10 Lessons For Entrepreneurs From Coach John Wooden

Lewis Howes, Contributor, Forbes

 

Coach John Wooden, a.k.a. the “Wizard of Westwood,” is best known for his 27-year legacy at UCLA, where he led the Bruins to 10 NCAA national championships, and for coaching basketball legends such as Bill Walton and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

But his words and practices about what it takes to win don’t just apply to the basketball court; they apply to all areas of life – especially entrepreneurship.

Even though Coach Wooden was known for his simple and old school approach to practice and playing, the results speak for themselves.

This man knew how to win.

Below are 10 quotes from John Wooden.  I believe his words still have as much relevance in our digital world today as they did when he first spoke them.

Words Of Wisdom From John Wooden

1.  “Do not let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do.”
There’s always going to be something “extra” that can enhance your business or potentially boost sales.

Maybe it’s a new technology platform or a social media strategy.  Whatever it is, I think Coach Wooden would encourage us to strive for those things, but don’t let them become an excuse for not doing our best with what we already have.


2.  “If you’re not making mistakes, then you’re not doing anything.  I’m positive that a doer makes mistakes.”

I think one of the biggest reasons why seasoned entrepreneurs stop innovating and taking risks is because they’re afraid of ruining a “winning streak.”

Nothing is for certain in the world of innovation.  You’ve got to remember that out of every failed innovation comes unexpected knowledge that sends us in a new direction or reveals something we would have never known.

3.  “It’s the little details that are vital.  Little things make big things happen.”

Once you realize the truth behind, “Little things make big things happen,” you’ll never again view the details of your business as boring or insignificant – especially when it comes to marketing.

Consumers don’t become loyal brand buyers by accident.  It takes strategic planning and execution to cut through the estimated 3,000 marketing messages the average American sees each day.

Every picture, every image and every email within your marketing has a job to do.

Read the full article online.

The distance between ordinary and extraordinary is shorter than you think!

By John C. Maxwell.

What do you think of when I say the word “ordinary?” These are the words that come to my mind: Common. Usual. Normal. Boring. Average. Something you see everyday.

What about “extraordinary?” I think of: Amazing. Incredible. Uncommon. Unusual. Special. Above average. New.

In the English language, only five little letters separate “ordinary” from “extraordinary:” extra. And while “extra” can be defined as “outside,” in English it also means “just a little bit more.”

The word we use is not as important as the idea: the distance between ordinary and extraordinary is shorter than you think. For too long, people have thought there was a huge gap between normal and special. They’ve assumed that “above average” was far above “average.” Unfortunately, once you believe that, it’s easy to conclude that since you’re “average,” you’ll never be anything else; that there’s no way to claw your way up to “above average.”

I’m here to tell you that you’ve made the gap too wide. In life, an extraordinary performance is often separated from an ordinary one by the slightest of margins. What if your ordinary life could become extraordinary with only the smallest of changes? Would it be worth trying?

Here are some “extras” that can help you close the gap between ordinary and extraordinary:

A little extra effort. There is a price to be paid for achievement. Sometimes it’s a large price. But sometimes just a little extra effort can yield significant results. What price are you willing to pay for success?

A little extra time. To give something time, we need something other than perseverance. We need patience with the process of growth. I believe that many of us overestimate events and underestimate the process. But we’ve got it all wrong. As I wrote in the Law of Process in The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership, leaders develop daily, not in a day.

A little extra help. I love this saying: “If you see a turtle on top of a fence post, you know he had help getting there!” Why do I love it? Because I’m a turtle on a fencepost. I know that I didn’t get to where I am in life on my own. I’m just not that smart, gifted, or fast. The truth is that those who reached “extraordinary” had help getting there. And many types of success can only be achieved with help. If you refuse to ask for – or accept – it, you limit yourself and your work to a lower level of achievement.

Remember that ordinary and extraordinary are not far apart. If you accomplish just one of the above “extras,” your work will begin to be above average in that area.

If Ordinary People …
Gave a Little Extra Effort,
Spent a Little Extra Time,
Sought a Little Extra Help …
They Would Become Extraordinary!

Read the full article online! 

In Debt…Again? How to Break the Borrowing Cycle

By Credit.com

You hate debt.

You got out of debt once and vowed you’d never let it happen again. But here you are – stuck in debt again.

It’s not fair! How did it happen so quickly?

And what can you do to create a permanent debt solution so that you never repeat the pattern again?

The Permanent Debt Solution

Defining the source of your debt problem is critical to solving it.

You believe your debt is a financial problem, but it’s actually a personal problem masquerading as a financial one. That’s why a permanent debt solution eludes you.

Treating debt as if it were a financial problem is similar to trying to cure the flu by blowing your nose. You relieve an obvious symptom but don’t address the underlying cause.

When you don’t address the cause, you don’t get better.

In other words, debt is often just a symptom of a much larger problem: an addiction to an unsupportable self-image and lifestyle that results in overspending.

Until you address the real problem, the symptom will recur, which may explain why you are in debt again.

What that means is debt’s real cause is often personal life habits and attitudes that result in overspending.

The rule is simple – you must spend less than you earn. There’s no way around it.

However, teaching a chronic debtor to spend less and earn more is like telling an overweight person to lose weight by eating less and exercising more.

Everyone already knows what to do. The difficult part is actually getting it done.

How to Slay the Debt Monster

Sure, you want to get out of debt as fast as possible, but superficial financial solutions result in repeat offenders.

Using debt consolidation, or transferring balances to a HELOC or a 0% credit card, or selling assets such as a house, boat or car does not address the root cause of the problem.
You are trying to relieve the symptom by looking only at financial issues.

Instead, what you must first do is figure out what is causing your debt.

What are all the ways you spend more than you earn? But there are ways to identify these habits and change them.

The permanent cure is to plug all the habitual ways you leak money so that you never go into debt again. This isn’t sexy, but it permanently solves the problem.


You must persist in plugging these leaks until you are spending less than you earn.

It may take you months (or years) to achieve this objective.

That’s OK.

Read the full article online.