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."
Reflection:
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."
Reflection: Enthusiasm is hard work, but hard work is not enough. It must be ignited, lit afire by something that will raise it to the extraordinary level required for success. That 'something' is your Enthusiasm which infuses hard work with inspired power that all great competitors have.It's the power of yourself to accomplish something that you really want and won't give up until you accomplish your goal.If you really what to run that extra mile you must have enthusiasm to push your limits and go far." Your energy and Enthusiasm stimulates those you work with." - John Wooden
Enthusiasm is having the spirit of always going to your fullest and run that extra mile just because you want to be an over achiever and prove yourself that you can do it and do what you say you can.
Block 3: Friendship
"Comes from mutual esteem, respect and devotion. Like marriage it must not be taken for granted but requires a joint effort."
Reflection: Friendship is a boned that you chose with someone that you trust and that will always have your back. Friendship is more than just having a friend it's a strong relation that can only be broken by you or that one person.You might have a lot of friends but out of all those friends you have tat on friend that is always there for you and that the friendship that you need.
Block 4: Loyalty
"To yourself and to all those depending upon you. Keep your self-respect."
Reflection: Loyalty is a big aspect of life because it's a strong feeling towards someone that you support. Loyalty is part of our higher nature and it is also part of the nature of leaders who achieve higher goals. Loyalty from the top inspires Loyalty from below. It is a most precious and powerful commodity and it starts with the leader. "A leader who has Loyalty is the leader whose team I wish to be a part of. This is true almost everywhere. Most people, the overwhelming majority of us, wish to be in an organization or part of a team whose leadership cares about them, provides fairness and respect, dignity and consideration."-John Wooden
Block 6: Ambition
Reflection: Ambition is when you work hard to achieve something. It can also be the path of success
to show initiative.
Block 7: Self-Control
"Practice self-discipline and keep emotions under control. Good judgement and common sense are essential."
Reflection:
Block 8: Alertness
"Be observing constantly. Stay open-minded. Be eager to learn and improve."
Reflection: Alertness is when you are aware of what's is going on around you.
Block 9: Initiative
"Cultivate the ability to make decisions and think alone. Do not be afraid of failure, but learn from it."
Reflection: Initiative is the ability to act. Simple as that. You must prepare thoroughly in all ways. If you have done that you must then summon the wherewithal to apply Initiative. In order to be a leader you must have and show
Block 11: Sincerity
Reflection: Sincerity is when you are honest to a friend you never do things behind his/her back. In other words you are a straight up person and you show the same respect to any other person around you. Also can mean when you do everything with love and don't think about it twice you know it's a good cause so you just do it .
Block 12: Adaptability
Reflection: Adaptability is when you adapt to an environment that you are not familiar with.This show how much you are willing to give up for some one or something. This is a big step in life
Block 13: Condition
"Mental-Moral-Physical. Rest, exercise and diet must be considered. Moderation must be practiced. Dissipation must be eliminated."
Reflection: Condition is a very important aspect of our life. This is important because it's not just a physical thing but a mental thing as well.
Block 14: Skill
"A knowledge of and the ability to properly and quickly execute the fundamentals. Be prepared and cover every little detail."
Reflection: Skill is not something one is born with you must develop the skill you want. In order to develop the ability you want you must delicate time and have passion for it. For example a football player must stay in condition and practice and sometime the football players give up things because they have passion for what they do. Skill is a knowledge of the ability to be prepared for whats coming at you. A skill is not hared to develop if you put your time and hard work to it. Any skill takes time to master it and is something that no one can take from you .
"A genuine consideration for others. An eagerness to sacrifice personal interests of glory for the welfare of all."
Team spirit
Block 16: Honesty (in thought and action)
"Honesty is the best policy." (Ben Franklin)
Reflection: Honesty is very important because it show what kine of person you are and if you are trust worthy. There are ways to hedge many things in life, ways to cut corners and have no one be the wiser, but honesty simply is not one of them. The truth only has one story. You either are honest, both with yourself and with others, or you aren’t. You can be dishonest with others and get away with it, both with blatant lying and with misrepresenting yourself, but even if no one realizes you are being dishonest, you yourself know. It can be easy for some to fool others, but we never truly fool ourselves, at least not in the long term. When we lie to ourselves, there may be a thin veneer of conscious belief in the lie covering a whole lot of hiding from the truth. We convince ourselves quickly and with practice, it can become hard to know when we are engaging in self-deception. People with active addiction become very good at self-deception, and as addiction grows, realizing that no one believes the lies you are telling to yourself and to others becomes harder and harder
Block 17: Resourcefulness (proper judgment)
“Make the most out of what you have.” (Anonymous)
Reflection: Resourcefulness is to have the ability to think fast and to be clever. This is a very hard skill to develop.Children learn to use and apply knowledge as they gain skills in planning, organizing, decision making, and problem solving. Together, these skills are the building blocks of resourcefulness -- the ability to find and use available resources to achieve goals. When students imagine multiple outcomes, set objectives, experiment with new approaches, and negotiate challenges, they make important connections between knowledge and goal achievement. They become conscientious creators of their own futures.
Block 18: Poise
"Just being yourself. Being at ease in any situation."
Block 19: Confidence
Reflection:As a student with a learning disability, confidence has always been half the battle. It has proven time and time again to be the difference between success and failure. I’ve seen my fair share of both. Most times, this confidence has been transient. I’ve found it difficult to maintain that well of aplomb because it draws not only from my academic career but from my life outside of it as well.Unfortunately, these are not quite separate entities. When I struggle in one area, I find that struggle digging its way into the other; conversely, when I succeed in one area, I generally flourish in both. Prolonging that confidence in both my work and my personal life has been difficult, and is likely something I’ll be dealing with for the rest of my life. I’ve seen what happens when I can find it in neither, and it’s integral that students with learning differences need to have the confidence that they’ll succeed.
Block 22: Competitive Greatness
" Be at your best when your best is needed. Enjoyment of a difficult challenge."
Reflection: Competitive Greatness is having a real love for the hard battle knowing it offers the opportunity to be at your best when your best is required.
The great competitors I have played for and against, taught and admired all shared a joy in the struggle itself - the journey, the contest and competition. The tougher the battle the better.
Block 23: Integrity (purity of intention)
Reflection:Integrity is the quality of being honest and having strong moral principles, or moral uprightness. It is generally a personal choice to hold oneself to consistent moral and ethical standards.
In ethics, integrity is regarded as the honesty and truthfulness or accuracy of one's actions. Integrity can stand in opposition to hypocrisy, in that judging with the standards of integrity involves regarding internal consistency as a virtue, and suggests that parties holding within themselves apparently conflicting values should account for the discrepancy or alter their beliefs. The word integrity evolved from the Latin adjective integer, meaning whole or complete.In this context, integrity is the inner sense of "wholeness" deriving from qualities such as honesty and consistency of character. As such, one may judge that others "have integrity" to the extent that they act according to the values, beliefs and principles they claim to hold
Block 24: Faith (through prayer)
Believe and Achieve. Positive belief.
Reflection: This definition of faith contains two aspects: intellectual assent and trust. Intellectual assent is believing something to be true. Trust is actually relying on the fact that the something is true. A chair is often used to help illustrate this. Intellectual assent is recognizing that a chair is a chair and agreeing that it is designed to support a person who sits on it. Trust is actually sitting in the chair.Understanding these two aspects of faith is crucial. Many people believe certain facts about Jesus Christ. Many people will intellectually agree with the facts the Bible declares about Jesus. But knowing those facts to be true is not what the Bible means by “faith.” The biblical definition of faith requires intellectual assent to the facts and trust in the facts.
Final Reflection:
The Pyramid of Success has made a difference in my life. I learned many new way to become a better person and how to succeed in life.As a student with a learning disability, confidence has always been half the battle. It has proven time and time again to be the difference between success and failure. I’ve seen my fair share of both. Most times, this confidence has been transient. I’ve found it difficult to maintain that well of aplomb because it draws not only from my academic career but from my life outside of it as well.Unfortunately, these are not quite separate entities. When I struggle in one area, I find that struggle digging its way into the other; conversely, when I succeed in one area, I generally flourish in both. Prolonging that confidence in both my work and my personal life has been difficult, and is likely something I’ll be dealing with for the rest of my life. I’ve seen what happens when I can find it in neither, and it’s integral that students with learning differences need to have the confidence that they’ll succeed