The Pyramid of Success John Wooden 25 blocks

The Pyramid of Success
John Wooden
25 blocks

Block 1: Industriousness

"There is no substitute for work. Worthwhile results come from hard work and careful planning."

Most people who succeed don’t do it instantly. It takes a lot of work! All else equal, the person who works the hardest will get ahead. So if you’re not willing to work hard, don’t expect to be successful! If you expect it to be easy, you’re expecting too much! There is joy in working. In doing a job well. In accomplishing what you set out to do. Find the joy in your work by pushing yourself to your limit each and every day. 

Block 2: Enthusiasm

"It is the engine that powers all blocks of the Pyramid. It is why I chose Industriousness and Enthusiasm as the cornerstones of my Pyramid of Success. It is where everything begins."

The second cornerstone of John Wooden’s Pyramid of Success is enthusiasm. Enthusiasm is an emotion. It’s how you feel about what you’re doing. If you’re not excited about your life, why should anyone else be? If you’re not excited about your work, why would anyone else get excited? It’s hard to attract customers, employers, subordinates, even a life partner without enthusiasm. You have to be enthusiastic about you so that others are enthusiastic about you and your prospects for success. The difference between success and failure is often small. The difference between big success and run-of-the mill success is even smaller. Enthusiasm is a critical component that makes the difference!

Block 3: Friendship
"Comes from mutual esteem, respect and devotion. Like marriage it must not be taken for granted but requires a joint effort."

 Friendships in our life even helps promote brain health. Friends helps us deal with stress, make better lifestyle choices that keep us strong, and allow us to rebound from health issues and disease more quickly. Just like your family, friends do have roles and responsibilities in your life's journey. In our everyday life, we need a friend to lean on, to grieve with us, to listen to us, and to motivate us. In every aspect it is a highly motivating thing to know that there are a few people who will always love you and believe in you. Here are some reasons why friends are important.

Block 4: Loyalty
"To yourself and to all those depending upon you. Keep your self-respect."

Loyalty is one of the traits that people generally say is important to them in relationships, be it romantic, friendship, business, or otherwise. Yet some of us don’t make it a priority or give that quality enough credit. Here are some reasons why staying true and sticking by the people and things you care about is the best thing you can do for yourself, and those you care about.

Block 5: Cooperation
"With all levels of your co-workers. Listen if you want to be heard. Be interested in finding the best way, not in having your own way. "

Cooperation in the workplace can make the difference between success and failure for many businesses. In a cooperation-rich workplace, individuals voluntarily engage in open communication. Management and lower-level employees work together and try to keep arguments to a minimum. Workers are proactive in the sense that they try to prevent problems before they have a chance to occur. Cooperation is not always an easy thing to achieve in the workplace, but it is worth the effort because it leads to a more harmonious and productive operation.

 Block 6: Ambition

(For noble goals)

Those that are fueled by ambition to work hard and make the sacrifices necessary to have the lives they dreamed of will almost always come out on top. They love the determined, passionate person they are striving to become and the feeling their work gives them, so they find no reason to quit or not believe in themselves. Ambition separates the man on the subway from the man flying in a private jet.

Block 7: Self-Control

"Practice self-discipline and keep emotions under control. Good judgement and common sense are essential."

Self-control is the ability to control oneself, in terms of having mastery over one’s desires and appetites. Those who are self-controlled can temper what they want, to ensure that they do not over- or under-indulge. St Thomas Aquinas, a medieval philosophy and theologian, said that self-controlled people were able to ‘preserve their lives’. In other words, they were able to do the right things to keep themselves healthy and happy.

Block 8: Alertness

"Be observing constantly. Stay open-minded. Be eager to learn and improve."

Alertness is a very important character trait, but not one that quickly comes to mind such as loyalty or dependability.  Alertness is defined as, “Being aware of what is taking place around me so I can have the right responses.”  It refers to a person’s awareness of circumstances beyond their immediate focus. Alertness gives us warning of possible danger and notice of possible opportunity.  It directly affects our relationships to others and our relationship to all that is happening around us.

Block 9: Initiative

"Cultivate the ability to make decisions and think alone. Do not be afraid of failure, but learn from it."

"Initiative is the ability to be resourceful and work without always being told what to do. It requires resilience and determination. People who show initiative demonstrate they can think for themselves and take action when necessary. It means using your head, and having the drive to achieve." by Laura-Jane Rawlings 

When you use your initiative you do things without being asked, solve problems that others may not have noticed needed solving, and go out of your way to continue learning and growing. You do extra research if required, ask questions, and seek help if you need to.

Block 10: Intentness

"Set a realistic goal. Concentrate on its achievement by resisting all temptations and being determined and persistent."

Intentness is a concept that Coach Wooden felt was an essential part of personal success. He chose to direct his definition of intentness at the individual by urging him or her to: “Set a realistic goal. Concentrate on its achievement by resisting all temptations and being determined and persistent.”  Intentness was among the most important personal qualities because it meant staying the course even when that course is most difficult and the obstacles seem insurmountable.

Block 11: Sincerity 

(keeps friends)

Being sincere means being genuine, trustworthy, and honest. It's being the most basic and most vulnerable form of yourself and allowing that side of you to be presented to the ones you love. If you can't be sincere in your life, then you can't truly appreciate the relationships around you. Sincerity is pure thought. But what is sincere thought? Impeccable action. Being who you are, not who you think you are. To be sincere requires personal freedom. One must be free to be sincere. True sincerity is like freedom, it has no ego fear of being hurt.

Block 12: Adaptability

 (to any situation)

People who adapt easily are flexible set of people who you find excelling in a team. To measure your level of adaptability, you will need to seek the opinion of others who understand you well. ... Though adaptability may not be an inherent ability in us, it is something anybody can learn with time. There are lots of benefits we can gain by being flexible and adaptable. If you have reached that point in life where adaptability becomes necessary, just know there are lots of benefits to be gained. It will definitely not be easy at first, but patience and practice can do a lot.

Block 13: Condition

"Mental-Moral-Physical. Rest, exercise and diet must be considered. Moderation must be practiced. Dissipation must be eliminated." 

Condition simply means the way you take care of your health and management yourself. I believe condition is important because you always want to put yourself on check. Condition also means to limit yourself to thing you do nit really need to do and things you do need to do. Conditioning is something that gets better over time. Conditioning can also be getting use to certain habbits

Block 14: Skills

"A knowledge of and the ability to properly and quickly execute the fundamentals. Be prepared and cover every little detail."

Having skills is obviously very important in life and without them you really would not go anywhere in life. Skills is literally what makes up you and how you are going turn out in life. If you are lacking skill you must start practicing or learning new ones soon as possible because you will never know when they might come in handy or when you really depend on a skill you do not have or have learned. I personally want to grow physically, mentally, and emotionally. to become what I want to be. What i want to be requires the three charater's i mentioned.

Block 15:  Team Spirit

"A genuine consideration for others. An eagerness to sacrifice personal interests of glory for the welfare of all."

Teamwork can be likened to two compounds, almost essential to modern life. It's the glue which keeps a team together, a bond which promotes strength, unity, reliability and support.In fact, the benefits to be gained from teamwork synergies are essential for the effective management of resources.

Block 16: Honesty 

(in thought and action)

"Honesty is the best policy." (Ben Franklin)

Without honesty there is no foundation for a lasting or enjoyable relationship in any context, whether that be with a family member, friend or romantic interest. Honesty is a voice for love that builds trust. Without it, even 'I love you' becomes a lie in itself and there's no real security in the relationship.  People can't read your mind. Being honest doesn't just mean telling the truth about factual information, but also about the way you're feeling. If you were hurt by something someone did, they may not even realize unless you are honest with them about how it affected you. If instead you hide the way you feel, then you below the other person from doing something about the problem and refuse the relationship the opportunity to grow. They may also feel hurt if they realize you were upset with them but said nothing, or if they know you're not being honest with them about the way you feel. All of this festers and damages the relationship, while on the other hand, being honest about your feelings can bring healing, solve a problem, renew hope and foster good communication.  When people don't know the truth, they will try and guess it. That is, not being honest about something causes people to try and figure out what you're not saying, or what the truth actually is. This breeds gossip, which can then foster more lies and deception that other people may mistake as truth. Finally, this causes many more people to feel hurt and betrayed when the truth is finally revealed, all of which could be avoided if honesty was applied in the first instance.

Block 17: Resourcefulness 

(proper judgment)

 “Make the most out of what you have.” (Anonymous)

"If you have a dream, if you have something you've always wanted to do, look within yourself because that is where resourcefulness resides; and go for it. (Jennifer Witterick)

Resourceful; Able to act effectively or imaginatively, especially in difficult situations. Closely connected to; ingenious, ingenuity and inventiveness. All words of which, describe the power of creative imagination, a characteristic that defines our very human experience. The ability to use our hands and mind together.

Block 18: Poise

"Just being yourself. Being at ease in any situation."

“Poise is much like self-control,” Coach Wooden said. “Many people over the years have noticed that and mentioned it to me, but I don’t consider the two to be quite the same. I again have my own definition for poise—a very simple definition: ‘Just being yourself.’ When you maintain your poise, you’re being yourself. You’re not acting. You’re not trying to be something you’re not. You are yourself, therefore you’re going to be able to function closer to your own particular abilities.”

Block 19: Confidence 

"Thorough preparation breeds confidence" Gerald Bell in

"The Carolina Way"

Confidence is one of those traits that can become an ethereal ideal that we all think is good, but ask us to point to the specific reasons why anyone should want it and we can only point to vague hypothetical. Fortunately, science has our back. Here are just a few ways that tangibly improving your own self-confidence manifests in real world benefits.

Block 20: Reliability (creates respect)

Reliability is an important quality for a worker to possess because it enhances a wide variety of job performance categories. A dependable employee not only shows up for work on time everyday but also produces consistent work and can apply company policies and business strategies evenly to each task and assignment.

Block 21: Fight 

(determined effort)

Bringing out your inner fighting spirit means that you have courage, determination and an intense desire to never give up. You set a ... A challenge that you have set for yourself and by tapping in to your inner fighting spirit, this can give you that extra strength needed to see it through. However ... Your goal is super important.

Block 22: Competitive Greatness

" Be at your best when your best is needed. Enjoyment of a difficult challenge."

 The top block on Coach Wooden's Pyramid of Success, Competitive Greatness, is defined as, “Be at your best when your best is needed. Enjoyment of a difficult challenge.” Coach never mentioned being competitive in association with winning or being a great competitor in association with being a winner.

Block 23: Integrity 

(purity of intention)

Trust – If you are a person that has integrity, your personal relationships and professional relationships will be genuine and the people around you will know they can trust you with anything. Responsible – If you have integrity, people will give you higher level responsibilities because they know and feel like you will always do the right thing. Respect –  If you stand up for doing the right thing, people at times may not always agree with what you do, but they will have a great respect for you, that you stand up for what you believe in. Authentic –  With integrity, you are looked at as real person, someone with class.  People with high integrity never have to look over their shoulder for anything they’ve done.  They can feel good about the choices they make.

Block 24: Faith 

(through prayer)

Believe and Achieve. Positive belief.

Faith is an expression of hope for something better. More than a wish, it is closer to a belief, but not quite. A belief is rooted in the mind. Faith is based in the heart.We act in faith when there is no guarantee, no certainty. No one knows what kind of life an infant will have, yet people continue to have children. No one can know how life with our mates will turn out, yet we continue to have faith our relationships will last a lifetime.

Block 25: Patience 
(good things take time)

Being stress free and happy helps you stay you healthier. Patience is an important tool in overcoming frustration. Patience allows us to suspend judgment long enough to make informed decisions, thus paving the path to a happy and peaceful life.

Final Reflection

I believe that the 25 blocks of success is the best way to become successful in life