By Mark Rearden, West Lake Country Club | May 1, 2019
For years I had an inspirational etching on the wall of my office at the clubs where I worked. It will soon be on my office wall again here at West Lake. It is called the “Pyramid of Success.” It was written by my favorite coach, John Wooden. Essentially, it is a list of fifteen things that could be called the building blocks for athletic success, although I suspect they would work quite nicely for success in any endeavor.
On this day, while looking at the pyramid, I found myself taken by the words written in the second tier (block) from the top. In the top center of the block was written, Confidence. Listed beneath it was this: Respect without fear. Confident not cocky. May come from faith in yourself in knowing that you are prepared.
We often scrutinize the habits and characteristics of those people we consider to be high achievers or those who seem to accomplish more than we do. We live in a constant quest for that magical insight that seems to separate them from the rest of us. I do believe there is something ineffable about those people who figure out a way to get it done no matter how adverse the conditions. Respect without fear and confident not cocky; both of these are wonderful attributes that show up in classy athletes we all admire.
I suspect however, that the third sentence is the most revealing of all and is something that can be accomplished by anyone as long an intense desire to exceed exists. May come from faith in yourself in knowing that you are prepared. Knowing you are prepared is the key here. Everyone remembers how it feels going into a classroom to take an important test for which you had not studied properly. You just waited too late. It’s a pretty sick feeling.
But can you remember how you felt those times when you knew had mastered the material and had it down cold. There was no question about those 5 chapters you could not answer. It felt powerful. You were prepared and you knew it. That is exactly how the great tennis players feel before a big match. They cannot be sure of everything that will be on “the test”, but they are sure they have left nothing to chance. They know the material.
I feel this is the one common thread that allows some to succeed where others fail or fall short. They prepare. You might just as well substitute the word practice in place of the word prepare. I was reminded that many of this era don’t really know what quality or deliberate practice looks like. No doubt that will be the subject for a future Mark My Words. But for the successful athlete, quality deliberate practice is the foundation of his confidence, that he did enough to be ready. Since confidence is one of the most important building blocks to athletic success and since practice is essential to having confidence, then the moral of the story would seem evident. Their magical insight is they prepare or practice. And they do it diligently and consistently.
Please “google” the pyramid of success and print a copy. It has been butchered and copied a bunch with changes here and there. You want the one in black and white. Each of the building blocks have a name and a description of their importance. Mark My Words, you will want to keep a copy handy. It is a wonderful read and resource.
Click here for the pyramid.