Wooden: A Lifetime of Observations and Reflections On and Off the Court

Wooden begins Part 2 by meditating on the word “success.” He notes the definition from Webster’s Dictionary—“the accumulation of material possessions or the attainment of a position of power, prestige, or perhaps fame” (51)­—but immediately and strongly disagrees with this definition. Instead, he prefers his father’s definition, which is simply that success is achieved when one puts all of their effort toward being their best. However, a major problem can arise from achieving success when one becomes “infected by success,” in which a successful person begins to believe that their past impacts their future. Wooden warns against living in the past, to draw lessons from past successes but don’t assume that past success will automatically happen again (57). Using an anecdote in which he insisted that his players wear socks without any creases and shoes that fit perfectly to avoid blisters, Wooden explains that preparation and meticulous attention to detail usually go hand-in-hand with success; not only in basketball but in life as well (63).

Wooden cautions against instructing kids to have big dreams because some goals are simply unattainable. Instead, he argues that we should have goals that are difficult but achievable and work tirelessly toward reaching them.