus and don't get all head faked on the results, you can't control the outcome, but you can sure as hell control the quality of the input, which is your effort. I mean, garbage in, garbage out, half ass in, half ass out. You gotta understand this man. No one is standing in your way. No one. The only thing that's standing in your way is the quality of your effort, and it's holding yourself to the highest standard of becoming the best you that you're capable of becoming. He said, this is why my players could step in these critical situations. They didn't fear the outcome. They didn't fear losing. They weren't worried about the scoreboard. He said they were fearless because they were totally committed to giving their full effort, not some, not most full. And when you play like that, bro, you're not gonna get rattled. You're not gonna break down. And he said, this is why my team's got the job done. They delivered. He says, some people call it killer instinct. He said, I call it competitive greatness, bro. You talk about the blueprint for outwork your potential right there. I mean, think about that success. That's peace of mind. You ever notice people that are quote unquote successful? They're successful on paper, yet they're so miserable to be around, they're agitated, they're restless, and they just seem to just like lash out at everyone. It's because they have no peace of mind. Why? Because deep down they know there were things they did and shouldn't have done. To people, to situations only they know that. But the other side too, there are people who are successful and not successful, who could have done things, but they didn't. And so whether you're. Call yourself successful or you're not successful, gauge your peace of mind. What kind of peace of mind do you have? Do you escape from reality? Do you binge on things that are just whittling you down? There are things you could do, but you don't. There are things you should do, but you choose not to. This is why you have no peace of mind. You have these regrets and understand this man. Regrets don't come from what you did. They come from what you could have done but didn't, and these things build up. You can't hide that from yourself. Wooden's definition of success is only cliche if you skim it. I mean, that's the part where you just accept, become the best person that you're capable of becoming. I mean, people like, yeah, yeah, be all you can be the Army slogan, but see, when you really live by that definition, this isn't a one-time event. It's a lifestyle. It's an everyday commitment to become means that you begin to be meaning that every day you zero it out. If you had a good day yesterday, or you had a bad day yesterday, nothing carries over. There are no rollover minutes. You zero it out. So to become means you begin every day. Beginner's mindset, let's go. Like Jeff Bezos said, every day is day one. Have that day one mentality. Another meaning of become is to grow into, to turn into. Lemme ask you this. What are you turning into? What are you growing into or shrinking into? Is it better or worse? See, I bring you these messages, man, because these things just make you pause. They make you stop and wait. A, what is success to me? I never thought about success as peace of mind and just laying the brick had that self satisfaction, not in the result, oh, I've arrived. Not in the result. But in knowing, I mean, deep down, knowing even if I got my balls kicked in, I know that I laid it on the line I gave my total effort. To this day to become the best person, the best man, the best father I'm capable of becoming. There's so many opportunities when you become, that means that you acquire, it's yours for the taking. There's all these opportunities that you have. They're yours for the taking, but you can choose to take 'em. Or you're gonna be taken over by complacency. It's your choice. Take or be taken. See, if you don't have that peace of mind, it's often because you're not prepared. And so these calamities, these blindsided moments, they pop up, you're not ready, and you think that you're gonna get ready. And when you're not ready, what do you do? You lash out, you blame. It's not your fault. I wish I had more time. Nobody told me. Nobody told me. All these bullshit excuses that you give, when in truth you control your success based on the quality of your input. So when life blindsides you, you feel the fear and you react to it. You have no confidence. And the reason being is because you didn't put yourself in the best possible position to succeed. This is Coach Wooden's highest standard. Had nothing to do with the outcome. You have zero control over the outcome, but you can influence it through the quality of your effort, bro. You see how obtainable now success is to you. Stop putting a timeframe on it. Stop putting labels on it. Truly believe it. You want peace of mind, don't you? Who doesn't, and all the times where you're just rattled all the times, you're just agitated and, and cynical and just like unsettled. No peace of mind. It's because you haven't been given your total effort. You gave just enough to get a check, to get through the day, to get to the weekend, to get through a year, and this is why you don't like where your life is right now. How liberating it is that success is totally in your hands. It is, and it's liberating, but also it's kind of scary. Because when you realize this and you believe it and you act upon it, you have no one else to blame. But really, when you know that you're just laying it all on the line, you're not even worried about that anymore. You're, you fear less.'cause you're prepared 'cause you work every day to show yourself approved. It's not about how hard you work people, people, you know, people brag about, it's not about, forget about bragging about the number of hours you work or how little sleep you have. The real question is. What's the quality of your effort? What are your standards? What are your, no matter whats like, you get it done. You don't make excuses, you don't blame anybody. You don't give any narrative to it. You just work every day. To begin to grow into, to acquire, to become the best person you're capable of becoming. So. That's all I gotta do today. Prepare yourself every day to be the best version of you just today. Don't even worry about tomorrow. The Bible even says that. Give no worries to tomorrow. Just deal with today. Tomorrow's got its own problems and you'll be ready for him if he give you total effort. Quality effort to today. This is what's gonna make you steady. This isn't one and done. This is a lifestyle. But if you're tired of just like starting over, you're tired of just breaking under pressure, you want that peace of mind back. You'll get it because you have the self-satisfaction in knowing that you laid it all on the line because the results. Are gonna be what the results are gonna be, but your effort, that's yours to control always. Thanks for sharing this episode. Remember, keep it simple, keep it moving. Never settle. Stay tough. Peace.