Brian Johnson shares John Wooden's exact pre-game words to his teams: "When it's over, I want your heads up." Wooden defined success as peace of mind from knowing you gave your best effort, and his Pyramid of Success rested on 15 core virtues.
Questions this video answers
March 27, 2024
"When it's over, I want your heads up." (Expanded exhortation: give it your best out there — everything you have.)
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Hi, this is Brian. Welcome back to another heroic one. In the last few plus ones, we've been exploring some wisdom from the guy ESPN says is the greatest coach of the 20th century, which makes him arguably the greatest coach ever. We started with his definition of success as we talked about the summit of his pyramid. As you may recall, Wooden defined success as peace of mind which is a direct result of self satisfaction in knowing you made the effort to become the best of which you are capable. And he tells us that the summit of his pyramid is competitive greatness, which again he tells us, is being your best when your best is needed. Then we explored the 15 virtue blocks of his iconic pyramid of success that captured the foundation for his success. Those virtues included industriousness, friendship, loyalty, cooperation, enthusiasm, self control, alertness, initiative, intentness, condition, skill, team spirit, poise, confidence and competitive greatness. Then we talked about the number one job of every leader, including and especially you. Our number one job make greatness attainable by all. Today I want to chat about the very last thing Wooden told his players before they left the locker room and entered the arena. Before I do pop quiz. What do you think he told them and what would you say if you had the opportunity to share a few words with a world class team before they took the field? Side note, I'm actually preparing for that moment right now as I just got an invitation to share a few words with a world class sports team led by one of my dear friends and big heroic coach right before they leave the locker room and enter their arena. My heart just skipped a beat in anticipation of that moment. So here's the answer to the pop quiz. Wooden tells us that, and I quote, before our team left the locker room and entered the arena, my final words were always about the same. When it's over, I want your heads up. And there's only one way your heads can be up. That's to give it your best out there. Everything you have. And that's today's plus one. When today's over, I want your head up. And there's only one way your heads can be up. That's if you go out and give us your best today. Everything you've got. It's day one. We're all in. It's time to live with rt. Close the gap. Give the world all you've got today.
